- Disney UK has joined forces with Ocado and Community Shop, creating family Cook Clubs that will teach families how to make a range of delicious Disney-inspired meals
- Family Cook Clubs will be hosted in 11 Community Shop locations around the country
- Those wanting to get involved can sign-up in advance at their local store
This week, Community Shop is launching its new year-long family Cook Clubs initiative, in collaboration with Disney and Ocado.
The initiative will support families across the country, teaching them key cooking skills as they rustle up a range of Disney-inspired recipes, developed in collaboration with Ocado.
The first sessions are kicking off today, Monday February 13th, and will see parents and children taught how to cook one of the tasty recipes together by a Community Shop Chef.
Cook Clubs will take place twice a week throughout the year, ramping up to four days a week during school holidays, and covering recipes including Little Mermaid-themed Shakshuka, Monsters Inc.-themed Meatballs & Mash and Toy Story-themed Tacos. Half terms and longer holidays will also see the roll out of family food festivals in each location, incorporating health and wellbeing activities for all the family to enjoy together.
Diana Thompson, Community Shop Head Chef, said: “Cook clubs provide children and families with the opportunity to learn new skills and get more comfortable with cooking good food. Thanks to Ocado and Disney, we’re able to welcome even more families into our Community Kitchens and also spread a bit of magic with these fantastic Disney themed recipes.”
Families in Kirkdale, Liverpool, enjoying Disney-inspired family Cook Clubs.
The programme is set to serve 20 families in each location every week, with this figure doubling during school holidays, equating to over 12,000 family cooking experiences throughout the course of the year.
Sara Hanson, Director, Enterprise Social Responsibility at Disney UK said “At Disney, our social purpose is to inspire a better world through the power of our stories. By using themed recipes – from Encanto and Moana to Toy Story and The Lion King – this Community Shop and Ocado collaboration is another great example of how people can build their confidence in the kitchen in a fun and low cost way.”
The Cook Clubs are being rolled out in 11 locations around the country, at Community Shop sites from Leicester to London, Liverpool to Bradford.
As the UK’s first social supermarket chain, Community Shop provides access to high-quality, low-cost products, as well as offering personal development programmes that offer real change to individuals and communities. For over a decade, Ocado has supported Community Shop, helping to fund the openings of shops in Kirkdale, Leicester, Beechwood and Knottingley, as well as providing stock for their stores across the country. Over the course of the last year, Ocado has donated over 9 million products to Community Shop, part funded by donations from its customers.
Rachel Cox-Reynolds, Director of Own Brand, Technical and Sustainability at Ocado Retail said: “We are delighted to be supporting Community Shop as we launch this fantastic new initiative, in partnership with Disney. Having worked with Community Shop for a number of years now, we’ve seen first-hand the incredible impact they have within local communities, and I’m confident that these cookery clubs will engage and support thousands of families across the country.”
Those looking to take part in upcoming sessions can secure their place by visiting their local Community Shop.
This collaboration forms a part of Disney’s wider Healthy Living initiative, which uses the power of popular characters to inspire children and families to be more active.
For more family mealtime inspiration, check out Ocado’s Disney-inspired recipes and meal bundles here.