Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee church pilots innovative ‘wonder box’ budget cooking project to help save on bills

One of the classes at Lochee Parish Church
One of the classes at Lochee Parish Church

A Dundee church has been piloting an innovative “wonder box” cooking project helping some of the city’s poorest save money on utility bills.

Lochee Parish Church’s workshops have been teaching struggling local people how to fashion the insulated boxes, which are essentially slow cookers, from polystyrene.

Food is firstly brought to the boil in a pot on a hob, then the pot is placed in the base of the wonder box with the lid on top.

After this, the wonder box will then keep cooking the food and keep it warm so there is no more expenditure on gas or electricity.

The first series of workshops were held in Lochee Parish Church’s hall.

Pots are heated before being placed on the wonder boxes (left)

Local community members chose the project to receive grant funding through the Kirk-backed participatory budgeting  initiative.

Muriel Black, the community café co-ordinator at Lochee Parish Church, said the idea came from the Faith in Community team which discovered similar classes in some of the poorest areas of Glasgow.

She said: “Our community café was asked to host a pilot scheme supported by members of Faith in Community Dundee who sourced funding, supplied equipment and helped to advertise the workshops.

“The classes were run alongside the opening of the café.

“Each week, four or five people have taken part, which brought in new folk to the café. They were then keen to be part of the cooking classes using budget one-pot recipes suitable for use in their wonder boxes.

“The workshops were initially delivered by one person whose role was funded through the Faith in Community team, but since then two people have volunteered to run the sessions, which has allowed more one-to-one working with those taking part.”

The wonder box workshops were piloted as a result of participatory budget funding won at last year’s community funding event at Dundee West Church.

Around £8,000 was split between the winners including Lochee Parish Church, Mainstreet Young People’s Group and the Parish Nursing Recovery Map.

Chloe Clemmons, parliamentary officer for the Kirk’s Church and Society Council, said: “It is fantastic for churches to be able to invite people to come together at a participatory budgeting event and make real decisions about funding activities in their area.

“Churches which hosted events in previous years have found the process helped them to increase their connections in the local community and support some brilliant local projects like wonder box workshops.”

The next round of funding will be awarded at Dundee’s PB event being held on Tuesday 30 April between 1pm-3:30pm at Coldside Parish Church.

To apply to take part, email dundeepb2019@gmail.com and complete an application form by Friday April 12.