Last week, amidst the storm, we hosted our first Lifeskills With Lads initiative for the year at a local flat - How To Cook! Thanks to our mates and legends at Bacon Bros for joining us to help sharpen our skills in the kitchen, provide the equipment, and share their knowledge and passion for food. With a collaborative effort, four meals were cooked, eaten, enjoyed, and shared amongst new mates. 

Our idea was simple! Teach and learn some basic cooking skills, eat some yummy kai, learn some new tips and tricks, and create a space for some whakawhanaungatanga and real chats about life, shared over a meal. 

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Want to know what we cheffed up? Thanks to each member of Bacon Bros for hosting their cooking station and providing their unique knowledge to us all. Some epic tacos and smash burgers were cooked on the grill, while a veggie stir-fry and béchamel chicken pasta were also made. We kept it stress-free but also hands-on, a night of good vibes and practical skills. 

Because food is so much more than just about fueling ourselves, we were lucky enough to chat with Megan from Bacon Bros about how cooking can help build a community, improve personal wellbeing, and ultimately bring people together. Here’s the chat we had with Megan to hear her thoughts!

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"You guys at Bacon Bros are big on community — what role do you think food plays in bringing people together?"

Megan:
“I think food is really important because obviously we all eat it, but it can take you away from the rest of the world sometimes and you just come together, you are all eating the same food, and you're experiencing it afterwards. You might cook together, even flat meals at uni, and that sort of thing. You might not see your flatmates when you're studying, and then you have a flat meal and it brings everyone together, even if it's just an hour.”

“How has working with food helped you personally, either with stress, community, or just general life balance?"

Megan:
“Probably similar in the sense that it makes you present in the moment. So I might be chopping up a carrot, but in that moment, I don’t have to be worrying about marketing, I don’t have to worry about what my friends are doing. It’s kind of meditative, you focus in the moment, cooking your food!”

“What’s one cheap, easy meal you’d recommend for students who want something tasty and stress-free?”

Megan:
“I think I want to say the mushroom bacon pasta that I cooked today, it’s fairly fast and it only uses 6 ingredients and I’d say the price per meal is about $3 a person for that one. Pretty good and still very tasty!”

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Some key takeaways from the night were that cooking doesn’t need to be fancy, and some of the best meals are the simplest. Sharing a meal can make it easier to open up - some laughter, stories, and chats flow more easily over kai. Food can mean presence, as Megan shared, being in the moment over the simplest tasks helps slow the mind. 

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Thanks to you all for showing up in the wind and rain, and a big mihi always for the support of the crew at Bacon Bros, for sharing their time, wisdom and for reminding us that food is more than just fuel - it’s about connection. Want to know how to cook Megan’s go-to flat meal? Recipe shared below!

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Until the next Lifeskills with Lads, 

Ngā mihi nui,

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The Lads whānau! 

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Mushroom, Bacon, Béchamel Pasta Recipe:

Ingredients

• 50g butter
  
  
• 50g plain flour
  
  
• 500ml milk (full-fat preferred)
  
  
• 250g pasta (penne or fusilli work well)
  
  
• 150g mushrooms, sliced
  
  
• 150g bacon pieces or lardons
  
  
• Salt and pepper, to taste

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50g butter, 50g flour and 500g of milk (ratio of butter and flour is the same for any size - this is probably 4 people’s worth) 

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Melt the butter on medium heat, then add milk slowly, use a whisk to get rid of any lumps. You want to keep adding small amounts of milk while it’s thickening, then stop adding milk when it can bubble but not thicken any further (this means you can simmer the mushrooms and bacon in the sauce without it continuing to thicken). It’ll probably go lumpy the first few times you try but that’s okay just whisk them out and add some more milk! 

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This is a Roux ^ so can be used for pastas, lasagnas etc 

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Then we boiled the pasta, fried mushrooms and bacon pieces.

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Add the mushroom and bacon pieces to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. 

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Mix in the pasta, salt, pepper, and you’re done ✔️

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