Leeds couple behind Go Indian Spice blends helping Morley Salvation Army

While growing up in Glasgow during hard times - long before Tin Can Cook author Jack Monroe was showing people how to turn affordable goods into gourmet meals - Dave’s mother, Dilbeer, had to get creative with cupboard staples.

“It wasn't the best of the times, it was difficult, and we used to just conjure up with what we had in the fridge and in the cupboard,” says Dave.

“So my mum used to make creative things like spiced scrambled eggs, or a baked bean masala curry and stuff like that. Just to be very creative with what we had because those were cheap ingredients back in those days, as opposed to meat and stuff.

“She used to make her own spice blends and I used to be in the kitchen with her, helping her out. And so that's how I got started.”

Dave, 35, who now lives in Morley, has turned that principle into a business venture with his wife, Lucky Kaur, 34.

Inspired by their heritage, Go Indian Spice offers individual sachets or boxes of spice blends which are vegan, gluten-free and naturally low in salt that can be mixed into all sorts of home made food as an alternative to regular powders found in supermarkets. Customers can also subscribe.

But giving something back is important to the couple, who have a nine-year-old daughter, Suhkmani.

After starting in September last year, the couple have been donating their blends to the local Salvation Army so that those who need to make use of cheaper ingredients don’t have to eat the same meals every day.

Dave says: “A main business ethos was that we wanted to give back something to charity because we've been on the receiving end - well, certainly I have when I was younger.

“So we've teamed up with the local Salvation Army and we give a percentage of our spice blends to them to put it in food parcels. It’s just to jazz up the food parcels for homeless people, or whoever needs the food parcels.”

While decades-high inflation eased slightly in August as fuel prices dropped, according to the Office for Natio nal Statistics this month, the cost of food was still rising by 13.1 per cent in the 12 months to August - the highest rate for 14 years.

Consumers are now paying a record £571 more on average for their groceries than last year, according to the Press Association.

Citing research firm Kantar, it reported last week that grocery price inflation hit 12.4 per cent during the past month, up from last month’s previous record of 11.6 per cent.

The latest figure means that the average annual grocery bill will increase from £4,610 to £5,181 if consumers do not change the products they buy and how they shop to cut costs.

Categories like milk, butter and dog food are rising particularly quickly, at 31 per cent, 25 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

And October energy bills will go up from £1,971 to £2,500 for the average household.

Meanwhile, four in 10 people claiming Universal Credit (UC) skipped meals over the summer to keep up with rising costs, research suggests.

Some 41 per cent of people receiving the benefit did so over the past three months, according to a survey for the Trussell Trust, which runs food banks.

And 38 per cent of respondents said they had gone a whole day without eating, or just had one meal, in the last month because they could not afford to buy enough food.

YouGov, which carried the research out, surveyed 1,846 UK adults claiming UC between August 10 and 31.

At a national level, the Salvation Army has called for a new cross-Government task force to tackle, “with empathy and compassion”, the reasons that people are not earning enough and are trapped in poverty, by improving education and employment.

Lauren Raistrick, children and family worker at Morley Salvation Army, based on Ackroyd Street, says they are very grateful for the donations from Go Indian Spice.

“Due to the rising cost of living, we are seeing more families and individuals find their incomes are insufficient to cover their energy and food bills, so they are having to turn to us for support,” she says.

"Demand for our food parcels has certainly increased over the past few months and we expect it to continue as we go into winter.

"To meet this need, we are reliant on donations so please do get in touch if you can support us.”

Like Dave, Lucky also helped her mother in the kitchen back in India, so she too had developed a passion for cooking.

The York-based company’s blends are titled Zing, Refresh, Boost and Kickstart, and their website offers recipes and a free health brochure put together with dietician Penny Hunking.

“We wanted a way of bringing our homemade creations to kitchens across the country, to help everyone share the same joy and fun we have when we’re cooking,” says Lucky.

" But we also wanted to make sure we were bringing something healthy and unique to the market too.”

Dave, who also works in finance, adds: “Being a foodie doesn’t have to be just for the wealthy, all of us deserve to taste flavoursome food. My mum used to be so creative, she inspired me to make the most of everything.”

For more information visit goindianspice.com