Research shows that people who prepare and cook meals at home are more likely to eat the recommended fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains needed in a balanced diet. Often, cooks find themselves in a mealtime rut and feel overwhelmed with making decisions around meals and snacks for themselves and their family. Building skills and cooking knowledge as well as adding variety and creativity into meal preparation increases the likelihood that people choose to prepare home cooked meals.

To encourage more nutritious and balanced home-prepared meals, the Fayette County Extension Office hosted the workshop How to Get Out of a Mealtime Rut. The goal of this program is to increase knowledge and awareness of strategies that can be used to overcome mealtime ruts and prepare meals at home. This program focused on the benefits of home prepared meals, creative strategies for overcoming cooking ruts, and overcoming barriers to preparing meals at home. Emphasis was placed on making home cooked meals fun and flavorful. Seven people participated in the workshop at the Fayette County Extension Office and sampled a Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipe that coordinated with the program. The group was 71% white and 29% black.

Of those surveyed, 43% reported an increased understanding of why it is important to prepare meals at home. In addition,  57% said they could describe creative strategies to increase meals prepared at home, and 86% expressed they could name ways to overcome barriers related to preparing home cooked meals. Further, 100% expressed the intention to try a creative strategy shown in class to overcome a cooking rut at home, while 100% expressed the intention to increase the variety of foods that are used and prepared in home cooked meals. Overall, participants agreed that the material was timely and practical and that the program was very educational.

 One participant wrote that the most significant thing from the program was that it “facilitated lots of good conversation about food ideas.” Another participant stated that the program “allowed for class participation and brainstorming,” and that “handouts were relevant to the topic and will be useful.” Many expressed interest in attending similar programming in the future.