Food Bank Recipes

Genius Hour Project

Background

For this project I will be building on Paulette Cote’s work and all that she does for our local food bank (link to Source of Strength interview). The food bank has been donated some land on which they are able to grow a variety of amazing produce in order to provide fresh food to those that live with food scarcity. Last year, they were able to get multiple truckloads of produce for various outreach community organizations within Winnipeg. This spring, they are planning on expanding the garden by over 30% to supply even more vegetables to those that use St. Mary’s Road Food bank. In the fall, Paulette shared that some of the clients did not know how to prepare the vegetables shared.

The original plan also changed as more consultation occurred with those that use the food bank, as well as with the organizers for this location. Currently there are four vegetables that have recipe cards that are printed on black and white double sided handouts. Each recipe card has simple nutritional value, how to store the vegetable, two written recipes and 2 videos of a cooking demonstration of each recipe. People are able to access this by using the link or the QR code.

Rational

It is estimated that 4 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, do not get enough healthy foods (McCarthy, 2018). that Paulette, Joan, Craig, and Carol work to address this. They began to grow and produce fresh vegetables on Craig and Carol’s plot of land just outside of the city limits. All the produce that is grown on this plot of land is donated to St. Mary’s Road Food Bank.

Paulette mentioned that one of the pieces of feedback that she received was that some of the members of the community were unfamiliar with these fresh types and did not know how to prepare them. This resulted in food waste. According to the report "Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste, over half (58%) of all food produced in Canada is wasted, and 32% of this wasted food is avoidable. This means that 11.17 million tonnes of food fit for consumption is ending up in our landfills” (Grzenda, 2019). 21% of food waste comes from the homes. Much of the food that is wasted in the home comes from improper storage and not knowing what to do with the food items (Stewart, 2018). By providing instructions on simple recipes and vegetable storage, this is a way to help reduce this waste and to help those experiencing food scarcity to get the healthy foods that they deserve.

So many in our communities rely on foodbanks, and they deserve healthy and delicious foods to eat.

Click the above image to see your province and food bank usage.

Process

Consult with St. Mary’s Road Food Bank coordinators Joan Boone and Paulette Cote as well and landowners Carol and Craig Whitman to discuss vegetables to be planted in the upcoming growing months (February 14, 2021)
Look for simplified recipes that only require limited ingredients. Include 2 recipes/vegetable item. Other items that are included in the recipes are items that are commonly donated foods.
Create recipe cards that can be printed double sided.
Record videos and upload to YouTube – also create QR codes for each video link – add to printed cards.
Contact local print shop to share idea and ask for discounted pricing (free black and white printing received for the season)
Print-offs given to St. Mary’s Road Food Bank and they are included in the grocery bags of foods that are handed out to those that need in our community.

Challenges and Successes

I did make some changes to the original proposal based on feedback from those who rely on the food bank. When asked if they would prefer a recipe book or a printout, the overwhelming answer was to have individual print outs.

Through my volunteer work, and as I live down the street from this food bank, I have observed is that many of the clients speak English as an additional language. I decided to create some videos on how to prepare the vegetables as seeing is easier for many than reading. They are simple videos that are posted to YouTube and these links are included on the written print out in the form of a link as well as a QR code.

Click on each "Get Recipe" on the images below to see the recipe cards with the links and videos.

Martin Mulligan shares how it is important to continue to engage with the community and work together to find solutions to problems within the community. Stuart Hill who states that “no action is insignificant and worthless, rather that inaction is irresponsible. He argues that no action should be dismissed as long as it is part of a broader action plan” (2018, p. 159-160). Although this is a small action in a small community, it is a part of a broader action plan of ensuring that all people have access to healthy foods and to address the broader issue of food waste.

When working on my project, I needed to consider the needs of the community, hence the addition of videos with links in multiple formats. While volunteering with the food bank, I also considered what food items are often included so ensure they would most likely have the ingredients on hand. I needed to consult with the stakeholders; this included not just those who are running the food bank, but the clients as well (Mulliagan, 2018, p. 173-176).

A key takeaway I have learned in my work in activism and in volunteering is to be bold but realistic, find out what other actions people have taken, finds a role that fits your talents, and to keep a balance in your personal life to prevent “burn out” (Mulligan, 2018, 183-184). I love cooking and have experience in creating brochures and videos (thanks to teaching from home last year) so this was a good fit for me.

This was a significantly larger project than I had anticipated, and I have needed to be flexible to both time restraints, balancing my volunteer time, and what is needed most in the community. I have chosen to highlight vegetables that are received year-round, such as carrots and potatoes, as well as some that are a little more difficult to know what to do with, such as swiss chard, zucchini, beets, and butternut squash.

Sustainability

Research shows that 21% of waste comes from household use and that averages a financial cost of $1100/household/year. This is often attributed to purchasing too much, not knowing how to prepare it, or not knowing how to properly store it (Stewart, 2018). It requires lots of resources to produce, process, and distribute food. “Not only that, the impact of food loss and waste on climate change would come as a surprise to most people. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food waste contributes 8% of global gas emissions. To put this statistic into perspective, if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions following China and the United States” (Grzendra, 2019). The statistics were astonishing to me. By helping reduce food waste, even in this small way, it is a step towards greater sustainability. The most common items, 45%, of what is wasted in the Canadian household, is fruits and vegetables according the the most recent data (National Zero Waste Council, 2021). By teaching different ways of using and storing these products, this will help address the largest contributor to household waste.

Singh Hanjrah, 2019

Love Food, Hate Waste, 2021

This activity has “filled my cup” I love to cook, and I love to share my passion for cooking and gardening with others. This year, I have not been able to cook as much with my class and I felt a lot of disappointment as I teach a lot of our curriculum through cooking and baking, as well as preserving the foods that we grow. A key aspect of being a change agent is to find something that you are passionate about, work with other talented individuals, and to find a role that fits your talents; this project fit all of those things for me. It allowed me to address food scarcity in our community, address reducing food waste and the impact on our earth, and allowed me to try create many new and old dishes and share them with others. I am glad that I have gotten a chance find something like to share this with others.