GROW HQ Cookery Demo: Simple, Healthy Family Meals

What to Expect

GROW HQ is GIY’s purpose-built food and growing centre on the Dunmore Road in Waterford city, home to a cafe, a shop and a cookery school that runs a rotating programme of themed evenings through the year. This particular cookery demonstration is pitched squarely at parents and grandparents who cook for children and want everyday family meals to be a bit healthier without turning dinner into a project. Chef Bruno, who cooks with seasonal, organic ingredients and grows much of his own veg in Waterford, demonstrates a set of practical recipes built around vegetables rather than around meat or processed shortcuts, including rainbow fritters, crispy smashed potatoes with garden pesto, a family-friendly pasta sauce and sweet-spiced overnight oats. Alongside the recipes, the session covers lunchbox ideas for the week ahead and simple ways to cut back on ultra-processed food and refined sugar in family cooking, plus tips on getting children involved in growing, preparing and cooking their own food rather than just eating it. It is run as an adults-only demonstration rather than a hands-on class, so attendees watch and taste rather than cook themselves. The recipes draw on produce grown in GIY’s own gardens where possible, in keeping with the organisation’s wider focus on growing and cooking seasonally rather than relying on imported, out-of-season ingredients.

Good to Know

• Date and time: Thursday, 13 August 2026, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
• Venue and town: GROW HQ, Dunmore Road, Waterford city
• Price: €35 per person
• Booking: online at giy.ie, seats are limited and a 14-day cancellation policy applies
• Audience: adults-only demonstration, aimed at parents and grandparents rather than children

Getting There

GROW HQ is on the Dunmore Road on the edge of Waterford city, a short drive from the city centre, with parking available on site.