Gallatin County Cooperative Extension Service and the Three Rivers Health Department collaborated with the Gallatin County Food Pantry each month to create videos for the Food Pantry.  In each video, Ronda Rex, Agent for Family & Consumer Sciences and Ashley Smith, Community Health Strategist focuses on tips and tricks for cooking and baking demonstrating Plan, Eat, Move and Nutrition Education Program recipes.   One hundred forty recipes in both English and Spanish are distributed at the food pantry each month.  Ronda and Ashley demonstrate the recipes showing how substitutions can be made with existing pantry items in order to not only keep it healthy but save money in the process.    The Food Pantry clientelle are directed toward the Plan, Eat, Move website.   Nutrition Education Program handouts are also utilized in the videos.  Tomato Pasta, Sloppy Joes, Food Pantry Ingredients Tips and Tricks and Simple Chili were the focus for four months of video filmings.  Each recipe and handout has a QR code embeded which leads the participants to each month’s videos.    

After a few video tapings, the Family Resource Center was invited to join the collaboration.  The three entities proceded to film videos and were well received by the clientelle.   Other community members join the team as special guests.  After 3 months, Carolyn Sampson, Gallatin County Food Pantry Director, took a survey of her clientelle which revealed that they were now aware of the pantry’s facebook page and using the pantry’s facebook page, watching the cooking demonstration videos and using the recipes. 

Carolyn took a survey sampling of her participants each month which revealed:

1. For month one, 31 people were surveyed, 10 of those viewed the video and 40% of the 31 used the recipe or a variation of the recipe.
2. For month two, 40 people were surveyed, 18 of those viewed the video and 18% of the 40 people used the recipe or a variation of the recipe.
3. For month three, 27 people were surveyed, 20 of those viewed the video and 7% used the recipe or a variation of the recipe.

The present and future months consists of 140 Plan, Eat, Move recipes (both English and Spanish versions) will be delivered each month and recipes will be handed out and sampled during designated pick up dates.

Below are links to a couple of the videos and some of the recipes each with a QR code to view the cooking videos.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKqzqXU60BM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PllPJV4AgB8

Success Story submitted April 10, 2023