Cooking Matters for Child Care Professionals Kayla Anderson MPH, RDN, LDN

Partnerships Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Program Goal Cooking Matters for Child Care Professional is designed to encourage providers to prepare healthy, low-cost meals and snacks for kids. Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Program Overview 2 day statewide trainings includes: Lecture Hands on activities Skill practice Meal prep. Incentive program for participating centers Outcomes Tracking Pre and post menu matrix Self-report knowledge and behavior change surveys. Cooking Matters Presentation

Menus Pre-Training Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Menu Matrix Standards Positive Points Negative Points 1 point for each of the following items: Grain Protein Fruit Vegetable 1 point for lean protein 1 point for whole grains 1 point for all MyPlate components (fruit, non-starchy vegetable, lean protein, whole grain, and non-fat dairy) -1 point for processed foods/ convenience items: Poptarts, chicken nuggets, cookies, tater tots -1 for juice or jello replacing/count as fruit -1 for flavored milk or milk shake replacing non-fat/1% milk Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Menu Analysis Example Pre-Training Post-Training Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Post-Analysis Results 45% are serving more vegetables in their daycare 50% are serving more fruits in their daycare 41% are serving more whole grains in their daycare 27% are serving more lean meat, chicken, or fish in their daycare Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters

Post-Analysis Results 32% are serving more low-fat or fat-free milk in their daycare 64% are serving more water in their daycare 85% improved their cooking skills 100% plan to share info learned Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters