A COOKING workshop aimed at families is hoping to ramp up their cooking skills while encouraging sustainability in the kitchen.

Byron-based chef Alison Drover will run the workshop next Wednesday, with the support of North East Waste and Tweed Shire Council as well as the Environment Trust.

“It’s great to be able to run free cooking classes,” MsDrover said.

She said smarter food consumption was an accessible way for people to live more sustainably.

“People often wonder what people can do for the environment,” she said.

“Food waste is a big problem and families are the worst offenders.

“They’re busy, people buy things, often food skills are diminishing.”

She said the prevalence of cooking shows had encouraged people to buy obscure ingredients, often at the cost of sustainability in the kitchen.

“Nearly a third of food is wasted from households,” she said.

Ms Drover said the workshop would take a “back to basics” approach to help families use their assets better in the kitchen, such as making quality stock from scratch.

She said the more sustainable approach to consumption would be considered standard practice by many of our grandparents in times gone by.

“People were a lot more frugal with food and they learned how to use things in different ways,” she said.

“It’s simple cuisine but it’s using really good produce.”