The Boone County Extension Service Nutrition Education Program partnered with 

St. Elizabeth’s Hospitals Primewise's Senior group. Seniors can struggle to find simple, 

affordable, healthy meals made for 1 or 2 people, that doesn't take several steps to prepare 

in the kitchen. Ten older adults learned a 7 part series of important nutrition and food safety

lessons, along with cooking and sampling some low cost, healthy recipes. The participants

were delighted with how easy it was to make these low cost recipes. One of the participants 

said, “Since I live alone, and I liked the recipe Colorful Quesadilla so much, I decided to cook

it three times this week”. One of the lessons in the series was Meal Planning. Meal planning 

explains how important it is to make sure you have all the correct amounts of your ingredients

needed to be sure to read and follow all the steps in a recipe. One participant commented 

“I learned I really need to read the recipe directions and to follow along with each step of the 

recipe. I now know to spray both sides of the tortilla with cooking spray so the tortilla doesn’t

burn”. Participants were also taught how to create shopping lists, which can help make sure

they have all the needed supplies for a recipe.

These Seniors now have the knowledge to prepare these healthy recipes that are within their

budgets and taste great in the convenience of their homes.