Feb
7
On the Menu!
Filed Under News
SUPERCHEF Jean Rhodes is encouraging tiny tots at a Blackpool nursery to go green.
Not only does she serve up healthy meals to her young “eco-tots”, she is also getting them growing their own veg and composting the waste. Farmer’s daughter Jean, who grew up in Yorkshire, believes that it’s never too early to teach children the importance of caring for their own health and their environment. And as a keen fan of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s mission to improve school meals, she is delighted to have the backing of her employers. Jean has been appointed head chef at Blackpool latest “super-nursery”, the Safehands Greenstart children’s nursery, based at Blackpool Football Club, where she plays an important role in encouraging little ones and their parents to promote healthy eating, improve their lifestyle, reduce litter and waste and save energy where possible. Nothing she serves in her kitchen is frozen and everything is prepared from fresh ingredients.
The 136 children at the “eco-nursery” - the first of its kind in the region - have their own outdoor garden where, in spring, they will start growing their own fruit and vegetables including apples, carrots, beans, potatoes and herbs. And when they harvest their produce, Jean will turn it into delicious dishes for them to eat.
“It’s as green as you can get”, said Jean who is a firm believer in good old fashioned tasty and wholesome food.
“We even encourage the children to save food waste which we collect every day and which they then put on the compost heap for spreading on the garden”.
Jean, who was taught to cook by her mum as a child, started work as a cook when her own children, Dominic, now 23, and Ashley, 21, were pupils at Newton Bluecoats School, Newton, near Kirkham.
“It was turkey twizzlers in those days, you didn’t like serving them up I don’t know why we couldn’t cook up healthy meals like we can now.
Thankfully, the Government has finally realised that you can serve up good wholesome food which encourages a healthy lifestyle in future. I’m a great fan of Jamie Oliver. He has made a huge difference to the school meals service by getting rubbish off the menus and promoting healthy eating. All the meals I serve here are nutritionally balanced. Parents know exactly what their child has eaten while they have been
here. I love to cook and am looking forward to using the veg the children grow - if there is any!”
Jean moved to the nursery from Kirkham Grammar School, where she was part-time
“I was also cleaning at Carr Hill and working as a night carer” said Jean, who lives at The Mede, Freckleton. Jean is well known in her local community as an Avon lady.
At Safehands, she cooks up meals every day for more than 90 toddlers and up to 12 adults and her menu includes Lancashire hotpot, beef casserole, home made soups and stews, tuna pasta bake, fish cakes, and cheese and tomato wraps. Salad sticks and fruit are served four times a day with water and sugar free Juice, Traditional puddings, with custard, are still a favourite and babies, from as young as four months old, are given the same tasty food as older children in puree form.
“I know youngsters are supposed to hate vegetables but they love them here”, said Jean. “It’s different somehow when they have grown it themselves.”
Jean says the nursery aims to keep the children well nourished and happy so they can feel even more safe and secure while at the same time learning about conservation and other environmental issues in a fun way.
The pioneering nursery, which has also introduced a webcam facility for parents to keep an eye on their children up to half an hour each day. is the latest venture from Safehands, which was set up 10 years ago by Fylde couple Gary and Stephanie Farrer. Stephanie said: “These are the adults of tomorrow and learning to care for the planet and Mother Earth is something we want to encourage with children and their parents and make it a very real and meaningful part of the life and ethos of the nursery.”
