UHI Inverness students can help themselves to free food and online cooking lessons, thanks to a campus initiative called The Larder.
The Larder has two open and well-stocked food cupboards in the main campus building.
The cupboards will also contain recipe cards and bags of ingredients needed to make a weekly meal during Zoom cook-along sessions provided by The Cooking Club, another university initiative.
UHI Inverness hopes the resources will stave off hunger during the cost-of-living crisis and allow students to maintain their studies.
UHI Inverness students relying more on food banks than ever
The Larder is run by Kelly MacKenzie, IT Project Manager at UHI Inverness.
It is staffed by volunteers and located in a discrete space behind the Learning Resource Centre. It will be open to students to help themselves during campus opening hours. Its opening comes at a time when UHI students are relying more on food banks than ever.
University offering help as more students turn to foodbanks during cost of living crisis
Ms MacKenzie said The Larder’s cupboards are fully stocked and ready for the first students.
“We will be placing suggestions cards in The Larder to allow students to let us know if they require particular foods, and we will try to support their requests.
“Every week over the next month we will also have ingredient bags ready for those who have booked a place on the virtual cooking club, and spares for others who want to use the recipe cards to prepare the meals on their own.”
Cheap, tasty and fun
Clare Cousins, a learning assistant in Supported Education at UHI Inverness, set up The Cooking Club in 2019. Working with her friend Karen Castle, she wanted to make cooking accessible to all.
Clare said: “I moved to Supported Education at UHI Inverness in the autumn of 2019. With the cost-of-living crisis, we thought it important to think about people’s budgets and provide some ideas for cheap, tasty meals.
“We linked with The Larder to provide these cooking-on-a-budget sessions.”
The Cooking Club will hold four weekly interactive Zoom sessions at 6:30pm every Wednesday, beginning today (February 1).
Professor Chris O’Neil, principal and chief executive at UHI Inverness, welcomed the initiative. He said The Larder is a way for UHI to care for all aspects of students’ wellbeing.
“It’s not just about providing students with food as fuel. It’s about having fun, socialising and enjoying the activity of communal cooking.”
Visit the UHI Inverness Larder or book a class
Eventually, UHI Inverness staff want to establish a permanent base for The Larder, designed and built by students.
In addition to the new resources in The Larder, students already have access to free food on campus.
Students also manage two more cupboards in the student accommodations.
You can book a place in any of the classes, beginning this week, by searching for ‘The Virtual Cooking Club – Cooking on a Budget’ on Eventbrite.
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