EXTREME altitude mountain-eer Alan Hinkes knows how to make a morsel of food go a long way, so he was the perfect man to judge a regional catering competition that saw each menu budget restricted to just 60p.

Mr Hinkes, who famously hurt his back when he sneezed on flour from a chapatti at 20,000ft, came away from a tasting session at Chester-le-Street's Hermitage School thankfully unscathed.

Contestants in yesterday's Northern final of the Local Authorities Catering Association's Cook of the Year competition served up delicious two-course meals for less than the price of two packets of crisps.

Organiser Stephen Foster, of Chartwells, County Durham, state schools meals provider, said: "Alan is from the region and for half the year lives on dried food, so we thought he deserved a bit of a treat."

Among the gastronomic delights were lemon-grass pork, pork fajitas and plum crumble cake. The winner, Anne Hayes, from Arbroath Academy in Scotland, conjured up pork and apricot roulade with rice timbale and a medley of roast vegetables, fresh fruit tartlet and raspberry coulis.

Britain's top mountaineer said: "I went out the other night to a swish restaurant, but it wasn't as good as the food on offer here.

"It all looked fantastic and, unbelievably, tasted better than it looked. I'm hoping to take one of these cooks to my next base camp," he joked.

l The North-East finalists were Lynn Pearson, from Wolsingham Primary, Weardale, County Durham; Barbara Keen, Durham Way Primary, Eaglescliffe near Stockton; Christine Sadler, Usworth School, Washington; Margaret Greenland, Stanhope Primary, South Shields, South Tyneside; Karen Dickinson, Ponteland Middle School, Northumberland.