Cooking up a tasty meal for families during tough economic times is on the menu at Chilton Primary in Ramsgate.

The school hosted the first of its community cooking sessions with ten families working in the kitchens. The initiative was overseen by the school’s head cook Chloe Ballentine whose team regularly prepares hundreds of meals every day for children.

The aim of the session was to prepare an affordable hearty and healthy roast dinner that the families could take home that same day, along with the recipe that was used.

Chloe also talked about the importance of using all the available ingredients and discussed other dishes that could be made with the left-overs.

Deputy Head of School Hannah Cheshire said: “Our children and families donned aprons and got down to work, discussing the ingredients and preparing a range of vegetables for the main course and helping create tasty puddings too.

“We are very proud of the strong community responsibility we have at Chilton and we know that so many families around the country are having to watch the pennies during these tough economic times.

“Finding new ideas to help provide affordable, nutritious and balanced meals is important and our kitchen staff were keen to support the idea.

“The session was enjoyable and extremely useful - we had very positive feedback from our children and their families. We cannot wait to hold another similar event next year.”

This project was made possible with funding from local business Cummins UK that has given Chilton funding to run three community cooking sessions during the school year.

Chilton Primary is part of the Viking Academy Trust with Upton Junior School, Broadstairs, and Ramsgate Arts Primary.

**For more information contact Head of School Alex McAuley on 01843 597695