When I first applied to be a cooking mentor with Bags of Taste in 2021, I was looking for a virtual volunteering opportunity I could do around my full time job, and Bags of Taste mentoring seemed perfect! I love food – cooking it and eating it – and the mentoring was flexible around my job. I can easily send messages on my lunch break at work, or after work, as lots of the students cook at teatime.

Students receive a bag of food, recipes and some basic equipment, so my job for the first few days of the whats app group is building excitement around the bags arriving and what they’ll be cooking. They tend to have more questions in the first few days, so I can quickly send responses when I’m at work or other members of the group might respond. I post the recipes and top tips then the students are encouraged to post photos of their dishes with the group.

The opportunity to (virtually) meet new people and hear how the course has made a positive difference to their lives is one of my favourite things about Bags of Taste mentoring. Each time I’ve called a student to congratulate them on completing the course, they’ve shared lovely stories of how the Bags of Taste programme has changed the way they’ll cook in future, the amount of money they’ll save on food shopping each week or how they and their family have enjoyed cooking the recipes.

I also love the creativity students show when making the recipes. They sometimes add additional ingredients according to their tastes. One student created a video with background music for one of the recipes which was amazing!

I’ve mentored people from all walks of life – parents, people living on their own, people with mental health difficulties, people with disabilities and lots more. Everyone engages in the course slightly differently and it’s my job as a mentor to identify how to encourage each of them to succeed.

I’ve also had groups who have shared other recipe ideas in the group – it’s always nice to see everyone talking in the group and sharing their tips and ideas. I know I’m a very small cog in a much larger machine but seeing the difference Bags of Taste makes to people has been extremely satisfying, and something that encourages me to continue mentoring with Bags of Taste.

To find out more about how you can become a Bags of Taste cooking mentor, go to https://bagsoftaste.org/volunteer/