Organization: Communicare

Time Frame: July 2019-September 2019

For most families cooking is a luxury that some feel that they do not have the time or the money to afford.  The convenience of fast food restaurants has caused families in Kentucky to eat out more on the go. According to the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition study conducted in 2017 in Hardin County, two-thirds (75%) of Hardin County adults were either overweight(28%) or obese (47%) by Body Mass Index (BMI).  This puts them at risk of developing a variety of chronic diseases.   Some of the barriers that people listed as reasons why did not eat healthier was cost (22%).  While some other reasons were loss of income (3%) and not knowing how to prepare healthier foods (6%). The other reasons listed for not cooking was time and convenience.  Adults within Hardin preferred to eat out versus anything else. People with purchased food at the grocery store (87%) or grew food in their own garden (37%).   Only 14% of people experienced food insecurity.  About eighty six (86%) of adults in Hardin county eat out at least once in a week, with at least 6% of adults who ate out about 5 or more times in a week.  

            In Hardin county, Kentucky State University provides a Nutrition Education program called Eat Together, Cook Together.  This program teach’s families how to create their own individualized meal plan, how to budget money for buying food, how to read the nutrition facts labels found on food, and how to select budget friendly recipes that are affordable and easy to prepare for a family.   This program is being offered thru one of the local community organizations known as Communicare. Over the course of about 4 months, the adults who have attended the class say that they have started to prepare meals at home more often than before they started the program.  Once they learned how to prepare some new and different recipes that they do not usually cook at home.  They were able to taste the recipes and try some new foods that they would not have put together in the past.  The clients were able to learn some new recipes like making Home-made chili, chicken and broccoli stir fry and other healthy meals.  About 89% of the participants, 14 out of 16 participants, really enjoyed the idea of trying all of the new recipes with their families.  

The one unique thing that this program does is that it show’s people how they can create a healthy meal that they will enjoy while keeping a budget in mind.   The average cost of buying all of the items for each recipe was less than $20.00 dollars.  The best part about the meals that there would be more for a second meal if the meal was prepared for only four to five adults.  When the participants were asked how they liked the chili recipe, the client responded “That he thought that everything tasted really good, and that the chili was seasoned perfectly.” By the clients being able to actually taste the food instead of just seeing a recipe, they were really able to get any idea of if they would even like how the food tasted.   This really provided them with an opportunity to get the chance to taste test the food before heading out to the grocery store or fresh market to purchase those food items.   

For one of the clients, they stated that, “The meals reminded them of their parent’s home cooked meals!” They really enjoyed trying some dishes that they had never tried before.  Several of the participants who ate the chicken, broccoli, and teriyaki dish said that there were going to try the recipe at home.  The recipe could be cooked using white rice or brown rice.   The participants were encouraged to make the dish even healthier by using brown rice with the chicken broccoli and rice with teriyaki sauce instead of white rice because of the nutritional value in the brown rice is better than in the white rice.  This change was suggested especially for those who have diabetes and any other health conditions.  Because rice is a food that is high in carbohydrates.  Also brown rice is a whole grain and has more fiber than white rice.  This program is expected to grow within the next several months. The program will continue to be offered to Communicare and some other community organizations that have adult clientele groups who want to learn more techniques on how to become budget friendly with their food purchases.