Culinary programmes reheated

Programmes to chop back food spending and tantalise salubrious diets will turn on its elements again later this month.

Carrie-Anne Bennett and Birte Becker-Steel are the fresh-faced Nelson Tasman co-facilitators of the Nutrition Foundation, a non-profit organisation to help Kiwis eat well no matter their cooking abilities or size of their wallets.

The programmes, which were first dished up in the region two years ago, include a Tika Tunu programme for families and young people, and a healthy-aging programme for over 65s to learn basic cooking skills, nutritional information and money saving tips.

Carrie-Anne says, while eating healthy is a mantra, more people combining it with a budget would be more appetising.

“Keeping ourselves fit and healthy has always been hyper important for families, but having the knowledge of how to feed your family with a little budget to get optimum nutrition into them would be amazing,” she says.

“For the aging community it’s about keeping your body fit and healthy so you can prolong your life. Alongside the nutritional cooking skills element, they also have the community engagement and the interaction with other people, which is very important if the elderly are living alone.”

Carrie says the free three-hour programmes will be held over four weeks, with Tika Tunu held at The Food Factory in Stoke and the Healthy Aging at Pūtangitangi Greenmeadows Centre.

All food and equipment is provided.

Carrie-Anne and Birte would also look to hold programmes in Motueka next year.

“We would love to be able to offer sessions monthly across the region so we can help as much of the community as possible,” she says.

Sessions can be booked through either the Nutrition Foundation website or the Nelson/Tasman Nutrition Foundation Facebook page.