Tom Kerridge and Marcus Rashford to launch programme to tackle child food poverty

Called FULL TIME: Get Cooking with Marcus & Tom, the initiative is in partnership with Rashford’s Child Poverty Taskforce, which aims to end child poverty, and is in response to the Government’s April 2021 uplift of the Healthy Start voucher scheme.

Kerridge, who is part of the National Food Strategy team, and Rashford are attempting to equip families with the skills to get the most out of the Healthy Start vouchers, which from April will equate to £4.25 per child under the age of four per week, and to encourage a 100% take up rate from eligible families.

The chef has created 52 family recipes, with an emphasis on limited equipment and inclusion of store cupboard goods with a longer shelf life, as part of the 12 month-long programme. Recipes will include tortilla pizzas, chicken satay stir fry; Mexican style chicken; and broccoli and cauliflower cheese.

From 25 April recipes will be available in various forms from selected supermarkets every Sunday

morning. Each recipe will feature a QR code linking through to the ‘FULL TIME’ Instagram page where users can access short-form tutorial videos, hosted by Kerridge and Rashford and a selection of celebrity guests and families.

Each Sunday, on the project’s Instagram page, the duo will host a cook-along video teaching how to cook that week’s recipe.

“Marcus and I are super proud to be working together to spread the message of how easy simple cookery can be, for even the most inexperienced of cooks,” says Kerridge.

“We don’t want you to be fighting with your kitchen, and we don’t expect you to have lots of equipment, you can still make great tasting, fun and filling food. Marcus has always been one to encourage life skills and cooking is a valuable skill that everyone can embrace and that will see you through the whole of your life.”