The Lawrence County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences held a “Cooking through the Calendar” workshop each month throughout 2019. This program was held to address the issues of kitchen safety, food preparation skills, and making healthier choices. With 39% of Lawrence County residence in less than good health and a prevalence of hypertension of 67% (Kentuckyhealthfacts.org), the program was developed to provide the opportunity for individuals to gain skills to prepare healthier food.

The Cooking through the Calendar class was held monthly at the Lawrence County Extension Office. Each class demonstrated the current month’s Nutrition Education Calendar recipe and participants were allowed to sample the recipe. Members of the class were also presented a nutrition and/or a kitchen skills lesson and given the opportunity to prepare the monthly featured recipe themselves. Some examples of lesson topics include: proper hand washing, knife skills, healthier protein choices, understanding a recipe, and more.

At the end of the program 100% of the participants said that they would be interested in taking a similar class in the future and 100% of the participants said they had learned something new from the program. 67% of the participants indicated that they had prepared at least one of the recipes at home for themselves and/or their families. One of the participants stated, “I’m so glad I was told about this class, I will be back next year,” and another explained that, “I tried foods I would have never eaten before!”

The Lawrence County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences has planned to continue this program in using the 2020 calendar to continue to encourage individuals and families to prepare healthier meals at home.