Episode 69 – Fun in the kitchen

Happy new year to you all and welcome to 2021! Thank you for joining me today.

In this weeks episode, I interview Rebecca Longden from SimpliciB, a company that educates people about food.

All about Becky

“Hi, my name is Becky and my company is SimpliciB which is all about food education. It’s my mission to get people back in the kitchen and having fun.”

Becky loves to cook and started to use social media to share hints and tips. She focuses on how to shop and cook more efficiently. When she realised her post were gaining popularity it morphed into SimpliciB (Simply by Becky) her mission is to share her knowledge with others.

Becky’s journey

When Becky bought her first house, she realised that she did not know how or what to cook and turned to her Mum for advice. When she had her son, she found that she started to look at food differently, she needed to know what was in the food that they were eating, to make sure that was healthy and he had the nutrients that he needed.

Later, due to circumstances change Becky only had herself to think about, and she found herself in a rut and only ate because she had to, not because she wanted to. She lived on easy meals such as jacket potatoes and did not eat properly at all. After a while of living by herself, Becky then decided to stop doing this and to stop compromising on flavours.

Becky now likes to plan her meals and make the most of whatever she buys. If she needs a type of vegetable for one meal, she looks at how she can incorporate that vegetable in other meals to prevent it going to waste. By freezing leftovers, it saves on cooking time for the next time you eat it, plus it saves money and prevents waste too.

About SimpliciB

When the pandemic began, she created her Facebook page to inspire her friends and family, hoping to motivate each other to keep cooking. She then received feedback to say that the meals looked great in the photos and videos that she shared, but people kept asking how long she spent each day cooking. Becky then realised that people had the mindset that you either need to spend a lot of money on ingredients, or you need to be able to devote a lot of time to cooking the meals, but the meals she was sharing were neither.

SimpliciB was created to help people to gain confidence and the skills to enjoy cooking in the way that they prefer. Becky now offers 121 virtual classes according to what her client needs, to help educate others. Her latest venture is her membership where she shares hints and tips and recipes that her members can cook themselves at home. Becky shares videos of her cooking meals within her subscription and it helps show people that it can be simple to do.

Say no to New Year’s resolutions!

As explained in my last episode, I do not agree with people setting new years resolutions to lose weight. However, I think that it is great to make plans to make changes in your life.

Becky’s top tips for what people can put into place (all year round, not just for January!:)

Make 1 or 2 changes in your lifestyle to make a huge impact.
Look at different products that you buy to see how much packaging that they use, what ingredients they include etc.
Check for cheaper and healthier comparisons in food products. For example, swap a jar of pasta sauce for passata with herbs.
Help foods to last longer by storing better, such as washing salad and wrapping in a damp cloth in the fridge.
When cooking food in foil, make sure that the dull side is facing up as the shiny side reflects the heat away.

Quick fire questions

What is your most positively memorable meal? Monkfish curry cooked at home when my son was only little and I had my dad over for dinner, it suited all of our tastes as a family, and I was really proud of the meal.
What food reminds you of your childhood? Liver and onions, it was so chewy!
What have you got for tea? Tuna with sesame noodle stir fry and vegetables.