GOOD food will be saved from going to waste at free cooking sessions in Barton over the next few months.

Residents from the estate are being urged to take part in a Ready, Steady, Cook-style approach to producing meals from surplus ingredients in the Neighbourhood Centre's Eatwells Cafe.

The cooks can whip up their own tasty meals before sitting down and eating them for free.

The move comes after the Oxford Food Bank said its delivery of leftover produce from supermarkets three times a week sometimes was too much to be taken by members of the community.

Eatwells Café manager Mandy Ayres urged residents come and take part in the sessions.

She added: ""This is really good quality food and it’s such a shame for it to go in the bin.

"People don’t need to have cooking experience, we can help with that. We just need people who can come along and help out."

The sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 9am to midday on November 16 and 30, January 11 and 25 and February 8 and 22.

The project is inspired by the Oxford Food Surplus Café, which created pop-up cafés around the city to save edible food from become waste.

Miranda Shaw from the Oxford Food Surplus Café said:"For some people, it can be daunting to be faced with a load of different ingredients.

"But it’s amazing how easy it is, and what great meals we can make together. It’s an important skill to share.

"I think that if we can all learn to cook together and share recipes then we can save money and everyone can have great affordable food."

The aim of the sessions will be to cook meals for the regular Wednesday community lunch club at the centre in Underhill Circus, which will cost just £2.

Anyone who would like to volunteer is welcome, including people with children under five, who can teach their children cooking skills at the sessions.

People are asked to bring tubs to take away meals for the week, to ensure extra food is not wasted.

And any resident who attends five or six sessions will receive free kitchen equipment up to the value of £20 as a thank you for helping out.

The cooking sessions have been funded by Oxford City Council as part of the Barton Healthy New Town initiative.

The aim is to create sustainable projects for Barton and Barton Park to improve health and wellbeing.

For details and to book a place, call Sue on 01865 761987 or email info@bartoncommunityassociation.com