Cooking through the Calendar is an ongoing program conducted by the Marshall County SNAP-ED assistant at the local extension office. The program is open to all residents in the area, including families with small children. Each month participants receive a lesson from the “Healthy Choices for Everybody” curriculum and then work together to cook the recipe of the month from the current Food and Nutrition Calendar published by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

As a result of this program, eight participants have become a graduate of the Nutrition Education Program (NEP). Evaluations conducted at the beginning and end of seven nutrition lessons indicated that 86% of graduated participants began planning meals ahead of time, using the nutrition facts label when grocery shopping and discontinued thawing food at room temperature. All eight participants showed improvement in their food safety skills practiced at home, away from the program. The SNAP-Ed assistant is confident that skills learned and practiced through this program will aid graduates in living healthier lifestyles at home.