BBC’s Daily Kitchen Live star Jack Monroe transforms her ‘battered old shed’ into a TV studio for less than £60 ‘using stuff from skips’ – and now plans to host a lockdown food show from it

  •  The creative cook, 32, showed the dramatic transformation of her garden shed
  • After a successful stint on BBC One’s Daily Kitchen Live, Monroe has decided to offer her own live cookery show via YouTube from her converted shed 
  • 48-hour project has seen the budget cook install a gas stove, paint the interior and add in ‘stuff from skips’ to make it look pretty – for less than £100

Rising television cookery star Jack Monroe has shown how she’s transformed a ‘battered old shed’ in her garden into a working TV kitchen – on a tiny budget using ‘stuff from skips’ and trinkets from her home. 

After a successful two-week stint hosting Daily Kitchen Live, a BBC One cookery show trialled during lockdown and co-hosted with Matt Tebbutt, the budget cook decided to make use of the shabby outbuilding to launch her own YouTube cookery show. 

Mother-of-one Monroe, who writes on Twitter as @BootstrapCook, said she made the decision to film at home because the food festivals she’s normally attending are all cancelled because of coronavirus.

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Budget cook Jack Monroe shared photos of her ‘battered old shed’ with an exposed concrete floor and peeling paint ahead of her dramatic makeover of the garden outbuilding

Ta da! The spruced up shed cost less than £60 thanks to the Daily Kitchen Live star’s cut-price creativity; after adding a gas stove and trinkets found around the house and in skips, she now plans to broadcast her own cookery show from her shed

Monroe told her Twitter followers that she decided to transform her shed after missing out on work because the food festival season has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic

Monroe told her fans that the show will be called ‘Jack Monroe’s Camp Kitchen’ and would begin filming today at her home in Southend, which she shares with her girlfriend and young son. 

She told her 276,000 followers on Twitter how she gave her less-than-pretty shed, which had a concrete floor and peeling paint walls, a glamorous makeover. 

On a shoestring budget, the star said she’d been ’rounding up all of my bohemian ridiculous hippy s***’ to make the space look more appealing to a potential internet audience. 

As well as giving it a lick of white paint, she’s also put a faux grass floor down. 

A shabby old table and a piece of carpet were the decor highlights of the outbuilding until Monroe worked her magic

Monroe told her fans that the show, called ‘Jack Monroe’s Camp Kitchen’ would begin filming today

A different meaning to putting things in the shed: Monroe gathered up ‘bohemian hippy s***’ she had in the house to decorate her makeshift film studio

The upgraded shed made use of a daybed, an old bookshelf, with paint and glue being the biggest expenditure

Some fake plastic vines and a wall spice rack helped transform the shed into a TV kitchen

The star admitted the project took a little longer than anticipated but still only took two days

The upgraded shed made use of a daybed, an old bookshelf, with paint and glue being the biggest expenditure.

The project took two days to complete and features ‘a recycled daybed, and stuff from skips/old rentals that I’d stashed in the garage for a rainy day, re-purposed Xmas decs, etc.’ 

She said she had ‘spent less than £60 so far, mostly on paint and glue.’ However, it wasn’t all plain sailing and the cook admitted she’d underestimated the size of the task. 

Monroe published her first book, A Girl Called Jack: 100 Delicious Budget Recipes, in 2014 after her blog suggesting how to eat well on a tight budget became an internet hit.  

Jack Monroe’s three meals for £5 

British food writer Jack Monroe showcased three recipes from their book Vegan(ish) when appearing on This Morning today. 

The chef shopped around from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda for their dishes.

Creamy salmon, pea and lemon pasta

20p per serving 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

300g dried spaghetti

200g frozen peas

150g salmon paste

60ml milk

Lemon juice

Plenty of black pepper

Method

Cook your spaghetti and add the frozen peas halfway through the cooking time.   

In a small bowl, beat together the salmon paste, lemon juice and milk. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to the paste, then serve.  

Fruit and veg curry

53p per serving

Serves: 4

Ingredients

200g onion, diced

200g carrots, diced

100g swede, diced

1 x 411g tin of peaches, drained

2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained

2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes

2 tbsp curry powder

200g long grain rice, to serve

Method

Heat oil in a large pan before adding chopped onions, carrots and swede. 

Brown and then add tinned peaches, chickpeas, tomatoes and curry powder. 

Bring all these ingredients to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for around 20 minutes.

While the curry is simmering, cook rice and then serve together. 

Mustard chicken with winter veg

45p per serving

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp cooking oil

600g chicken thighs or drums500ml chicken stock

200g carrots, diced

200g onion (approx 2 medium onions), chopped

250g swede, diced

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

200g long grain rice, to serve

2 tbsp plain flour

2 more tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp mustard

125ml milk

200g spring greens, finely sliced

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken, cooking on a high heat for 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion and swede along with the herbs. Add your stock and bring to boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

In a bowl, mix flour, oil, mustard and milk to make a paste. Add this into the pan and bring everything to the boil. One minute before serving, add the greens, then serve with cooked rice.

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