Footballer Marcus Rashford and Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge are showing the nation how to cook cheap, easy, healthy meals.

Their back to basics campaign - called Full Time - is now broadcasting short weekly online cooking videos whilst recipe cards are now hitting supermarket shelves to help encourage families to prepare good food in their own kitchens with minimal cost and stress.

The pair say they have teamed-up because of similar childhood memories of growing up in single-parent households where everything had to be budgeted for.

Manchester footballer Marcus Rashford has been a huge campaigner on child poverty issues, particularly in the last year of the pandemic, spurred on by his own childhood memories of his family being supported by the free school meals scheme. He was awarded a Gold Blue Peter badger earlier this year for his work.

Keen to give children and their families the 'skills and confidence' to cook good food using basic ingredients and equipment, the emphasis on the new cooking lessons is also on having fun and spending time together.

In a message on his website Tom Kerridge explains: "This is a cause that is close to my heart. Whilst Marcus and I are from different generations, we share a lot of similarities in our journey to success. I also grew up in a single parent household on a council estate, my mum worked two jobs and, although I never went without food, times were difficult, and money was tight.

"It’s heart breaking to think that 4.2 million children in the UK are living in poverty, no child should go to bed hungry but today, far too many do. We live in the third largest economy in the world – it’s time to call full time on child food poverty."

How to get involved

Tom Kerridge has drawn-up 52 recipes he believes the whole family will be able to cook - dishes he describes on his website as those 'to fill hungry tummies'. Items include meals like chicken stir fry and tortilla pizzas.

The recipes are simple and easy to follow with emphasis on limited equipment and the inclusion of store cupboard goods, which will often carry a longer shelf life.

Every Sunday morning one of the recipes will be broken down and demonstrated in a new cook-along video broadcast on the campaign's Instagram page @FullTimeMeals or via Facebook here.

The videos feature Tom and Marcus but also some celebrity friends including Joe Wicks and broadcaster Fearne Cotton.

It is promised that families will not need mountains of ingredients, equipment or skill to join in.

Recipes and ingredients lists are posted online ahead of each Sunday cook-along but recipe cards are also now being distributed across major supermarkets and at other places like foodbanks to encourage families to look the campaign up and take part.

To read more about the campaign click here.

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