We believe that cooking education is an essential step in linking the farm-to-table disconnect and ensuring that the fresh food we deliver makes it to families’ tables. Cooking education provides individuals with the tools they need to feel empowered to feed their families. This means supporting every step of the cooking process, including which items to pick when shopping at the store, how to process those ingredients, tricks to alter recipes to make them appetizing and especially ways to reduce food waste.
Cooking Matters
An In-Home Approach to
Cooking Education
Through the use of cooking tutorials, educational videos, and digital media we create dynamic experiences for individuals of all ages with the goal of reaching folks where they are and bringing them one step closer to feeling confident in the kitchen.
Cooking with 412 Food Rescue
Supported by
With the support of UPMC Health Plan and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Good Food Project produced a series of community-oriented cooking demonstration videos. Aimed at providing an accessible foundation for family-friendly recipes, these videos also share relevant nutritional information and basic guidelines for substitutions based on ingredient preferences. This series also features some go-to guides for grocery shopping at utilizing SNAP benefits.
Follow along with Greg Austin, Manager at the Good Food Project, and Ellen Sobota, a health coach at UPMC Health Plan, as they prepare quick, healthy, and delicious meals that are sure to please.
History of 412 Food Rescue’s Cooking Education
Cooking Matters Program
In 2016, 412 Food Rescue was chosen as the regional partner for Share Our Strength’s award-winning Cooking Matters curriculum. Cooking Matters is a nationally recognized food education curriculum that spans 6 weeks and is designed to “help families to shop for and cook healthy meals on a budget.”
412 Food Rescue piloted the Cooking Matters program with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s (CHP) Family Care Connection Centers, using the Cooking Matters for Parents curriculum that focuses on parents and caregivers of children birth to ages 5. The pilot program proved highly successful, with an 80% graduation rate amongst nine sites.
Train-the-Trainer Program
While partnered with Cooking Matters Curriculum we deployed the Train-the-Trainer program allowing 412 Food Rescue to expand our Cooking Matters food education programs to a vast nonprofit partner network – collectively completing over 100 sessions. By facilitating the development of self-sustaining partners we provided the support for them to coordinate their own Cooking Matters courses to serve their unique communities.
Train-the-Trainer was supported by UPMC Health Plan, with equipment from All-Clad.
