How do we get more people cooking real food, and enjoying it?

Why are there so many cookery programmes on the TV, yet so many people eating out, buying takeaways or ready meals? Surely we would all be healthier and wealthier cooking at home with cheap, fresh, ingredients?

Here are 10 ways to get more people cooking, with a ‘spin’ on how to make each enjoyable! We also include a competition to win one of 4 massive boxes of Pipers crisps, containing 48 assorted flavour 40g bags.

1. Video recipes & cookery programmes
Technology means we now don’t have to study a book and follow a long recipe, making sure we have the right quantities of each ingredient. We can set up the laptop or tablet and follow a video recipe. Comparing our work in progress to what is on the screen and clicking ‘pause’ whenever suits.

2. Grow your own & fresh seasonal foods
At BigBarn we are great believers in Growing Your Own. Not only to get really great fresh food, but also to make some extra money if sold through a local shop, or swapped of local goods and services. Having really fresh vegetables also encourages, tasting, like raw carrots, cooking, and making a meal of your delicious crop.

3. Celebration
Some people dread their turn to have the family for Christmas lunch, what a shame! Is it the family or the perceived hours of cooking, mountain of washing up, and endless, dry, turkey sandwiches? Perhaps the Christmas event puts many people off cooking? We really need to change our attitude, get some friends round and think of something to celebrate, hopefully the food.

4. A nice drink
Which brings us to a good reason to have a nice drink. Have you noticed how restaurants mark up expensive wine? Staying home and cooking a nice meal means you can justify buying a good bottle of wine to enjoy with your meal.

5. Attitude
Cooking is not difficult, and to me, and millions others, very satisfying. Especially if those you are cooking for have the grace to leave the ketchup in the fridge and give positive feedback. A glass of wine might help.

6. Bribery
There is no reason why this positive feedback can’t also include a cash payment to the cook. A great way to get the kids cooking.

7. Save money or earn money
In these austere times we all need to cut back on buying expensive ready meals, takeaways and visiting restaurants. How many times have you eaten out and paid £15 for a meal you could have cooked better yourself? If the family want a take way meal, home made burgers are really easy to make, likewise pizza, fried chicken and curry.

Or if really ambitious perhaps start a secret pop up restaurant and charge for your delicious meals.

8. KIS
KIS stands for Keep It Simple. So many cookery programmes on TV make cooking look like an art form, producing meals that only a handful of people on the planet could possibly copy.

Why not make cooking easy, simple and quick? To help we will be launching KIS cookery on BigBarn next week, a video channel full of short video recipes. Hundreds of recipes will be shown and prizes (Pipers Crisps) given every month to the best. We hope that very soon you will even be able to type in the list of the ingredients you have in your fridge and a quick video recipe will match.

9. Fame
Try cooking and making a few videos for out KIS Cookery channel and you might be ‘found’ as the next famous chef!

10. Love
And last of all, as we approach Valentines day, what better way to show your love than cook that special person a delicious, aphrodisiac laced, meal. As always we welcome any comments you might have.