Popular meal kit delivery service HelloFresh is partnering with UK youth organisation Scouts to help young people develop essential food skills, build confidence in the kitchen, and learn how to nourish themselves for life. Proudly sponsoring the Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge, HelloFresh is bringing its home cooking expertise to young people across the UK.
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
As concerns around food literacy, nutrition, and sustainability continue to grow, HelloFresh has announced a new nationwide partnership with Scouts aimed at equipping young people with practical cooking skills that last a lifetime.
The collaboration will support the Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge, reaching more than 127,000 young people across the UK.
Delivered through nearly 7,000 local Scout troops and supported by around 150,000 volunteers, the programme is designed to help young people gain confidence in the kitchen whilst developing a deeper understanding of nutrition, food preparation and waste reduction.
Aimed at those aged between 10 and 14, the Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge is a wider initiative that reflects a shared ambition between HelloFresh and Scouts to encourage food skills across the four to 25 age range.
Participants are supported to follow recipes independently, build practical kitchen techniques, and learn how to make informed food choices.
MAKING A POSITIVE CHANGE
As official sponsor of the Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge, HelloFresh is helping to expand and refresh the programme’s contents.
Activities range from meal preparation and understanding food safety to learning about balanced diets and the environmental impact of ingredients.
Hands-on challenges – including food footprint investigations and simple recipe tasks – are designed to make cooking accessible whilst building long-term confidence.
The partnership also reflects a broader alignment around sustainability. HelloFresh’s focus on reducing food waste, promoting cooking from scratch, and improving access to fresh ingredients closely mirrors the Scouts’ mission to empower young people to make a positive contribution to society.
Philip Doran, CEO of HelloFresh UK and Ireland, highlighted the long-term value of the initiative, and how cooking is one of the most valuable life skills a young person can learn.
He also noted how HelloFresh’s partnership with Scouts was helping hundreds of thousands of young people to gain confidence in the kitchen, understand nutrition, and discover that preparing food from scratch can be fun, achievable, and rewarding.
He communicated the company’s pride in supporting the Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge and playing a role in setting young people up with skills they’ll carry throughout their lives.
AN ESSENTIAL EDUCATION
From Scouts’ perspective, the partnership responds to changing food habits and a growing reliance on convenience meals.
Carl Hankinson, UK Chief Volunteer at Scouts, outlines how the organisation takes pride in equipping young people with skills for life.
As ‘grab-and-go’ food becomes increasingly common, he understands that it’s more important than ever to teach Scouts not only how to cook, but also the value of reducing food waste.
Thanks to HelloFresh’s support, Scouts has refreshed its much-loved Scouts’ Chef Activity Badge to reflect the growing need for young people to master this essential life skill.
The initiative also sits within HelloFresh’s wider approach to community support and food access.
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Alongside partnerships with organisations such as London-based charity, The Felix Project – which seeks to fight hunger and end food waste in the capital – the company continues to improve access to nutritious meals for families across the UK.
New activities will be rolled out nationally, offering Scout groups a broad range of cooking challenges.
From turning leftovers into new meals to exploring ingredient sourcing, flavour experimentation, and confidence-building tasks, HelloFresh intends to continue engaging young people with food in a practical, hands-on way.
