The Spencer County All Program Assistant started a 4-H Cooking Club at the beginning of the Spencer County 2018-2019 school year. The 4-Her’s were asked to take a pre-evaluation of their practice of MyPlate, Food Safety, and asked their extent of Physical Activities.

Through the 2018-2019 school year, the 4-H Cooking Club met monthly with the 4-H assistant and were taught about the importance of MyPlate, How To Read Nutrition Facts Labels, How To Measure ingredients to prepare recipes, and How much Physical Activity that our youth should have been participating in daily.

The 4-H Program Assistant had the students cook and sample various recipes including several healthy Supplemental Nutrition Program recipes such as Hawaiian Pizzas, Easy Italian Pasta as well as stir-fry, where 4-Her’s learned valuable chopping skills. The students also had the opportunity to bake oatmeal or cheese muffins, snicker doodle cookies and brownies to practice for 4-H County and State Fair entries. 

In May the 4-H Program Assistant administered a post survey. After review she observed that there was a significant improvement in various areas but noticed a 50% improvement in the reduction of drinking soft drinks as well as they were open to trying new foods when offered.

A couple of the 4-Her’s parents sent pictures to the 4-H Program Assistant and reported that their children were now cooking the healthy recipes at home and the families (especially parents) were thrilled for their child’s eagerness to help with cooking and bringing home tasty and healthy recipes.