Soup Made By You Recipe Book & Soup Kits

Aim

The project was developed as part of buzz’s winter warmer planning, with the aim of engaging with older residents to co-produce a soup recipe book, and also distribute soup kits and books across North Manchester. The project provided an opportunity to share health information on hydration, nutrition, and malnutrition awareness through messages within the recipe book (with support from Manchester Local Care Organisation’s Community Nutrition Service).

Location

4 North Manchester neighbourhoods covering Cheetham Hill, Crumpsall, Higher Blackley, Harpurhey, Charlestown, Ancoats, Clayton, Bradford, Miles Platting, Newton Heath, Moston and City Centre.

Benefits of Cooking

Research shows that eating home cooked meals is associated with a healthier diet and particularly an increased fruit and vegetable intake. Cooking interventions have a positive impact on participants’ knowledge and skills, attitudes, food-related preferences and behaviour; this applies to children and adults alike. People from vulnerable, low-socioeconomic backgrounds particularly benefit from cooking skill interventions.

Benefits of Health promotion – opportunistic interventions

Health promotion supports personal and social development and enables people to take more control over their own health. Providing information and screening are some examples of health promotion. Giving people access to relevant and accurate health information puts them in a better position to make healthier choices for prevention and self-management of conditions. Qualitative data shows that opportunistic and community-based screening opportunities can reach people who would not have accessed screening otherwise.

Benefits of Wellbeing/craft bags, kits and packs.

Staying connected has a strong positive impact on physical and mental health and personal resilience. Social distancing restrictions have made staying connected difficult, particularly for those who do have the technology to connect virtually. buzz has found innovative ways to address this. Distributing wellbeing bags, kits and packs helps people who may not be able to stay connected through technology feel connected with their community. The bags remind people that social support is available and gives them a sense of belonging, both of which have been shown to improve wellbeing and resilience. Receiving functional social support i.e. the bags, has also been shown to have emotional value and be interpreted as emotional support.

Testimonies

“I’ve never made soup before, but I’ll be making it again and using my cookbook.”

“Thanks so much for the slow cooker, the ingredients and the fab recipe book!”

“Great way to get the grandkids interested in eating vegetables.”

“Loved the soup pack! Me and my dad made it together. I got him to do all the chopping! Tasty soup too!”

“I just want you to know that the soup went down very well, Paul is looking at having a go at some of the other recipes and in Mary's words "it was bloody lovely”, so thanks very much for dropping them off.”

“I have a slow cooker, and now often make chicken and sweetcorn, pea and ham soup etc.”

“Me and my mum made it.”

“I am quite satisfied with the soup I received.”

“Very simple to make and delicious!”

“Thank you, very nice, well chosen.”

“I made the soup straight away.”

“I meant to make a chicken broth and I just received the soup kit, so then I just used the ingredients and made chicken and vegetable broth.”

Evaluation

30 residents sent in soup recipes and stories, with 15 recipes being used for the book.

1,000 Soup Made By You (residents of North Manchester) recipe books were designed and printed.

400 copies of the book were placed into 400 soup kits for residents. 100 copies of the book were given to Manchester Local Care Organisation’s Community Nutrition Service as part of their service delivery. These books are being used as a tool to open conversations during initial malnutrition assessments.

The remaining books were distributed across neighbourhoods and used for community age friendly projects. The recipe books will also be used for future winter warmer campaigns, healthy eating/malnutrition projects, and age friendly activities.

Key to the success of this project was using a co-production approach with older people to produce the book. NEPHRA Good Neighbours in Moston were the lead partner in pulling the kits together, and this allowed the whole project to be organised more effectively.

Project Team

Simon Kitchin, Charlee Fitzgerald, Lauren Evans & Matthew Brown – buzz Neighbourhood Health Workers, buzz Manchester Health & Wellbeing Service

Mathew Youngson, Stacy Partridge, Chris Bernard & Parveen Akhtar - Community Field Workers, Winning Hearts and Minds

Claire & Gemma - NEPHRA Good Neighbours

Mark – Studio Squid Design

North Manchester Residents

Strategic links to local/national policies (Cooking)

Research/evidence base

Garcia, A.L., Reardon, R., McDonald, M., Vargas-Garcia, E. J. (2016) Community Interventions to Improve Cooking Skills and Their Effects on Confidence and Eating Behaviour. Current Nutrition Reports. 5, 315–322

Hasan, B., Thompson, W.G., Almasri, J. et al. (2019) The effect of culinary interventions (cooking classes) on dietary intake and behavioral change: a systematic review and evidence map. BMC Nutrition. 5, 29.

Hersch D, Perdue L, Ambroz T, Boucher JL. (2014) The impact of cooking classes on food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of school-aged children: a systematic review of the evidence, 2003-2014. Preventing Chronic Disease. 11:E193.

Mills, S., Brown, H., Wrieden, W., White, M., Adams, J. (2017) Frequency of eating home cooked meals and potential benefits for diet and health: cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 14, 109.

Mills, S., White, M., Brown, H., Wrieden, W., Kwasnicka, D., Halligan, J., Robalino, S. Adams, J. (2017)

Health and social determinants and outcomes of home cooking: A systematic review of observational studies. Appetite. 111:116-134.

Strategic links to local/national policies (Health promotion)

Research/evidence base

King’s Fund (2008) Using Information to Promote Healthy Behaviours

Health Foundation (2011) Evidence: Helping People Help Themselves

Institute for Public Policy Research (2020) Prevention in the Age of Information: Public Education for Better Health

Perry et al (2016) The NHS health check programme in England: a qualitative study Health Promotion International, 31 (1), 106-115

WHO (1986) The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion

Strategic links to local/national policies (Wellbeing Packs)

Research/evidence base

Ambition for Ageing. (2020). Developing social contact models in a time of social distancing: A Response to COVID-19

Centre for Ageing Better. (2020). Gilli's voice - Moments of Joy

Harandi, T. F., Taghinasab, M. M., & Nayeri, T. D. (2017). The correlation of social support with mental health: A meta-analysis. Electronic physician, 9(9), 5212–5222.

Ministry of Social Development (2018) - The measurement of social connectedness and its relationship to wellbeing

Seifert, A., Cotton, S. R., Xie, B. (2020). A Double Burden of Exclusion? Digital and Social Exclusion of Older Adults in Times of COVID-19, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, gbaa098.

Semmer, N.K., Elfering, A., Jacobshagen, N., Perrot, T., Beehr, T.A. and Boos, N., 2008. The emotional meaning of instrumental social support. International journal of stress management, 15(3), p.235.

Contact

Simon Kitchin – Age Friendly Neighbourhood Health Worker

Mob. 07552 249977

Simon.Kitchin@gmmh.nhs.uk