The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service is committed to improving the health and well-being of families in the commonwealth. Recent evaluations of our community conducted by WEDCO Health Department indicated that 59.3% are concerned about alcohol/drug abuse and that 45.8% are concerned about poor diet/inactivity (Community Themes and Strengths Assessment, 2014). Both of these concerns may be addressed by increasing the frequency and quality of family meals eaten at home.

In an effort to address the concerns of our community yet still remain relevant with current trends in the consumer market, Scott County Cooperative Extension Service developed “Not Your Grandma’s Pressure Cooker.” This program encourages participants to cook and eat healthy meals more often as a family while still being conscious of the fact that family dynamics have changed and often less time is available to prepare a home cooked meal.

The goal of this program was to encourage participants to prepare healthy meals at home more often by improving their knowledge of how to safely operate an electric programmable pressure cooker (EPPC). The target audience for this program was busy individuals and families of all sizes. Due to the versatile nature of the appliance being utilized we were able to differentiate the program to meet the needs of the clientele present at each particular session.

In an effort to reach a more diverse audience, the program was taught at four different sites: the Scott County Cooperative Extension Office, Cardome Renaissance Center, the Scott County Public Library, and the Garrard County Cooperative Extension Office. Collaboration with the adult services librarian has resulted in EPPC specific cookbooks being added to the library’s physical collection and their online database. This helps make resources available to a large population to encourage cooking and eating healthy meals at home.

The outreach of advertisements for this program far exceeded our expectations. Collectively, marketing measures for the six EPPC classes reached 48,076. This figure was determined by totaling the Facebook posts’ reach, newsletter distributions, and newspaper circulation.

Overall, a total of 292 people attended the program. Quantitative data from the analysis of post-session evaluations revealed that 98% of participants felt this program was relevant to their needs. 100% of participants indicated the instructor engaged them in learning, used appropriate teaching methods, and managed the environment effectively. Most importantly, 98% stated they plan to prepare more healthy meals at home after attending this program and 98% indicated that they improved their knowledge of how to safely operate a pressure cooker.

The increased intentions to prepare more healthy meals at home and the increased confidence of safely operating a time saving appliance can have great implications on the family dinner. A study by Stanford University Medical Center states that “eating family dinner was associated with healthful dietary intake patterns, including more fruits and vegetables, less fried food and soda, less saturated and trans fat, lower glycemic load, more fiber and micronutrients from food, and no material differences in red meat or snack foods” (Gillman et al., 2016). This information indicates that this program’s effectiveness can be a key factor in reducing the numbers of overweight and obese individuals in our community.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has conducted extensive research on the impact of family meals and substance abuse. Their conclusions clearly show that family meals are linked to substance abuse prevention in teens. Moreover, teens having family dinners are more likely to report having high quality relationships with their parents (CASA, 2012). Thus, a program that encourages participants to cook and eat more at home can help battle the substance abuse epidemic our community is currently facing.

Qualitative data from the evaluation instrument indicated that participants understood the benefits and implications of the program as well. Responses to the question “what did you like best about the training?” included:

• -“The relevance to my learning and cooking for my family.”
• -“Clear information- both audio & visual. Lots of helpful info. She was encouraging!”
• -“I liked hearing and seeing real life usage-not just reading the user manual.”

Plans are in place to teach variations of the program and to offer the program to new audiences. As the studies cited above prove, family mealtime has a direct correlation with improved health and wellness of the family unit. Research shows it can positively impact overall health, family relationships, and substance abuse prevention. By teaching time-saving food preparation methods, Cooperative Extension can help busy families create a healthier future.