A collaboration among Dare to Care, the North Central District Health Department, the KIPDA Rural Diabetes Coalition and the Shelby County Cooperative Extension Service resulted in a six-week Cooking Matters course for families.  This course provided 11 families (most of whom were dealing with diabetes) with in-depth nutrition education, experiential cooking, and meal-planning strategies for healthier lifestyles.  The class also focused on menu planning, recipe makeovers and safely using leftover foods for use in future meals. 

At five sessions the participants cooked a meal and received enough groceries to later remake the meal for their families at home.  One session was an educational tour at the grocery store with the opportunity to purchase $10 of healthy foods of their choice.  Participants were challenged to use their new knowledge each week and were encouraged to share their successes the following week.  These responses included incorporating more fruits and vegetables in their meals, preparing new foods for their families to try, using the nutrition facts labels information and purchasing fewer processed foods.  The seven participants who completed the program correctly answered a series of questions that covered the topics from all six nutrition lessons.

Feedback from the participants included: “Found out that I can fix a lot of stuff myself.”  “How to prepare healthier meals.”  “Learned to cook and eat healthier.”  “Learned to be comfortable with trying new and healthy ingredients I wasn’t familiar with.”