Revered Manchester chef Simon Wood is helping to feed families in need and on a budget with the launch of his new #FeedingFamiliesFor30 initiative.
The MasterChef champion – who was the winner of the 2015 edition of the cookery competition show – has joined forces with Manchester-based specialist communications agency, Down At The Social, to showcase what £30 worth of food from a supermarket should look like, compared to the free school meal parcels previously provided by the government.
As part of the initiative, the Chadderton-native has also created a series of quick and tasty recipes using dried goods and tinned produce to offer inspiration to families when cooking at home.
The recipes have been incredibly well-received – especially for those who have seen their income cut due to the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic – and the accessible nature of the content has also led to food banks printing and handing them out alongside food parcels.
The Feeding Families With Simon Wood website has officially been launched this week.
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The website serves as a central and permanent home for all the recipes, and looks to provide a space where individuals and families can seek inspiration and resources to create quick and easy meals using cupboard essentials.
As you all hopefully know by now I’ve been releasing easy recipes every day to try and help people of all skill levels in the kitchen
With the government now returning to the school meal vouchers instead of pre-prepared food parcels, families can now also access ready-made shopping lists which can be used to create a host of Simon’s recipes.
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Inspired by the incredible work of Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford over the past year, Down At The Social and Simon Wood want to provide “real solutions for real people” who want to eat well but on a strict budget, and #FeedingFamiliesFor30 does just that.
It aims to demonstrate what £30 of food really looks like when done properly.
After buying dried goods, tinned produce and essentials from a supermarket of their choice, families are encouraged to taking a picture of their creations and post it on social media and using the dedicated hashtag, before donating the goods to a local food bank.
Speaking on the launch of the new initiative and website, Simon Wood said: “It’s been incredibly heartwarming to see the reception of me posting these recipes on my social channels, with everyone getting stuck in and recreating them at home [and] knowing that food banks are now offering them out alongside food parcels is something I’m really proud of.
“We just wanted to provide a solution to families and individuals who have limited resources, but [still] want to eat well [and] launching this website means we can extend the reach and allow more people access to quick and easy recipes using just basic, cost effective ingredients.
“What Marcus Rashford has started has been incredible and now we must all do our part to ensure that vulnerable children across the country do not go without.”
You can find more information and access Simon Wood’s recipes on the new Feeding Families With Simon Wood website here.
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Emily Sergeant -
19th January 2021 
