Sixth Formers given the task of creating tasty meals from out-of-sell-by-date food came up with three very different but equally appetising dishes.

In the second round of a Masterchef-style challenge cooked up with the help of Tesco’s, members of teacher Anne-Marie Salmon’s after school cookery club worked against the clock to prepare meals from ingredients they had no prior knowledge of.

Tesco staff arrived with food removed from their shelves as it was on the sell-by date, including sweet potatoes, cabbage and leek, black kale, peppers, chicken and egg noodles.

The Upper Sixth Formers and one Lower Sixth student worked in pairs to come up with dishes, which were then marked for their technical skill, appearance and taste.

Katharine Fuller and Lucy Garvin made chicken nuggets with sweet potato chips and roasted vegetables; Seb El Jassar and Rufus Mills made a Singapore chicken noodle stir fry, and Amy Owen and Yuki Wang (L6) made a chicken and vegetable pasta dish with a tomato sauce

The judges: Karen Berry, Community Champion at Tesco’s Market Weighton store, and Alison Bond from Pocklington School, said the final marks were very close but declared Seb and Rufus’s noodle dish the winner.

Mrs Salmon said: “We were impressed by the inventiveness of all the students, who produced very different delicious meals from food which would otherwise have been wasted. I hope their enthusiasm and resourcefulness continues to inspire them long after they’ve left Sixth Form!”

Tesco’s Community Food Connection donates surplus fresh food daily from all Tesco stores to local charities and not-for-profit organisations. The supermarket has pledged that by the end of March, no food fit for human consumption from its UK stores and distribution centres will go to waste. Already, 600,000 meals’ worth of food is redistributed every week. 

Please click here to view a Flickr album from the Lower and Upper Sixth Masterchef challenges.