Casey County, though located in South Central Kentucky, is considered an Eastern Kentucky county due to its limited knowledge/access of healthy resources including fresh and/healthy food options. According to the Kentucky Kids Count, 64% of our children live in low-income households; ranking Casey County 100 out of 120 counties in the state. Out limited resources can create an obstacle for families to make smart and healthy decisions when feeding their family. As of 2018, 24% of children are living in food insecure households ranking Casey County 86 out of 120 counties (according to Kentucky Kids Count). And according to KentuckyHealthFacts.org 70% of adults are classified as overweight and 24% are classified as obese. By providing this educational program through the FCS Mini Grant Program, youth and adults were provided with resources to aid in making healthier lifestyle choices in regards to their food intake. 

The Plan, Eat, Move: Cooking & Eating Together is designed to foster youth and adult partnerships while developing safe kitchen and healthy cooking skills as well as safe knife skills, manners and etiquette, and planning and shopping for a meal on a budget. Through partnering with our Family Resource Center Coordinators and the Youth Services Director, a total of four families (13 individuals) were recruited for this pilot program.

The program is a five-part series of evening meetings over a five month period. August: Overview of the program, kitchen safety, measuring tutorial, trying new foods, grains and grains recipes; September: fruits and vegetables, knife skills, fruits and vegetable recipes; October: dairy, dairy recipes, table manners and etiquette; November: protein, protein recipes, shopping on a budget while shopping for healthy foods; December: review of last four meetings, shopping trip to local vendor to purchase ingredients for last dishes, family style meal practicing manners and etiquette. Individuals were provided with kitchen utensils and equipment throughout the program that were kept at the office to be used for each lesson. Families were given all supplies at the conclusion of the program.  

Participants were asked to try new, approved recipes (Plate It Up! or Plan, Eat, Move) between lessons and asked to share their experiences. The family with the most recipes tried received an air fryer as well as a $200 gift card to a meal home delivery program.

100% of the participants (youth and adults) demonstrated an increase in knowledge and skills from the beginning of the program. All families shared since participating in the program they are better at planning their meals and cook and try new foods/recipes as a family.

Due to the positive feedback from promotion on social media and the sharing of success stories, the program will be offering again in the spring/summer of 2022.