~~Don’t Throw Away!

A local housing shelter received ground turkey donations from grocery stores, which usually was not used and had to be discarded due to the residents saying either they did not like the ground turkey or they did not know how to use the food item.

 Upon learning this, the SNAP-Ed program conducted a class to discuss MyPlate food groups.  As a food sampling during this class, a recipe of “Sloppy Garden Joes” was prepared using ground turkey.  Several residents were less than enthusiastic about tasting the food and one resident stated that she did not like ground turkey.  

All participants were asked to taste the recipe to see if their opinions would change.  After tasting the recipe, several residents requested more of the food.  The resident that stated she did not like ground turkey ate five samples.   Residents were given the recipe for the Sloppy Garden Joes and several other recipes using ground turkey. 

  As a result of the class, the residents used the packages of ground turkey in preparing several meals and the shelter no longer discards ground turkey because new residents know how to prepare it.