How environmentally-friendly is your course?
Green Credentials & Traceable Food Products:
At "Courses for Cooks" everything possible is recycled and all appropriate foodstuffs are composted. Unnecessary packaging is not bought in the first place unless absolutely unavoidable and carrier bags are re-used or avoided completely. Even during a full day cookery course we produce hardly any rubbish that goes to landfill - and the rubbish we do have is put in the bin inside a [very small] compostable bag that will break down quicker than normal binbags [available in a roll from Wilkinsons if anyone is interested].
We use tubs to freeze food in rather than plastic bags so that they can be rewashed. We use bowls with lids rather than covering everything with masses of clingfilm [try Ikea for these]. We make our own bread and reuse the bags for this - saving you from preservatives and the land from being filled with plastic!
The kitchen appliances are all low energy rated and the heating and hot water used in the most efficient way possible. We try to utilise the oven as efficiently as possible - so you might occasionally see our own dinner slow cooking in the warming oven while it is keeping things warm during your cookery course!
All our meat is supplied either by our local butcher or from a Nottinghamshire farmshop [a lot of this meat is reared locally] A local fishmonger provides all the fish. Vegetables are bought from the local greengrocer, Farmers’ Markets and Farm Shops where available and I also have a regular organic veg box delivery. Every effort is made to use British products in preference to food that has travelled across the globe - including British-grown chillies!
Additives and preservatives are nowhere to be seen – you see everything that goes into the recipes and they must be consumed while fresh! I make my own stock and grow as many herbs as I can for use in the courses.
I am developing a comprehensive herb garden and we often grow a selection of chillies, peppers and vegetables, for use on the courses. The herb garden is watered using rainwater from our water butt - which collects water from all sides of the roof of my office at the bottom of the garden.
I am also trying to reduce the amount of paper used when taking bookings and where possible encourage people to read the information on the web site - which is the most up to date source of information anyway. I also try to obtain email addresses so I can send out confirmations by this method and therefore avoid another letter and envelope. I also have an online booking option for cookery course vouchers.
This web site gives details of public transport options for reaching "Courses for Cooks" with links to bus timetables. I am also happy to facilitate car sharing arrangements between guests where required.
Finally for now - my pancake cooking plate was made from an old steel off-cut that was rescued from a skip and we now have a reclaimed wood beam over the cooker!
Hopefully my efforts will encourage others to do the same!
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