The Benefits of CSR Volunteering

Here at Caring Cooks we talk quite a lot about Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, because we believe that as a small local charity, including us in your CSR plan can bring about real and tangible change in the local community. We are always very grateful for, and indeed dependent on, financial donations from corporates but we also strongly believe that volunteering for Caring Cooks is a great way meeting your corporate social responsibilities in more ways than one. Here are some of the reasons why we think that employee volunteering is a brilliant opportunity for both companies located in Jersey, and small local charities such as ourselves:

● Showing genuine commitment to charity work is a fantastic way of attracting talented candidates. Many prospective employees, particularly millennials will have an expectation that volunteering will make up part of their career. A whopping 88% of millennials showed a preference for companies with committed CSR programs according to research from PWC. Offering commitment to a well-structured volunteer programme could mean that a talented individual will choose you over a neighbouring company.

● It’s a fact that volunteering makes us feel good. Believe it or not, the psychological impact of helping others is so powerful that it can lead to a increase in mood enhancing chemicals in our brains, as well as combating the stress inducing hormones. Therefore, it makes sense that employees who are offered the opportunity to volunteer through work, feel happier about their jobs. We all know that happy, engaged employees are more motivated and productive. Studies also indicate that the time spent volunteering is a great way of bringing a team together, some even believe that offering the opportunity to volunteer is essential for staff wellbeing. Volunteering is a great way to enable people to bond with each other in a different way, outside of work. It is the perfect opportunity to nurture good relationships between team members whilst furthering the aims of a good cause.

Here are some of our wonderful volunteers

● Why choose Caring Cooks? Choosing a small local charity allows both you as an organisation, and the individuals that work for you, to see the specific benefits and measurable results that your financial donations or volunteering time allow us to achieve. These outcomes have a significant, positive impact on local children and families living in the communities that we all share.

● When you invest in Caring Cooks, you are investing in the future of your business in Jersey. Unless we can work together to improve the health of our children today, education will suffer and chronic illness will continue to increase, putting our workforce of tomorrow in jeopardy.

Thank you to everybody who donates time and money to Caring Cooks. We really couldn’t do our job without your help.

How to pack a plastic free lunchbox

Our Island, the surrounding seas and indeed the rest of the world are becoming increasingly polluted by plastic. And yet, here in Jersey, the school system requires parents to provide a packed lunch for their children every day of the school week, meaning that huge amounts of single use plastic are being unnecessarily disposed of from children’s lunch boxes. Some of the local schools are trying to raise awareness by signing up to the Waste Free Wednesday campaign but there is a long way to go before packets of crisps, biscuit wrappers and cling film are banished for good.

We as parents are already struggling to create healthy lunch boxes (free of nuts) as part of our time pressured morning routine, and the added burden of considering the type of packaging we use can feel like a request too many.

However, with a bit of prep and a cleverly designed lunchbox, it may be easier than you think to provide a nutritious lunch for your child, as well as being kinder to the planet.

We have come up with a few ideas to break the monotony of daily lunch box preparation, whilst offering a healthy and interesting selection of food to children, without the addition of single use plastic packaging.

To begin with, we can’t recommend a bento style lunch box enough. Lots of shops are now selling these multi compartment containers which stop food from getting squashed, whilst keeping it fresh and separating different food stuffs. This by the way is a huge help for parents of fussy eaters who don’t enjoy it when different types of food ‘touch’ each other!

This type of box allows you to provide a selection of different foods that are easily eaten with little fingers. Even at the end of the week when the cupboards are almost bare, a handful of raisins, a chopped up apple, a few breadsticks and some chunks of cheese can look enticing when laid out in this format.

We found that one of the most successful ways of encouraging your children to the lunch that you provide for them is to offer a variety of ingredients. Sending an apple or banana everyday is a sure-fire guarantee that a piece of wizened and uneaten fruit will arrive back in the lunch box at the end of the day. However, chopping up the odd mango or pineapple, perhaps when you see discounted in the supermarket adds a touch of the exotic to the standard lunchtime fayre.

Here are a few quick and easy ideas for items that can be added to a bento style lunch box to offer your child a balanced and nutritious lunch every day. We have included a few simple recipes that you can access by clicking the links. Whilst we all live busy lives and homebaking can feel like a luxury that we don’t have time for, the recipes we have included are straightforward and yield large portions that can be chopped into lunch box size pieces and frozen. That way, you have a constant supply of lunch box sized snacks on hand at all times, whether or not you have been shopping:

● Humous – a bento lunchbox staple that kids love to dip. Try adding chopped up veg, pitta breads, tortillas or breadsticks to go with it. Ready available in the shops, hummus is also fast and easy to make it home. This recipe will yield enough for 2 children to eat all week and contains no nasties!

● Veggies – anything goes when it comes to vegetables in lunch boxes. Unless you are a super lucky parent, you are probably limited by what your child will eat. Our advice is, if they’ll eat it, chop it up and throw it in.

● Fruit – it seems to be the whole pieces of fruit that come back home from school battered, bruised and uneaten. Bento lunch boxes really lend themselves to chopped fruit as it keeps it fresh and contained. Berries, chopped mango, chopped pineapple, satsuma segments and halved grapes are all good options here. ● Fruity flapjack – this flapjack recipe is sugar-free and can be made ahead of time, chopped into portions and frozen. It is easy, healthy and convenient.

● Cheese and ham muffins – savoury treats that children really love. Make these muffins smaller than the recipe suggests in order to increase the yield and create a lunch box sized portion. They freeze well. They also work well even if you leave out the ham.

● Feta and spinach rolls. There are a number of ways to make these but essentially a sheet of ready made puff pastry filled with some feta cheese and defrosted frozen spinach, bake in the oven and chop into small rolls, perfect for a lunchbox. A sheet of pastry makes 12-15 rolls – up to 3 weeks worth of lunches!

● Leftovers. It is really convenient to use leftovers of things like pesto pasta and couscous salad – just don’t forget to pack a fork!

#wastefreewednesday