Research shows that people who prepare and cook meals at home are more likely to eat the recommended fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains needed in a balanced diet. Often, cooks find themselves in a mealtime rut and feel overwhelmed with making decisions around meals and snacks for themselves and their family. Building skills and cooking knowledge as well as adding variety and creativity into meal preparation increases the likelihood that people choose to prepare homecooked meals.

To encourage more nutritious and balanced home-prepared meals, the Carroll County Extension Office hosted the workshop How to Get Out of a Mealtime Rut. The goal of this program is to increase knowledge and awareness of strategies that can be used to overcome mealtime ruts and prepare meals at home. This focused on the benefits of home-prepared meals, creative strategies for overcoming cooking ruts, and overcoming barriers to preparing meals at home. Emphasis was placed on making homecooked meals fun and flavorful. Seventeen people participated in the workshop at the Carroll County Senior Center.

Of those surveyed, 53% reported an increased understanding of why it is important to prepare meals at home. In addition, 80% said they could describe creative strategies to increase meals prepared at home, and 60% expressed they could name ways to overcome barriers related to preparing homecooked meals. Further, 100% expressed the intention to try a creative strategy shown in class to overcome a cooking rut at home, while 87% expressed the intention to increase the variety of foods that are used and prepared in homecooked meals.