School Holidays: Food Kits for Kids
Access to food for children who are eligible for free school meals is a topic that we have all heard about a lot over the past 12-18 months. Now, with the summer holidays upon us, children need help accessing healthy, nutritious food as much as ever.
As of January 2021, more than 1 in 5 (1.7 million) children in England were eligible for free school meals, the number having risen by 400,000 in the 10 months prior, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic. Numbers had risen in previous years but the 2020 rise was much sharper.
This summer holiday sees the government stop direct funding of vouchers and food packages, instead allocating £220M for local councils to offer free holiday clubs. These holiday clubs will offer free healthy food and physical activities for the children in attendance.
Children who are eligible for free school meals should all have been offered places on these schemes for free during the holidays, and children who are not eligible, will be offered places for a fee.
The government allocation is expected to fund clubs for 4 hours per day, 4 days per week, for 4 weeks of the holidays, but there will still be a gap to fill, which is where the voluntary and community sector will surely need to step in.
The region with the largest number of children eligible for free school meals is the North East, which is why the Food Council, of which Hartlepool Food Network play a large part, have teamed up with the Vegetarian Society and Hartlepool Borough Council to provide hundreds of food kits for children and their families this summer.
The food kits contain three simple and delicious recipes, all easy enough so that the children are able to assist their parents or guardians in the kitchen. All of the food required for the recipes can be found in the kit, and there is a video tutorial for each recipe, making the process of cooking that little bit more fun for everyone involved.
If you would like to try these recipes yourself, you can find the video links here: Tomato & Green Lentil Ragu, Bean Chilli, Tuna & Sweetcorn Tomato Pasta Bake.
We know that we alone are not able to solve the problem of children going without food during the holidays but we are proud to have partnered with other likeminded organisations and initiatives in doing as much as we can to help parents and their children at all times, and not just during the school holidays.
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