Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) Cookery students and tutors volunteered their time and talents over the weekend to cook and package around 425 meals for Salvation Army’s Invercargill Food Bank.

The collaboration was a result of a large amount of frozen meat recently donated.

On Saturday (September 26), Glenn Stridiron, Programme Manager for the School of Hospitality and Cookery, and Cookery Tutor Marene Tweedie, oversaw 17 students from NZ Cert Cookery L4 and NZ Dip Cookery L5, plus one Cookery graduate who also volunteered. Technicians Maree Drummond and Annabel Mounsey, co-ordinated the sourcing of donated product, and the setting up of kitchens in preparation for the day, to make sure everything ran without a hitch.

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The students participated in the planning and execution of a nutritious, well-balanced menu, making the most of the donated product:

• Roast Pork, vegetables and potato mustard mash.
• Venison stew with red kidney beans and brown rice.
• Rice noodle chow mein with steamed vegetables and marinated chicken wings
• Roast Mutton with garlic & black bean marinade, steamed vegetables and roast potato.
• Braised chicken with rosemary tomato sauce and fresh linguine.
• Gnocci with tomato pesto sauce.

Mr Stridiron said the project was generously supported by the school’s suppliers: Kaan’s Distributors, Plaza Supervalue, and MG Marketing. Any surplus product from the project would be used in future for similar activities and/or donated to the Salvation Army and Southland Food Bank.

Brenda King, Community Ministries Coordinator for Salvation Army Invercargill, said they had been blown away by the event and the students and staff giving up their own time to make the meals. She said it was really important to them that there was no wastage with food donations, and finding a suitable solution – utilising the meat with such amazing results – was very satisfying.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome, and we’re incredibly grateful this has happened”.

The bulk frozen meat presented the opportunity to do something different; as it wasn’t able to be given out in food parcels, instead, Salvation Army staff contacted SIT’s School of Hospitality and Cookery to assist them in creating pre-cooked, pre-packaged meals. The finished ‘heat and eat’ meals were convenient to include in standard food parcels, and easy for food bank clients to use.

Cookery Tutor Marene Tweedie (centre back) with some of the 17 students who volunteered their time over the weekend to cook and package more than 400 heat and eat meals for The Salvation Army’s Invercargill Food Bank. PHOTO: Southern Institute of Technology