Cook Healthy Eat Well (CHEW) is a two-part intervention designed to support adults experiencing food insecurity to make small, achievable changes to how they cook and eat. CHEW was co-developed with people with lived experience of food insecurity and third sector organisations and is grounded in behavioural-science frameworks. It focuses on building confidence, reducing barriers, and supporting realistic improvements rather than aiming for perfect eating.
Third sector staff are encouraged to borrow the Resource Box for use in their sessions and distribute Toolkits to clients who may benefit.
To arrange use of the Resource Box or obtain hard copies of the Toolkit, please contact project leader Abbie Stephen.
"A really useful resource" - find out what users think of the CHEW toolkit
- Home-Start Aberdeen
-
I am incredibly proud to have contributed to the development of the Cook Healthy Eat Well Toolkit. We hope it will inspire families to try new recipes, cook together, and develop lifelong skills that support healthier, happier home lives. The cookbook reflects the core values of Home-Start Aberdeen - empowering families, building resilience, and creating opportunities for positive change.
Feedback from those who have already used the resource has been extremely positive:
- "The QR codes showing how to prepare produce are excellent."
- "The booklet is user-friendly, easy to navigate and understand, and includes lots of useful features such as menu planners and shopping lists."
- Lyn Elrick, Home-Start Aberdeen
- Action for Children, Aberdeen Priority Families
-
This toolkit is a really useful resource for families dealing with food and money worries. Made as an easy-to-read booklet, it gives practical ideas that fit real life when budgets are tight.
It includes simple, healthy recipes, handy shopping tips, and clear advice on how to get the best value—like checking prices per kilo. It’s flexible too: our Family Support Practitioners can use it in sessions, or families can pick it up and use it on their own whenever they need to.
Most of all, it helps people feel more confident about making good choices without feeling judged. It’s a thoughtful, helpful guide that we are happy to recommend to all the families we work with."
- Nicki Martin and Sharon Meechan, Aberdeen Priority Families/Action for Children
- NHS Grampian
-
We are delighted to host the virtual Cook Healthy, Eat Well Toolkit on our NHS Grampian Health Resources Catalogue:
It is a well-designed, easy-to-use resource that empowers people to build everyday skills around meal planning, budgeting, shopping, and cooking. We particularly love the practical features, including the menu planners, shopping lists, and QR codes demonstrating how to prepare fresh produce.
The toolkit is engaging, accessible, and full of helpful tips that make healthy eating on a budget feel both realistic and achievable.
Debbie Skinner, Public Health Practitioner
The CHEW Resource Box
The Resource Box contains a series of practical resources and activities that third sector staff, community groups or schools can borrow and use with clients in different settings, including group sessions, family groups, with children and young people or in one-to-one support.
The activities are designed to be hands on, accessible, and supportive of conversations around healthy eating, food budgeting, and building confidence in cooking. So, what’s inside the Resource Box?
Learn about how big our portions should be
See and feel what 1lb of fat and muscle look like
Learn how to measure without kitchen scales
See how you can make meals cheaper and healthier through quick swaps
Learn about the EatWell guide
Learn how much sugar is in our favourite foods
A selection of family friendly books
Additional information on accessing support for healthy eating
The CHEW Toolkit
The CHEW Toolkit is a ring-binder resource designed to be given directly to adults experiencing food insecurity. It is flexible and can be personalised; participants can remove sections they don’t need and add their own recipes, tips, or tools they find useful by simply hole-punching and inserting them. The toolkit supports small, manageable changes, helping individuals build skills and confidence in a way that feels achievable and empowering.
How CHEW was developed
Our collaborative approach ensures CHEW is relevant, realistic, and sensitive to the lived experiences of the people it aims to support. CHEW is grounded in behavioural science and was created through:
Co-development with local third sector organisations
Feedback from adults experiencing food insecurity
Testing with intended users
Research investigating barriers to achieving a healthy diet under food-insecure conditions
Intervention overview
Interested in learning more about the available activities and resources?
Acknowledgement
This project was supported by the Scottish Government and funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS). We would also like to extend our thanks to the food-related services and intended beneficiaries across Aberdeen City whose insights and contributions to the co-design of the intervention were invaluable.