Over 100 recipes developed to support healthier prison food

National recipe pack reaches major milestone

Food Behind Bars has completed the development of its flagship recipe pack containing more than 100 scratch-cooked recipes, created specifically for prison kitchens.

Developed over two years in partnership with prison catering teams, professional chefs, nutritionists and people in prison, the collection has been carefully designed to help prisons deliver food that is nutritious, affordable and practical to produce at scale. Every recipe has been tested in the kitchen at HMP Bristol, costed using prison supplier products, nutritionally analysed and refined through feedback from both catering staff and prisoners before being included in the final pack.

The recipes were trialled over many months at HMP Bristol, where prison catering staff worked alongside the Food Behind Bars team to prepare, serve and evaluate each dish. This real-world testing ensured every recipe worked within the realities of a busy prison kitchen, using existing equipment, budgets and production methods, while remaining appealing to the people eating the food.

Designed to support the implementation of the new Food in Prisons Policy Framework, the collection focuses on simple, wholesome food made with fresh ingredients. Many recipes are plant-based, high in protein, rich in fibre and lower in saturated fat, helping prisons improve nutritional quality without increasing complexity.

The recipe pack forms the foundation of our Prison Food Education Programme and is already being introduced in our prison partners. Each recipe is accompanied by a practical kitchen recipe card and a detailed nutritional breakdown, giving catering teams the confidence and tools they need to improve menus, demonstrate compliance and serve healthier, better-quality food every day.