The joy of cooking (healthy food) for many

Last Friday night I assisted in making dinner for nearly 40 people. This was not your typical dinner, however, because this was for a group of hungry triathletes. It was also not typical in that the meal consisted of mostly non-processed foods. The menu included 4 difference crock pot stews all made with either chicken or beef and a variety of vegetables and barley or lentils. I assisted with the sauteed kale, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and sweet potatoes fries. We made pizza with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, chicken, and mushrooms and open faced sandwiches with sunflower butter, grilled chicken, mushrooms, and peppers. Then to top it off we had breakfast for dessert. Using whole grain waffle mix we made waffles and made old fashioned oatmeal. For toppings we included raisins, almonds, thawed frozen fruit, heated pumpkin, cinnamon, almond butter, whey protein powder, and honey. Last by not least we broke out some coconut ice cream for everybody to try. Do you notice something about this meal? It did not contain any dairy, legumes, peanut butter, and many of the most common food allergens. There were gluten free options and we did make vegetarian options as well.

So you might be asking yourself why go through all the trouble of making all this food? We wanted to show the triathlon team that healthy food can be easy to make and affordable. Many younger athletes don’t feel that nutrition is important or they don’t feel they can afford nutritious foods. As we get older we tend to recognize the importance of nutrition because we don’t recover as quickly and we start to see the impact nutrition can make on performance in combination with proper training. I believe it is important to get younger athletes to eat healthy and fuel their bodies right early on so they can stay healthy and don’t run into problems later in life. Behaviors are easier to change in early adulthood and maintained throughout adulthood.

How to plan a nutritious meal or food demonstration?

1) Come up with a theme and plan your menu. Come up with some healthy menu ideas that are feasible to make in large quantities. Crock pot recipes are good but you might need to borrow more than one crock pot.

2) Figure you how many are going to be there. Send invitation using facebook or e-mail and ask for an RSVP. In the invitation provide the menu and a brief description of why these items are being served. For instance the title could be “fresh, healthy and affordable options for the busy college student.” Make the title catchy and make sure your theme and menu reflect the title. State the purpose of the meal or demonstration.

3) Plan out servings. To be safe always plan a little extra. Once you have the servings planned, price everything out. You can do this by looking up food prices online. I would recommend creating an excel spreadsheet with the item, how much you need to buy, and the price.

4) Make a plan of how you are going to cook everything and what you need to make ahead of time and what you can make the day of.

5) Make sure you have plates and utensils. Or even better, ask people to bring their own to save on clean up and the environment.

6) Go grocery shopping. It is always better do this part and the cooking with someone else.

7) Start cooking! Get some help and make this fun. If you are doing more of a demonstration just get things prepared and organized for the demonstration.

8) The evening of the meal after people arrive make sure you give a background into the food being prepared. Mention different nutrients and why they are important for health and make sure to tell them the purpose of the meal. Have a plan on what is served first and in what order and remind people to be considerate of others.

9) During the meal be free to answer any questions regarding the food being served. It is also a good idea to provide recipes and a shopping list. This way they can make the healthy meals at home.

10) Clean-up and relax. It is always a good feeling when you pull off something like this and hopefully motivated at least a few people to start eating healthier.

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