Success StoryCooking Matters
Cooking Matters
Author: Deborah Messenger
Planning Unit: Cumberland County CES
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
Plan of Work: Improving Health and Wellness in Cumberland County
Outcome: Initial Outcome
The Family and Consumer Sciences Agent partnered with the Lake Cumberland District Health Department to present Cooking Matters. The purpose of this program was to teach participants ways to choose and prepare healthy foods for their families within their food budget. Participants were taught skills to help them move closer to healthy eating, cooking and food budgeting goals. The program included six sessions. Topics included: MyPlate, food labels, kitchen tips and tricks, smart planning and shopping, recipe frameworks and grocery store tour. Each week, a new skill was taught and a recipe was prepared and sampled and individuals were encouraged to go home and practice new skills and prepare the recipe with their family. Thirteen individuals completed the program. Post evaluations showed that nine individuals had increased their weekly vegetable consumption. Ten participants shared that they felt more confident in buying and preparing healthy foods for their families on a budget. All thirteen stated that they felt very confident in using basic cooking skills in preparing meals for their families. Many that participated in the program discussed in sessions their experiences with their families preparing the meals and how the recipe prepared at home was received by family members. New skills learned by the participants included: "comparing unit prices", "making weekly menus", "keeping pantry stocked with sale items and preparing meals from those items on hand". A young mother told the group that her children always looked forward to help prepare the recipe each week and that they were more willing to try the new foods that they had helped prepare.
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