LUKE MARSDEN: Expanding my culinary boundaries

I don’t pretend I can do any more advanced cooking than beans on toast, albeit I did go through the banana bread phase during lockdown one.

This week my life has been changed, maybe not forever but I’ve certainly broadened my culinary skills.

Perhaps better late than never I’ve tried one of these at-home cooking boxes that have the ingredients delivered to your door in the exact proportions, so you just need to whack it all in a pan, shake it about a bit and post a picture on Instagram and convince people you’ve suddenly become Ainsley Harriot overnight.

I tried the Gousto box (before you complain, no I did not get it for free - I wish!). It came with enough cardboard packaging to make a rocket ship but all the contents were fresh and had what could only be a described as a dummies’-guide-to-cooking-from-a-box card inside of it, explaining step by step what I had to do.

I did Joe’s Chicken (Wicks not Uncle Joe) and took the obligatory pics ready for Instagram.

Like many metropolitan restaurants, the Gusto boxed is aimed at the social media generation: everything neatly presented and appealing. It tasted delicious, if I do say so myself.

I sent a pic to my mum and she has now invited herself round for a meal (now it’s not illegal).

I don’t know if I’m ready to test my new skill out on other humans, but for now I’m happy that I’ve learned the basics of cooking from a complete stranger loading all the stuff I need into a box and shipping it to me.

I promised myself I wouldn’t turn into one of these tupperware people but as I’m writing this, I’ve just loaded up Amazon…

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