NATIONAL COOKING PROGRAMME: Cook For Victory
Learn to cook over 20 days with our live online programme Cook For Victory*
The National Cooking Programme starts Tuesday 6th May 2025 and runs for 20 days (Monday to Friday, skipping any bank holidays).
Participants can sign up for the whole course and take part in the daily cooking sessions. If you are unable to make all 20 classes, that ‘s no problem – just join when you can. Recipes, ingredients and equipment lists and class joining links will be sent to you in advance.
What will you learn?
Master the fundamentals of cooking in our 2025 online cook-along series and make your favourite, popular dishes from scratch. Each day you will learn how to cook simple delicious home cooked meals made with fresh, good ingredients. Join on your own or with your children or housemates and when the class finishes, sit down to a delicious meal.
Join us every weekday evening at 6pm for a free cook-along course online, a chance of a lifetime to learn to cook under the expert guidance of our chefs. After 20 days of daily one-hour classes Monday to Friday, you will be a more confident cook, you will have mastered many basic techniques and learnt principles that you can apply to other recipes and meals.
When learning to cook there is no right order in which to learn. We take a fast track approach but with our carefully designed menu and recipes you can understand exactly what you are doing to make each evening whilst cooking at home easy. You will be surprised at how easy, and approachable cooking is. It is also a lot of fun! Every night is a treat.
All classes are live and you will have the opportunity to ask questions during each session.
Each class has a vegetarian option if meat or fish is on the menu.
Why we are offering this course?
With a health crisis and a lack of cooking education affecting everyone in the UK we are teaching good basic skills that will help you to avoid picking up a ready meal on the way home but rather spend an hour each evening cooking proper food and enjoying eating it afterwards.
The ingredients that we use are everyday items that are easy to find and inexpensive to buy. By making more of your favourite dishes from scratch you avoid the unhealthy ingredients salts, sugars, additives and preservatives which are found in ultra processed foods (UPFs) and takeaways. You will be surprised just how delicious your own food is and how simple the meals are to make.
In the 20 hours there is time to reinforce skills that are learnt in each class and help build culinary confidence. Reinforcing cooking techniques and repeating dishes with similar techniques will give you great confidence at home.
We all learn by mistakes and this is key to our teaching. Even the best cooks make mistakes but knowing how to correct them is the important part of the process. It can also be the fun part!
You will receive an ingredients list, equipment details, instructions and a password to access each class well in advance to ensure you can shop and prepare in plenty of time.
We want to make cooking accessible to everyone so we are offering this online cooking course for FREE.
IN THIS ONLINE COOKING COURSE, YOU WILL LEARN:
WEEK 1
- Roasting chicken & vegetables
- Pasta, sauce & salad
- Minestrone soup & roast butternut soup
- Macaroni cheese & cauliflower cheese
WEEK 2
- Pizza & salad
- Bread rolls & sandwich fillings
- Mushroom ragout, white and brown rice
- Bolognese sauce & green salad
- Eggs, scones & soda bread
WEEK 3
- Chicken, fish or cauliflower steak, chips & slaw
- Shepherds pie & mash
- Meatballs & pasta, muffins
- Omelettes, fruit salad & yoghurt
- Fishcakes & baked broccoli
WEEK 4
- Bean burgers and bun, chilli sauce & crudite
- Chickpea curry with rice and raita
- Cheese and onion and herb pasties with grated carrot and orange juice salad
- Griddled vegetables, fish or chicken & butter bean mash, apple crumble
WEEK 5
- Flatbread, hummus, aubergine & tomato salad, fattoush
- Lasagne with tomato salad
When you sign up to our online course or classes you have the option to make a donation to Magic Breakfast. Working with schools, the national charity Magic Breakfast supports children at risk of food poverty by providing them with healthy breakfasts.
We see learning to cook as part of the solution to the many issues that we face today including, health and wellbeing, environmental and financial issues. We want to get as many people as possible cooking from scratch at home. Join us!
