The Bourbon County Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent in collaboration with the Snap-ED assistant and Bourbon County Extension Homemakers provided the Recipe for Life Program experience to every fifth grade student in Bourbon County. 289 fifth graders participated in the preparation of 10 recipes while learning the importance of kitchen safety and sanitation, reading and following a recipe, proper measuring of both wet and dry ingredients and the math skills involved in altering recipes. Each of the students had to use time management skill for preparing the recipes and demonstrate proper table setting and etiquette while tasting their products.

43 adult volunteers and 33 high school students were recruited to work with the students in teaching the important life skills and assisting them with a hands on learning experience. This was the eighth year of offering “Recipe for Life” to fifth graders and several parents have referred to it as a “rite of passage” for siblings! 

280 of the 289 students completed both a pre and post-test to evaluate the learning outcomes of the 2018 Recipe for Life. The following are examples of percentage increase (identified by the evaluation) in topics covered:

• 69% increase in understanding cross contamination
• 34% increase in how to safely hold food when cutting with a knife
• 30% improvement in identify the steps in reading a recipe
• 30% increase in the safest way to open a pot of boiling food

At the completion of the program the students reported:

• 89% strongly agreed that they planned to try new foods
• 96.8% strongly agreed that they planned to eat more fruits
• 79% agreed that they planned to eat more vegetables

Some supportive comments from parents included

“Thank you! My son ask to fix dinner all by himself after attending Recipe for Life. It was wonderful. He used the recipes in his book and even cleaned up afterwards! I like this.”

“Three of my children have had the opportunity to participate in the Recipe for Life program over the years and I am very appreciative of the wonderful hands on life skills that are taught.”

“My child is trying to teach me how to hold food correctly (with the bear claw) while slicing. I do not know how I was able to raise him this far without Recipe for Life! Just joking, I love that he is learning and sharing his experiences.”

Student’s thank you notes included comments like:

“Thank you for the things you sent us (incentive items) Now I can help my Mom with dishes. Thank you”

“My favorite part was the cooking and helping out. I hope we can do it again in middle school and again later on the years. That was so much fun. Thank you!!!!”

“Thank you for inviting us to Recipe for Life. My favorite recipes were the smoothies and the fruit salad stuff – and I don’t like fruit!!!!”

Recipe for Life 2018 was a success

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