“Cooking on a Budget” is a friendly, hands-on cookery course for people who are finding life tough or need practical support to cook nutritious, cost-effective and healthy meals.  Thanks to generous funding from Westhill Endowment, this hands-on four-week course will run multiple times in 2026 at Gate 15, a new church-run Community Wellbeing Cafe at The Runway community hub in Christchurch, Dorset.

Due to a partnership between GodFirst and Christchurch Foodbank+, weekly referred participants will cook healthy meals in a relaxed group setting, receive recipe cards and learn new money-saving tips, all to try in their own kitchen.  Recipes are made from affordable and local ingredients.  The course builds confidence, connection and friendship, moving people forward with dignity, fun and a future hope.  

GodFirst is a registered charity and community church based in Christchurch, Dorset.  We are rooted in the Somerford estate and run a lively community hub called The Runway; a welcoming space where people of all ages and backgrounds can find support, connection and practical help.

The Cooking on a Budget trainings will be delivered in close partnership with Christchurch Foodbank+, with whom we have built a strong and trusted relationship over many years.  Course participants are referred to this project through Foodbank+, schools, family centres and local services, perhaps at times when they are experiencing food insecurity, financial pressure and/or wider life challenges.  This may include young people wanting to gain cooking skills as they set out on life or family providers who are struggling to make ends meet in the kitchen under cost-of-living pressures.

The four-week course is friendly, hands-on and supportive.  Participants come every week and cook simple and affordable meals together, learn how to plan and budget and finally receive take-home recipe cards and resources they can use straight away in their own kitchen.  Just as importantly, the sessions create space for conversation, encouragement and confidence-building.  During a recent pilot of these courses, one young woman enjoyed the course so much that she returned the following week with her mum and grandmother — bringing three generations together through food was such a joy to see!

The Cooking on a Budget course will run multiple times in 2026, in Somerford, Dorset, home to many people experiencing high levels of poverty and social isolation, particularly families and older people.  This project responds by offering practical life skills in a warm, non-judgemental environment, helping people feel more confident, connected and hopeful.  Drawing on over 40 years of experience in the local community, GodFirst is passionate about working alongside partners to support people not just in crisis, but on their journey beyond, with hope and dignity.