*Why Cook for Victory echoes the wartime Dig for Victory campaign :
- UPFs over the years have surreptitiously entered our food system to the extent that the global spread of obesity has been labelled a pandemic and it is epidemic in the UK. This needs to be addressed
- Big Food has engineered so many foods making them heavily processed and addictive to eat, adding to the obesity crisis and the continuing emergence of diseases associated with synthesised elements used to produce UPFs. They need to be clearly called out and we must rediscover unprocessed foods that are good for us
- By creating a national movement to learn to cook, we can reduce the dependence on heavily processed foods. Small changes make a big difference.
We try to accommodate dietary requirements as best we can and do our best to provide alternatives where possible. However, some classes are simply not designed to accommodate special dietary requirements, for example, we can not make entire baking classes gluten free or make croissants without butter.
If you have any questions about what we can provide, please call us before making your booking on 0207 631 4590. Please put a note in the “dietary requirements” box at the checkout if you have any requirements or allergies at all, even if you do not think it it is relevent!
We do not have individual hobs for every person but rather a group of hobs at one end of the kitchen. In most classes you will be working in small groups to create the recipes. As a whole class you will make everything listed on the website but the only way we can cover the huge variety of dishes listed is by dividing the class into smaller groups. When there are key skills that need to be learned by the whole class, the teacher will pause the group and gather everyone together to explain/show it so by the end of the class everyone understands how each dish was made.
We are happy for anyone of any age to attend. If they are very young, an adult needs to work with them, in which case we would only charge for one space. We aren’t a creche service though so no dump-and-runs while you go shopping! Teenagers may like to join our Summer Cooking Camp where they will be with other kids the same age.
Sustainability has always been part of our ethos which is why we made the decision not to print recipes for students to take home with them, except when printed recipes are specifically requested. Instead, we email the recipes to students shortly after the class.
You may transfer to an alternative class if you give us notice not less than 21 days before the date of the class. In this case, we will rebook you on to your selected class or issue a voucher valid for one year from date of issue. Transfers or issuing of a voucher will be subject to an administration fee of £15. Confirmed bookings are not eligible for refunds or cancellations under any circumstances. If you cannot attend a class you may send someone else in your place, just let us know the name of the attendee in advance of the class, where possible.
At the end of most classes you will sit down around the Cookery School table and enjoy the food that you have made. Any food that is leftover from this is kept for staff lunches so nothing goes to waste
The exception to this is that you are welcome to take home the chicken that you de-bone in the meat & poultry class provided you bring a chiller bag with you and we provide you with a freezer block. Additionally, many of the items in our baking classes and courses are low risk and safe to take home so you will need a carrier bag of some sort.
We have very little waste as we order based on the number of people in the class. We generally do not allow people to take food home because we have found that many people come into central London, do a class at Cookery School and then go off to the theatre, cinema, clubbing or shopping. During that time the food that left Cookery School in good condition, deteriorates and can cause illness.
Absolutely! If you have been cooking a bit already at home then you are welcome to skip the Beginners course.
Our six week professional cooking course, Cook’s Certificate, is the only accredited course we run. You will receive a Cook’s Level 3 Training certificate from OCN London at the end of this course.
If you would like a certificate of attendance from any other class or course, we are happy to provide one. Just make a note of this in the ‘notes’ section at the checkout.
You do not need to bring anything with you to most classes. However, if you are taking the Ultimate Meat & Poultry Class you should bring a chiller bag for your de-boned chicken and for any baking class or course, please bring a carrier bag to take home some of the items you make.
Please make sure you are wearing closed toe shoes.
Not at all! The majority of our students come alone. We pride ourselves on having friendly staff and our kitchen is very un-intimidating and relaxed so you don’t need to feel scared of attending alone.
Induction hobs use electromagnetic technology which may interfere with cardiac pacemakers or electrical implants, such as insulin pumps. We use induction hobs in our kitchen so recommend that if you use a cardiac pacemaker or electrical implant you remain a safe distance from the hobs.
Upcoming Courses
- At Cookery School London
near Oxford Circus
