Financial Inclusion Project Borders (FIPB) is a free and confidential money advice service funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and delivered by Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA), Scottish Borders Housing Association (SBHA) and Waverley Housing.

As more and more Borderers are turning to food banks to put food on the table, FIPB is joining forces with You Can Cook to organise ‘Cooking on a Budget’ workshops throughout the Borders from Cockburnspath and Reston in the east to Hawick and Jedburgh in the west. These will be open to everyone, not just the housing associations’ tenants.

The workshops are for a maximum of 12 persons per session and commence on March 21 in Duns.

The format for each workshop will include You Can Cook’s executive director Bosco Santimano and his team cooking two budget recipes, tasting, advice, conversation and awareness of how supermarkets encourage us to buy what we don’t need and advise us on the changes we can make to enable us to be more savvy with our food shopping.

There will be refreshments and goodie bags containing ingredients, recipes and additional information for each attendee to take home with them.

Bosco Santimano said: “Having a healthy diet is the key and first step to leading a successful life.

“Budgeting and organisational skills will empower participants and give them the tools that will allow them to differentiate the cost of ‘ready meals/takeaways’ and cooking from scratch. This cookery session will reinforce to participants the ethos that cooking your own food is not only healthy but they will also know exactly what is in the pot while saving money.

“All our workshops encourage learning through active participation which allows everyone involved to interact and learn from each other.

“As an organisation with healthy living at our core, our ethos is to motivate communities and individuals to enhance their health and well-being through food.”

Anyone interested in attending one of the presentations should ring 0300 303 9696 to book their place.

Venues and Dates

• Duns Volunteer Hall - Thursday, March 21 (12.30-2.30pm);
• Foulden Village Hall - Tuesday, April 9 (1-3pm);
• Reston Village Hall - Thursday, April 11 (12.30-2.30pm);
• Cockburnspath Village Hall - Tuesday, April 30 (1-3pm);
• Abbey Row Community Centre, Kelso - Friday, May 3 (11.30am-1.30pm;
• Langlee Community Centre, Galashiels - Tuesday, May 7 (1.30-3.30pm);
• St Boswells Village Hall - Thursday, May 16 (1-3pm);
• Lauder Public Hall - Tuesday, May 21 (11am-1pm);
• Gordon Village Hall - Tuesday, May 28 (12.30-2.30pm);
• Denholm Village Hall - Thursday, May 30 (12.30-2.30pm);
• Stow Town Hall - Tuesday, June 4 (11am-1pm);
• Caddonfoot Village Hall, Clovenfords - Wednesday, June 5 (11am-1pm);
• Walkerburn Village Hall - Tuesday, June 11 (11am-1pm);
• Jedburgh Arts and Community Centre - Wednesday, June 12 (11am-1pm);
• Hawick Town Hall - Thursday, June 20 (11am-1pm).