Ingleburn High School fee relief funded by food charity OzHarvest’s cooking hacks

Students at a Sydney high school have been the guinea pigs for a program that’s shaving hundreds of dollars off the food budget. Find out what the school is doing with the savings.

A southwest Sydney high school has shaved 25 per cent off its food bills by using leftovers and reinvesting the savings in school fee relief, all while teaching students valuable life skills.

Ingleburn High School students have been the guinea pigs for a new program which teaches Food Technology pupils about the environmental and economic costs of food waste and how to avoid it by using up the ingredients you’ve got lying around.

Each of the ‘use it up’ recipes costs less than $3 per serve, and head teacher of technology Deirdre Williams said it’s made a big difference not only to students’ attitudes about food, but her department’s bottom line.

“The recipes are strategically placed, so if you do honey-soy chicken noodles with carrots and onions in one class, the following food lesson is fried rice which you use up all your leftover vegetables for,” Ms Williams explained.

“I was spending over $200 (per week) before on technology mandatory for stage four, and I’m easily down to between $150 and $170.

Year 8 students Toleen Abokarsh, Sydney Putragunada, Aman Singh, and Erika Elphick have been trialling OzHarvest charity’s new FEAST program for secondary schools. Picture: Julian Andrews

“We’re actually saving money which … also means we can reduce our student fees down as well. It’s an opportunity … to make sure that no one ever misses out, and it means we can … help people in the community as well.”

Fees for technology subjects, a mandatory part of the curriculum for students in Years 7 and 8, usually range from $50 to $100 depending on year level.

13-year-old Year 8 student Aman Singh said it’s been fun making leftovers-based fried rice and smoothies at school, and plans to bring his new skills into the family kitchen.

“When we make food at home, there’s always veggies left over and we usually just put them in the compost, but now we’re making more food out of it or using it again instead of just throwing it out,” he said.

Classmate Sydney Putragunada said the ‘theory’ component of the course has been just as eye-opening.

“There was one really odd fact that just stood out to me – if food waste was a country it would be the third largest country in terms of CO2 emissions,” he said.

The FEAST program, developed by food charity OzHarvest, is designed to help students “connect the dots between food waste and climate change”, and give them practical ways to make a difference, founder Ronni Kahn said.

Celebrity TV chef Colin Fassnidge joined Ms Kahn and the Ingleburn students for a cook-off on Wednesday to launch the course to the nation.