Cooking With Confidence

Our recent Air Fryer project delivered in partnership with The Health Agency has had lots of great feedback. The Air Fryer project focused on healthy eating with a variety of easy to achieve economical recipes that both looked and tasted delicious. Everyone who took part received an air fryer and start up pack. This encouraged participants to maintain engagement and empowered them to put into practice what they were learning each week. The story from one of our tenants sums up the positive impacts of this project.

 B is a Prospect tenant and has lived in Wester Hailes for over 30 years. She has been receiving cancer treatment over the last 4 years and has found that the treatment has affected her emotional wellbeing and her general health. She joined the air fryer project because she has always been interested in air fryers but had never used one and she was really keen to start eating more healthily.

 “This course has really helped me budget and save money. I always thought eating healthy food was much dearer but when I actually looked at it during this course, I realised its not”

 The session on food waste and budgeting has enabled B to become more savvy when shopping and has encouraged her use up leftovers in other dishes or to freeze meals. B says she doesn't really use her oven anymore which has saved her money on her energy bills too.

 “I used to waste a lot of food and I used to bin it, because I wasn't sure what to do with it, but after completing this course I waste absolutely nothing and I am confident now in using the air fryer to create new and exciting dishes”

 B also enjoyed the social aspect of the group where she met new people and made some meaningful connections. She has been attending the Health Agency’s Westerhaven service for counselling, and has joined an art group. She credits these alongside the air fryer course in helping her cope, regain confidence, feel healthier and rebuild her resilience.

 The Air Fryer project was partly funded by the City of Edinburgh Community Grants Fund, and delivered in partnership with The Health Agency.