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The meal kits were introduced after some cons raised concerns about putting on weight during the Covid lockdowns. They are being trialled at HMP Drake Hall women’s jail in Eccleshall, Staffs

Prisoners are having meal kits delivered in a bid to improve their diets – and their cooking skills.

The jail-made alternative to Hello Fresh and Gousto boxes contain staples such as pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes as well as “easy to prepare” veg like green beans and peppers. A source said: “This could be the start of a culinary revolution.”

Referring to the 70s TV prison sitcom Porridge, they added: “But God knows what Fletch and Godber would have made of these boxes. The whole thing sounds like a plotline from a Christmas special.”

The meal kits were introduced

Is It Cheaper to Cook or Eat Out?

Whenever Katerina Pavlakis had friends over for dinner, it was not just the food that her guests would comment on. It was also the fact that she seemed so unflustered – “that I was cooking up all these things, and I wasn’t even stressed,” she says. Only then did Pavlakis realise that not everyone shared her experience in the kitchen – that, in fact, even people who enjoyed cooking and were good at it could find it a source of frustration.

That made Pavlakis curious: what made cooking so effortless for her, and so frustrating for others? After talking to friends and customers in the shop she runs with her husband in north Wales, she worked out where many were going wrong: they were trying – and struggling – to follow recipes. There, she could relate.

“I do love recipe books, and I have loads of them,” says Pavlakis.