Pantry Plus More’s (PPM’s) Nutrition and Education Committee is dedicated to helping schoolchildren and their families in Monongalia County lead healthy lifestyles, primarily by facilitating their ability to prepare nutritious, delicious meals. To this end, we are preparing healthy, delicious recipes that are mostly kid-friendly and based on foods commonly in our stockroom. The recipes are incorporated into three-ring mini-binder cookbooks, with sections for Breakfast, Meals and Snacks/Desserts. The PPM cookbooks are being distributed to PPM clients who want them, and the recipes are published on the PPM website for anyone to access. As additional recipes are created, they are distributed to clients, to be added to their cookbooks, and published on PPM’s website. The Nutrition and Education Committee also conducted several surveys to better understand what non-food needs limited the clients’ ability to prepare recipes in the cookbooks. A limited number of cookbooks were distributed to clients to obtain feedback before preparing a large number of cookbooks. From that survey, we found many clients needed can openers, measuring cups/spoons and microwaves; other items were also identified. A grant was obtained in 2021 to purchase microwaves and can openers, and 55 microwaves and about 100 can openers were distributed to clients who needed them in early 2022. The Nutrition and Education Committee will continue to learn what additional items clients need to lead healthy lifestyles and work with the PPM Grant Writer to secure additional funds to obtain those items for PPM’s clients.
Recipes
Breakfast
Meals
Snacks and Dessert
