Club members are eating healthier food

People are eating healthier food after taking part in Let’s Get Cooking, new research has shown. The first round of the Let’s Get Cooking evaluation is complete and is helping to show that club members are learning new cooking skills (which they are using at home), teaching cooking skills to others and eating a healthier diet.

Club members, from a sample of 300 clubs, are asked to complete a short questionnaire, once at the beginning of their involvement with the club and again at the end of a cycle of club activities. During the first round of evaluation 130 people from 13 clubs completed the questionnaire and we found out the following:

• Most people had followed a recipe, weighed or counted ingredients, chopped or sliced food and mixed ingredients, although less than half had simmered or stir-fried food.
  
• People were using the skills they had learned at home with the most likely skills being following a recipe or cutting, chopping and slicing food.
  
• Thirty-six participants had shown the skills they had learned to someone else and in total the skills were shown to 96 other people.
  
• Most people had made healthier food choices following their involvement with Let’s Get Cooking.
  

The change in eating habits was measured by showing people a list of ‘healthy’ and ‘less-healthy’ foods and asking them to tick the foods that they had eaten the previous day.  They were asked to repeat this again a few weeks later after taking part in club activities.  As well as choosing more ‘healthy’ food the second time, they were also eating fewer ‘less healthy’ foods, indicating a shift towards a healthier diet.

Let’s Get Cooking is also helping people to develop self confidence. When asked what they had enjoyed most about the club, we received an interesting range of comments including:  

• The cooking, because some things I have not cooked before and I liked finding out what we were going to make.
  
• Just the range of food we cook.
  
• Everyone can do the cooking.
  
• That we could take our food home. 
  
• That the food was healthy.
  
• Learning stuff that adults do.
  
• That we get to do different activities and learn new things.
  
• The fun environment. That we get to take home what we make.
  

Overall, the results from this first round of evaluation are encouraging and we hope that children around the country are benefiting in similar ways. Further results from the second round of evaluation will be available in the autumn term 2009.