We're busy preparing Revision Guides for 2012.

First will be Hospitality and Catering GCSE Powerpoint

 What goes on in a typical family in Britain? According to research they wake up at 6.57 am and get home at 5.15 pm and go to bed at 10.39 pm. The research was carried out by Alert Me, a home energy management service.

The average family spends £76 a week on groceries, £12 a week on alcohol, and their favourtie entertainment is watching TV.

Families often have the same programme of meals each week. On Mondays they like spaghetti bolognaise, Tuesdays is pasta bake, chicken pie Wednesday, Thursday is cottage pie and Friday is takeaway fish and chips.

The family usually sits down to dinner at 5.54 pm but only eat together on three nights a week, and eat breakfast together twice.

Mothers do 4 and a half hours of housework each week, including six loads of laundry. 

Many families have been affected by the economic downturn and worry about utility bills rising. They reckon the recession has left them with less money in their pocket. Fathers are the most likely to be turning off the lights to save energy.

PLEASE NOTE RIDGWELL PRESS NO LONGER SELLS FOOD IN FOCUS - THE NUTRITION PROGRAM IS OUR ONLINE PRODUCT FOR RECIPE, DIET AND MEAL ANALYSIS.

 Sadly some schools have posted my recent work for free access on the internet.

The outcome of this means that resources that are downloadable pdfs cannot be produced in the future as Ridgwell Press cannot operate as a business if such actions continue.
If you have a VLE please ask the person uploading the site not to put copyrighted work on the site so that the rest of the world can find it without asking permission to do this first.

Also, whoever uploaded my work to the free download sites was deliberately sabotaging the resource and preventing me from making a living in this way.

Jenny Ridgwell

Due to demand, we have two new smaller subscriptions for 2011.  These are 20 and 50 user accounts for smaller schools, who have low numbers of students.

There is a price increase for 2011 – we have maintained our prices for the past three years since 1997.

We have increasing staffing costs to manage teacher requests for lost passwords, advice on how to use the program and adding new foods to the database. We also update sections of the site on a regular basis to make improvements. Local authorities have also developed complex systems for payment of accounts, which impacts on our costs.

The prices for 2011 are as follows:
20 user account £100
50 user account £120
100 user account £150

The four other accounts - single user, 250, 500 and 1000 user accounts are kept at the 1997 prices. VAT will increase to 20% in 2011.

PLEASE NOTE RIDGWELL PRESS NO LONGER SELLS FOOD IN FOCUS - THE NUTRITION PROGRAM IS OUR ONLINE PRODUCT FOR RECIPE, DIET AND MEAL ANALYSIS. 

 The Nutrition Program is now used by over 85,000 students around the world.

We've got schools in Bahrain, Hong Kong, Germany, Shetland, Orkney and of course the rest of the UK.

You submit foods that you want to be included and these show interesting patterns:

African ingredients are frequently being asked for including yam flour but I can't find the nutritional value anywhere!

Foods from Morocco are in increasing demand, so you'll find harissa, couscous and much more.

There are also low fat foods as and when they come on the market.

Students want to know about organic and fair trade food but this is tricky - they have the same nutritional value as ordinary foods.

There are plenty of free resources under Free things, so download as you wish.

 WJEC Hospitality and Catering has a huge number of schools taking its GCSE and produces amazing support on their website. 

I was lucky to present at their Inset event in London in November 2010 to show how the Nutrition Program can be used for the Tasks 1  and 2 to carry out the nutritional analysis for recipes and meals and to cost the meals. 

You can find the free download for the presentation on this website which also shows the formulae for working out the commercial selling price for the meal.

What are they using it for? Most seem to be really busy with coursework and controlled assessments for food technology, home economics and the growing area of hospitality and catering.

We've had some Sports colleges coming online too.

Outside the education world we've got

• a small restaurant that calculates the calories in their dishes
• a cake manufacturer that can supply full nutritional analysis and allergen information

• a food writer that provides nutrition analysis for recipes for books and magazines
• a fitness expert that uses it for diet analysis.

 So the uses for the program grow - contact us if you can think of new ways we can improve and add things that you want to know.

We have a new payment system in place since January 2010.
Payment is required before you receive goods or services such as the Nutrition Program.
Why have things changed?
It is costing too much for us to chase payments from schools where sometimes the invoices are sixth months old – we send letters, emails and phone but still be do not get paid. So now we have a new system.
What should you do if you can ’t pay by credit card?
Go to our online shop and place the order and follow through as if you were going to purchase by credit card.
When you get to the payment section choose Bank Deposit.
We will then create a proforma invoice and when you pay you get the goods.

This was a challenging book to write for specifications for 2010. So much changes in the world of food, and every page has to be checked with all the experts.
202 pages with Exam Cafes with revision tips and answers to questions. It covers so much of the Home Economics and Food Technology curriculum and can be used for controlled assessments.
Lots of interesting things on nanofoods, GM foods, Fairtrade, Soil Association, Food Miles, moral and social issues.
If you would like a sample download, email us.
I am currently writing a blog for the book I Taught Them to Cook.
You can find it on
Jenny Ridgwell’s blog.

June 25th 2009 was the evening of the Guild of Food Writers Awards at the Great Hall in Lincoln’s Inn London
Egon Ronay was the guest of honour and presented the prizes. The Food Book of the Year award went to Heston Blumenthal for The Big Fat Duck CookBook, which weighs six kilos!
Winners also included my friend Geoff Tansey for The Future Control of Food. Geoff has been broadcasting about the effect of dairy foods and meat on cancers such as his illness from prostate cancer.
Here’s a picture of Heston Blumenthal – we talked about the new edition of his book Kitchen Chemistry which has been delayed for the time being – we’ve got the book on our list of useful things to sell.
Hope one day that our books and Nutrition Program will get some recognition – but education resources are somehow outside the loop.
Alaska Seafood did amazing fish canapes such as black cod and seared salmon and we sipped on organic wine from Bonterra Vineyards – the rose wine was completely finished by the huge crowd and its deliciousness appreciated!