Healthy Cooking Focus of Outreach Program
By Karen Smith
In an effort to help local families learn to cook and eat more fresh foods, Stockbridge Community Outreach has provided a program called “Learning By Doing” for the past three years to 21 families. Funded by The 5 Healthy Towns Foundation, this seven-week program begins with an orientation meeting where an adult member of each family meets with the facilitator, Suzi Greenway, who leads a short cooking demonstration, illustrating such things as basic knife skills.
For the next five weeks, participants pick up complete ingredients for a healthy meal, plus high quality cookware pertinent to that dish. Past classes have received Wusthoff knives, stock pots, woks, salad spinners, a variety of utensils, and other items. The final week, all the families meet together for a pizza party to receive their “chef awards” and provide feedback about the program.
Group facilitator, Suzi, is extremely enthusiastic about the program, although it is a labor and time intensive project. Each meal is portioned according to the number and ages in each family. She provides step-by- step instructions, as well as a color photograph of the finished product. Some recipes she has provided the group include Beef Bourguignon, chicken stir fry, and potato bacon soup. While the food sounds and tastes expensive, it is selected with thrift in mind. By shopping sales and seasonal ingredients, Suzi is able to put together inexpensive, yet delicious, fresh meals.
The benefits of the program are the obvious learning to cook and eat more healthily. Less apparent benefits of the program include enhanced self-esteem and greater family cohesion. There is something about cooking delicious food and proudly sharing it with those you care about that enhances one’s sense of worth. It can’t be found in a box of frozen chicken tenders. It’s also about the learning of new skills and experiencing a feeling of capability. Outreach hopes to continue to offer the program to many more families in the future.
