Success StoryCooking for One or Two, It's Not Hard to Do



Cooking for One or Two, It's Not Hard to Do

Author: Stacy Trent

Planning Unit: Breathitt County CES

Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)

Outcome: Initial Outcome

Many older adults are either living alone or with one other person which provides different challenges when shopping for and cooking healthy meals. It can be hard to have a desire to cook for one or two people. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 12% of seniors in Wolfe County are low-income, living alone or with one other person. To help address this issue the Wolfe County Cooperative Extension Service, SNAP-Ed assistant partnered with the Campton Methodist Housing Authority. The 7 lesson program from Healthy Choices for Everybody offered seniors help with learning how to prepare meals for one or two people by teaching them to plan meals, how much to buy and how much to eat from each food group, adjusting recipes, double batch cooking, food safety, and food storing time. Participants reported that they learned that planning meals in advance helped them prepare the appropriate amount of food. One participant stated, “This has been a good learning experience for me, in the past I was making so much food and ending up wasting a lot of it and money too.” Another participant stated “Learning tips on double batch cooking was an eye opener for me, cooking once and eating twice has saved a lot of time for me.” The Healthy Choices for Everybody curriculum is geared for seven weeks but the participants continue a monthly meeting inviting other participants.