Turning food bank tins into delicious home-cooked meals

CEO Pat Fitzsimons with ingredients to cook with

Recipes using tin-can ingredients and cheap fresh food are being offered to visitors of Hackney Foodbank to help them eat healthily on a budget.

The recipes launched as part of Healthy Living Week, have been provided by food journalist and activist Jack Monroe. They transform tinned food typically found in emergency food parcels (corned beef, beans, lentils and vegetables) with low-cost ingredients like garlic, onion, eggs and herbs.

And there’s a few desserts thrown in too – using ingredients such as peanut butter, tinned fruit, oats and jam.

Pat Fitzsimons, CEO of Hackney Foodbank, said: “We are so very grateful to Jack for allowing us to share some recipes from her book Tin Can Cook with our visitors.  Eating tasty, healthy food is good for the body and soul so to be able to share some secrets which can turn the emergency food parcels we give out into delicious home cooked food, is wonderful.”

The recipe cards include Corned Beef Chilli, Bolognese, Black Bean Dahl, Bread Bean and Herb Stew, Spicy Rice and Two Bean Soup, Corn Fritters and more. For dessert there’s Carrot Cake with Overnight Oats, Peanut Butter and Jam Crumble and Fruit Cocktail Cake.

Local company Pip & Nut has also donated recipe cards to the food bank, from cookies to sweet potato satay curry. The company, which is based in Shoreditch, is among the food bank’s biggest supporters – every food parcel given out contains a jar of their peanut butter.

Pat added: “Peanut butter is a great source of natural protein and fibre and is filling.  The recipes we’re sharing from Pip and Nut and Jack Monroe are predominantly healthy, well-balanced meals which offer slow-release energy. I have really enjoyed making them at home (and eating them) and I hope our visitors will too.”

In her book, Jack attempts to dispel the claim that tinned food isn’t good for you. She explains how the canning process preserves the nutrient value of food and highlights the otherwise short shelf-life of some fresh fruit and veg.

She wrote: “Tinned tomatoes contain more lycopene, a cancer-fighting agent, than their fresh counterparts. Tinned potatoes can be up to a sixth of the price of even the cheapest varieties. Sweetcorn, mushy peas, beans and lentils are all basic staples that can be thrown together in a variety of surprising meals. Tinned sardines contain almost an entire day’s recommended intake of vitamins D and B12.”

To support Hackney Foodbank visit: www.hackney.foodbank.org.uk

Editor’s Notes

About Healthy Living Week: Launched by the Birtish Nutrition Foundation, Healthy Living Week (June 12th-16th) aims to connect people, food and science and provide evidence-based information to people so they can adopt healthy and sustainable diets for life.

Hackney Foodbank recently marked its 10th anniversary. They are part of a national network of foodbanks supported by the Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger in the UK.

They’re currently giving out around 650 food parcels per week (each parcel can contain enough food for a family for a few days). They operate from a warehouse in Hoxton (The Florence Bennett Centre) and have distribution points across Hackney.

For further information or to arrange an interview with Pat Fitzsimons, please contact Jenna Fansa on 07812 245118.