Weld County’s free Cooking Matters program aims to help low-income families gain confidence cooking healthy meals while strategically stretching dollars

Cooking Matters classes cover different topics each week, including cooking basics, nutrition, food budgeting skills and meal planning. Courtesy photo.

By Emily Kemme

Grocery stores can be confusing places: row after row of food is seemingly placed at random, but stores employ tried-and-true methods to entice shoppers into buying what might not be the healthiest choices. Combined with budgeting worries, low-income families or those experiencing food insecurity may find shopping for meals downright intimidating.

That’s where Cooking Matters comes in. As the teaching arm of Share Our Strength, the national nonprofit is dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. Since 2014, the more than 20-year-old national program has operated in Weld County, reaching low-income families to provide information and education about eating healthy within their budget.

Partnering with the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment, Olga Maria Gonzalez coordinates with local churches, recreation centers and schools to offer the program. Cooking Matters asks that host facilities have a kitchen and contact and recruit participants who qualify as low-income. The Cooking Matters program is free, and supplies food and class cooking equipment.

During the final Cooking Matters class, participants are awarded with certificates and receive gifts like a knife, cookbook and grocery shopping bag. Courtesy photo.

Gonzalez, who holds a master’s degree in Gerontology and was a physician when she lived in Mexico, said the progressive series covers different topics each week, with instruction on cooking basics, nutrition, information about fruits, vegetables and whole grains and preparing healthy starches at home. One class focuses on encouraging children to eat healthy meals.

“Instructors are required to have a background in education, although in a perfect world we would like home economic teachers or people with either culinary or nutritional backgrounds,” Gonzalez said.

Along with cooking techniques, the weekly two-hour courses teach food budgeting skills and meal planning.

“Preparing a menu takes time, but it provides a way to include family choices. Planning meals is something we teach them to have in their weekly schedule,” she said.

A mom and her daughter enjoy learning about healthy fruits together at a Cooking Matters class. Courtesy photo.

One class is devoted to shopping smart: participants take a grocery store tour, learning how to check and compare prices, and how to take sugar, salt and protein contents into account before purchasing. Gonzalez polls the class on their favorite grocery stores and lets the group make the choice about which store to tour.

During the final class — Recipe for Success — participants are awarded with a certificate, along with a knife, cookbook and grocery shopping bag. The event is a celebration, with participants bringing something they’ve cooked to share with the class.

When the program was able to meet for in-person classes before the pandemic, participants were given groceries so they could practice at home. Currently, classes are taught online and offer eight sessions; instead of giving away groceries, participants receive a $10 gift card for each lesson they complete to buy food and practice cooking at home.

Share Our Strength conducted a national study to determine the impact of its cooking courses, finding that participants became more confident in their cooking abilities and prepared healthier, more budget-friendly meals after completing the course. This included eating more vegetables, opting for low-sodium foods (11%), low-fat dairy (9%), lean protein and whole grains (8%). Findings showed that the course helped alleviate worries about food insecurity and helped instill confidence that families could stretch food dollars.

“It’s Dinnertime: A Report on Low-Income Families’ Efforts to Plan, Shop for, and Cook Healthy Meals,” a study on low-income Americans’ mealtime practices, found that, “families are cooking dinner at home, mostly from scratch, and are highly interested in making healthy meals.”

Additionally, the study found that 8 out of 10 low-income families make dinner at home at least five times a week.

One of the perceived barriers — that healthy food items are too expensive — is overcome by the program’s goal to educate people about strategic shopping methods and cooking skills.

To learn more

To host or participate in a Cooking Matters class, contact Olga Maria Gonzalez, Cooking Matters program coordinator at ogonzalez@weldgov.com or (970) 304-6470 ext. 2382 | 8-week free online classes |  Bilingual and English/Spanish classes available.