I have worked with the county SNAP-ED assistant several times doing a program on how to cut up a whole chicken. The purpose of this program is to demonstrate how easy it is and explain how it can save money as opposed to purchasing already cut up pieces at the grocery.

Among the several places and groups I have done this lesson, was a local abuse shelter. For lack of a better classroom, we did it in the art studio. We had several attend, some who had children and some who did not.

For me, these are typically a one-off lesson. But the SNAP-ED assistant typically works with these individuals’ multiple times. After a recent lesson with the above-mentioned group, one of the ladies came up and spoke with the SNAP-ED assistant.

She told her that she had been in that class and really enjoyed it and paid attention. She went on to say that she has since started buying whole chickens and cutting them up for her and her children. She said she is saving a lot of her grocery money by doing so, plus her kids really enjoy watching and trying to help. Plus it gives her the options of whether she wants bone-in, boneless, white meat, dark meat, and what parts for her and the kids.

This is another example of making a difference, in this case one family, that many times is overlooked because it is not for a large number of people. But by this lady learning this simple skill, it has made her and her kid’s life at least a little better, nutritionally and financially. To me, this is what we are about and what we do.

In addition to working with this in the SNAP-ED realm, I also taught 3 high school FCS classes, at the request of the FCS teacher. Over 3 hours, 30+ students were taught the skill. One student per class also came up and cut up a chicken on their own after having watched me do so. 

2 of the 3 said that they felt confident enough to cut more chickens up at home for their family to use. Again, a lost life skill being taught, this time to the next generation, hopefully so that they will continue to use this skill throughout their lives.