Cook Up is a free cooking space for anyone living without a kitchen.
At Cook Up, people can cook whatever they want for themselves and their families.
- Food that supports their physical and health needs.
- Food that reflects their culture and beliefs.
- Food that brings them joy.
It is all possible at Cook Up.
Cook Up participant
Cook Up is about more than just food – it's about choice.
Our food choices shape our health – mind and body.
But without a place to cook, it can be hard to eat the food you want and need. A lot of temporary accommodation doesn’t include adequate cooking space.
- There may be a microwave and a kettle, but no kitchen.
- Families are forced towards a monotonous diet of highly processed, low-nutrition food for long periods of time.
- Living on the streets means no kitchen at all.
The result: malnutrition and its terrible complications.
Cook Up kitchens nurture wellbeing, community and belonging.
Our kitchens are filled with laughter, friendship and mutual support – and the occasional boogie when we bring the speakers! We often eat together at the end of a session, and we go on day trips a few times a year (all optional).
Cook Up is for anyone who feels they need a cooking space. This includes but is not limited to:
- People who are homeless or street homeless
- People who are sofa surfing
- People living in temporary accommodation
- People who are living in a hostel, night shelter or B&B
- Refugees and asylum seekers.
Good food and good company – the essential ingredients to feeling well.
The Cook Up story so far
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Portions of food planned, cooked and enjoyed.
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People able to cook nourishing meals for themselves and their families.
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Visits to Cook Up – filled with friendship and tasty food!
Need to use Cook Up?
Use of a clean, fully equipped kitchen station
Time and space to cook a nourishing meal
The ingredients you need
You can bring your own cooking ingredients, or tell us what you need and we will source them.
The option to batch cook for the week ahead
We provide tupperware to take food away in.
Cook Up is helping to combat a children's health crisis.
Childhood malnutrition, difficulty managing diabetes, developmental delays, even rickets – all are being seen in the UK in 2026.
The reason? A record number of families are living in temporary accommodation, often for years on end.
Many of our participants choose to batch cook for the days ahead.
We provide free tupperware, so that people can take away the food they have cooked for themselves and their families.
Need to use Cook Up?
We have regular kitchen spaces available in central and east London.
Here’s how to book your space.
Record numbers of people are living without a kitchen.
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People slept rough in 2025 - the highest since records began in 2010.
Source: UK government
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Households living in hotels, B&Bs and other temporary accommodation. Another record high.
Source: BBC
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Households with children living in temporary accommodation.
Source: BBC
