By Angela Clark
A cook book created by people who had been homeless aims to encourage healthier eating and improve cooking skills.
The venture saw staff, residents and former service users of Blue Triangle’s homeless accommodation Clydebank work together to create a cook book packed with simple, affordable recipes.
They also made a selection of the dishes including pastas, avocado salad, soup, sweet potato casserole and caramel shortcake for family and friends to sample.
Project worker Michelle McCombe came up with the idea. She said: “When we asked service users what they wanted to cook there was a lot of confusion. Some of the residents didn’t know, they ate out of kebab shops or used foodbanks and don’t have a lot of cooking experience so we devised a cook book to assist.”
Printed in-house the free book currently has a selection of 15 starters, mains and desserts. However they hope to continue adding to it, giving people more dishes to choose from.
Service user Lindsay Bell said: “I think it’s great as it teaches you how to cook.
“If you have been homeless or you don’t have a lot of money you might not have those skills. It gives you ideas and the instructions are excellent. I made the macaroni and cheese for the launch and it tasted lovely.”
They organisation hope to have the recipe book available in all of their projects so service users can take one with them when moving into their own homes.