Cooking Matters empowers families with the skills to shop for and cook healthy meals on limited budgets. We provide education with reinforcements like free groceries and kitchen tools. We also influence policies, systems & environments that impact a family's ability to find & use healthy foods.
When Lucinda heard about Cooking Matters through the nutritionist, Lisa Smith, at Shining Mountain Healthy and Wellness, she was inspired about the possibility of learning diabetes management. Though it took a while to find a course that wasn't completely full, Lucinda was excited that a Cooking Matters for Families course would give her to opportunity to bond with her 8- year-old niece, Somer. Instead of taking the course with one of the four children under 14 that she takes care of, Lucinda decided to spend this special time with Somer because she's an only child and lives with her disabled father.
"Somer loved mixing ingredients together to create dishes for the class and cutting up the food for each recipe and it also helped her with her math skills," said Lucinda. Lucinda shared that the class was "empowering for Somer because she found a niche, something she was interested in and that she could do for herself and share with others. Somer was amazed at what she could make."
Somer enjoyed the class so much that she asked to buy vegetable cutters so she could continue to build on the newfound independence she gained through taking the Cooking Matters for Families class.
But the class didn't only impact Somer and Lucinda, they shared the information with the four kids that live in Lucinda's household where they now all incorporating creative ways to plan and eat healthier meals together as a family. Together, they are all making their own creations with new vegetables and lean protein options introduced in class, like using ground turkey and sweet potatoes to make healthy and affordable tacos.
"Somer and the boys really have a mindset after taking the class to eat more vegetables to be healthy and be open to trying new things." The lessons Lucinda and her family learned from the course extend beyond meal preparation and have set the kids up for success when they're away from the home. Now, Lucinda's kids are reading labels to understand what ingredients are in the foods they are eating.
The sugary beverage lesson was particularly impactful for Somer, helping her critically think about the impact that sugar can have on her health. Lucinda said, "There's only so much you have control of outside your household, and the sugary drinks lesson gave Somer an important perspective since she isn't always at my home." Lucinda shared that the kids are more invested in what they're eating.
In closing, she said "Cooking Matters was a good start for us. It was the right thing to do. I want all my kids to do it… My whole family benefitted from it!"
Cooking Matters strives for a future where all parents and caregivers have the skills they need to regularly serve nutritious food to kids from pregnancy through age five. Cooking Matters is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. It's a big job, but we're not alone. We believe that everyone has a strength to share in ensuring every individual can live a healthy and productive life.
Although Cooking Matters is a national effort influencing eating habits nationwide, we know relationships are best established on the local level. Accordingly, Cooking Matters Colorado works to ensure programs and priorities in our state best meet the needs of Colorado's diverse communities.
Your support allows us to test and implement innovative solutions to addressing childhood hunger.
Cooking Matters as a national program was launched in 1993 and created in the minds of chefs who were looking to impart their food skills knowledge to those most in need. For nearly 30 years, Cooking Matters has evolved to include programs such as our: 6-week education series, 'Cooking Matters at the Store' tours, Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals trainings, and new ONLINE education programs. We have also expanded our sphere of influence to ensure that those who can access our programming and those who cannot are living, working and playing in a world that supports healthy eating habits.
Over that time, we've also narrowed our focus to parents and caregivers of young kids to ensure we reach those most at risk of hunger. Parents and caregivers are critical because they heavily influence family food decisions - from shopping to meal prep - and are often more open to making lasting changes toward a healthier lifestyle.
In Colorado, we reach nearly 10,000 participants in 2019 and have reached over 3,500 participants in 2020 including through our new online programs. Nationwide, we reach over 75,000 participants in 2019 and have reached nearly 20,000 participants in 2020 including through our new online programs
Programming:
• Online Sessions: With the onset of COVID-19, we have developed and begun to implement 30 and 60 minute online Food Skills Education programs. Programs are currently being conducted through Zoom in conjunction with partner organizations who serve Colorado's most vulnerable families. These programs are made up of 9 unique topics that parents and caregivers have identified as top priorities: Kids Say Yes to Fruits & Veggies, Making Recipes Work for You, No More Mealtime Madness, Hack Your Snack, The Family Kitchen, Money-Saver Alert, Drink to Your Health, Feeding in the First Year, and Shopping on a Budget.
• Facebook Lives: In response to the needs expressed by parents and caregivers, we have begun offering weekly Facebook Live sessions in both English and Spanish. Session topics vary and are informed by the feedback we hear directly in each session. Great for informal dialogue and participant engagement, these require no pre-registration. Come as you are and enjoy the fun!
• Food Skills Education Toolkits: Many of the community organizations we partner with now offer no-contact food distribution (i.e. in the form of small food pantries). To expedite getting food skills education in the hands of Colorado families, we've created education toolkits for our partners to accompany their distributed food. The toolkits include social media images/posts, printable resources like flyers, newsletter blurbs etc. to provide families utilizing these emergency food distribution services with the skills to stretch their food resources.
• Six Week Courses: In partnership with community organizations that serve low-income families, we offer hands-on 6 week courses (totaling 12 hours of education) that cover meal preparation, grocery shopping, food budgeting and nutrition. Each course is team-taught by a culinary and nutrition educators. After each class, participants take home a bag of groceries to practice the skills they learned in their own homes. Please note that these programs are currently on hold due to suspended in-person programming.
• Grocery Store Tours: The 'Cooking Matters at the Store' tours provide families with interactive education as they shop for food, giving them hands-on skills to compare foods for cost and nutritional quality. Participants learn how to plan and budget for healthy, affordable, and delicious meals for their families. This program has temporarily transitioned to an online delivery model.
• Childcare Professional Trainings: Since children under five spend an average of 36 hours per week in child care, we provide continuing education trainings to both center-based and informal child care professionals to ensure access to healthy food is achieved in multiple settings. These trainings cover topics such as Choosing Healthy Foods for Kids, Menu Management on a Budget, Partnering with Parents, Meal Appeal, Safe Cooking with Confidence and more. These trainings have been restructured for online delivery with support from the Colorado Shines professional development system.
• Resources & Tools: Free toolkits, kids' handouts/activities and recipes are available at CookingMatters.org and in the Cooking Matters smartphone app.
Organization name
Share Our Strength's Cooking Matters - CG 365
other names
CMCO, Operation Frontline Colorado
1984
Category
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
Address
1824 Lincoln St.Headquarters
1030 15th St NW Suite 1100WDenver County, CO, US
DC, US