According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as people age over the age of sixty, they need certain unique needs in their diet such as getting special nutrients in their body to help maintain a healthy diet and ways to help lower the risk of developing chronic diseases.

In the last three months, the Monroe County Family and Consumer Science Agent has started presenting the Cooking with the 2024 Calendar program to the Monroe County senior citizens at the facilities of Tompkinsville Senior Center and Fountain Run Senior Center. The program includes presenting a nutritious recipe that includes vegetables and fruits.  The participants at the senior citizen centers visit these facilities on a regular basis. About seventy-three percent of the participants who are in this age range of 60 years and older from the Monroe County senior centers report that they are not eating enough fruit and vegetables in their daily diet to get the nutrients that they need.

The Monroe County Family and Consumer Science Agent visits these facilities and presents the recipe for the month with a food demonstration, tips and tricks for preparing the recipe and includes ways to make the recipe a balanced meal or snack by adding all the five different food groups with myplate.com guidelines. Each participant gets to sample the recipe and give feedback to the other participants about the taste of the recipe.

One hundred percent of the participants have reported that they gained confidence in the kitchen or recipe inspiration from the program and want to share the recipe with family and friends.  Eighty nine percent of the participants plan on making the recipes for themselves or for their families to help add more fruits and vegetables to their diets.