I love seeing behind the scenes shots and reading about what goes into putting on events. Do you?

 

So I thought I’d share what goes on behind the scenes of a cookalong.

 

Some weeks in advance, I choose a date and decide what we’ll be cooking. It needs to be something achievable within the hour session for all abilities and with ingredients that are easily accessible. I like to ensure that the recipe is, in most cases, vegetarian, that there are store cupboard ingredients included, opportunities for me to talk about making the most of the food we’re buying as well as plenty of tips for reducing food waste. There’s a lot to think about when choosing the dishes. 

 

Then comes the planning; writing the ingredients and equipment lists and working out the session plan (how to juggle the different tasks and the timings), putting the event live on my website and setting up the emails for attendees as well as supporting anyone who needs help with ingredient substitutions.

 

There’s the shopping to do and then, on the day, I get my kitchen spick and span, gather the equipment needed, measure and prep the ingredients. I’m grateful that my husband sets up the camera and ensures I’m tech ready. 

 

Once it’s show time, my husband is banished from the kitchen with the children for an hour! Sometimes they’ll watch a film and other times they like to play in the bath. I love cooking with my children but when I’m working and teaching on camera I need to be able to focus without having to supervise them too. And, honestly, if they were with me, I wouldn’t get a word in edgeways. They both like to pretend to be me and talk to camera before I go live. I don’t think it’ll be long before I can outsource my cookalongs to them!

 

If you’d like to join me for a cookalong, the next one is on 22 May at 4pm.