Success Story4-H Food and Fun



4-H Food and Fun

Author: Catherine Webster

Planning Unit: Simpson County CES

Major Program: Family and Consumer Science

Plan of Work: Building Stronger Families

Outcome: Initial Outcome

4-H Food & Fun was a free at-home cooking program that united families in the kitchen and at the dinner table. The goal of the program was to get young people in the kitchen and preparing home-cooked meals, trying new foods, encouraging family time, developing communications skills, and having fun! The 4-H families who participated received a kitchen utensil kit related to each month's recipes, along with other informational materials. Youth prepared the recipes in the packet as they followed along an agent demonstration via zoom then completed a post-lesson report. The youth submitted photos of their dishes which qualified them to receive the next month's kit. 4-H Food & Fun met virtually via zoom March to August at 5:30 p.m. so families had dinner cooked at the end of each session. The zooms were recorded for youth who missed the live demonstration.  Simpson County had 10 youth participate. Between Allen, Simpson, and Warren Counties 38 youth participated.

4-H, Food, & Fun youth learned about local commodities, gained a better understanding of nutritional information, developed cooking skills, looked at the cost of food ingredients, and helped youth make healthier food choices. Several youth tried new foods they had never eaten before. Comments from Simpson Co. participants included, kitchen skills I learned: how to grate ginger, how to use the broiler on my oven, how to make biscuits from scratch, how to make pizza crust, how to use lettuce leaves in place of a tortilla, that cooking time must be adjusted when cooking small vs. large homemade biscuits, how to bread meat, and I had never had ricotta cheese before.  Kitchen tools youth used for the first time included: pastry blender, meat thermometer, frying pan, kitchen shears, knife sharpener.  In Simpson County, 4-H Food and Fun was made possible thanks to a KY 4-H Foundation Mini Grant of $787.50.







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