A 2018 report from the Community Foundation of Louisville and the Lift a Life Foundation, found that 44,000 Louisvillians live in food deserts, which have few fresh, healthy food options, and that 20,000 older residents live a mile or more from the nearest supermarket. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control determined that only 8% of adults in Kentucky were meeting the daily recommended fruit intake and only 6.3% were meeting the daily vegetable intake recommendation, lower than the national average.

Preserving your fresh produce through canning, drying and freezing can be an economical way to enjoy access to the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables all year long, even when they are no longer in season in Kentucky. The University of Kentucky’s Cooperative Extension Service Nutrition Education Program partnered with Louisville Grows, an organization focused on connecting local residents to health, wellness, and green education, to offer a 3 day workshop series on food preservation topics, led by experienced instructors. Nine participants joined the class, seven of whom were new to Cooperative Extension programming, with 67% participants reporting that they were interested in participating in the workshop in order to save money on food. The workshop focused on the food preservation techniques of pressure canning, boiling water bath canning, freezing and drying, with hands-on activities to increase participants’ experience in food preservation. Of the participants completing the class, (n=7)  100% strongly agreed/agreed that they could identify research-based methods of home food preservation, had better skills in home preservation methods, understood the difference between low acid and high acid foods and could identify the correct methods for canning those foods, could identify the necessary equipment for home food preservation methods and could identify spoilage in home preserved products upon completion of the program. One participant shared, “Overall, the best informative and fun class I've ever attended. Eager to try everything!”