"Quick Meals for Kooris"

The recipes used include 'everyday' foods, fresh, frozen and tinned, which are always the cheapest to buy and often in the cupboard.

"Quick Meals for Kooris" is designed to be run by an Aboriginal Health Worker or a member of the Aboriginal community. The group leader does not need extensive nutrition knowledge, just some basic home cooking skills and knowledge of their local community.

Why was it developed?

There is a need for urban Aboriginal people to have access to relevant food programs that promote healthy family eating. A program was needed that was 'hands-on' and enabled new food skills to be learnt in a friendly informal environment.

"Quick Meals for Kooris" was designed to enable Aboriginal people to improve their health through gaining knowledge and developing skills to enable them to feed their families healthy food on a budget.

A resource was also needed that could be used to train Aboriginal Health Workers or interested members of the Aboriginal community to deliver and sustain the program.

How was it developed?

The Central Coast Aboriginal Health Strategic Plan 1997-2001 identified that the Aboriginal community wanted health education programs that focussed on healthy eating, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and healthy eating on a budget. A pilot cooking program was conducted with members of the local community and a pilot training program was conducted with local Aboriginal Health Workers.

What is in the cooking program?

There are 2 three-hour sessions, which begin with a demonstration of aspects of each recipe. The class is then divided into groups to cook a recipe together. The meal is then shared and eaten with socialising and happy discussions taking place.

Session 1 - "Family Meals -fast and easy" and
Session 2 - "Feeding Children and Filling Teenagers"

Each recipe has instructions on how to modify it for diabetes, for example, how to substitute ingredients depending on availability, and how to use leftovers.

What are participants involved in?

• discussion of nutrition issues related to diabetes and heart disease
• preparation of low cost recipes
• sharing ideas and preparing meals from ingredients that are 'in the cupboard'
• using a range of ingredients, modifying recipes or 'extending meat' to serve more people
• learning how to adapt or choose recipes to suit cooking skills, utensils and equipment that they may have available.
• discussing food safety and hygiene
• preparing meals and snacks suitable for the whole family.

What else is in the kit?

• Simple nutrition-related health information is included as background for the group leader. It briefly covers diabetes, heart disease, nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse issues, kidney problems, chewing and swallowing difficulties, food allergies, and food intolerance.
  
  
• Information and guidelines, which are used to train Aboriginal Health Workers and Aboriginal community members to conduct the "Quick Meals for Kooris" cooking program, such as "How to Plan a program". This includes a timeframe—what to do 8 weeks before, 1 week before, on the day—and covers such things as funding sources, equipment needed, shopping list for foods, recipes, transport, childcare, promotion, and sample letters/flyers/posters/press releases.

How can it be delivered?

The cooking program can be run as a 'standalone' or included in larger programs, eg diabetes, heart disease, living on a budget, working with youth, community gardens, vacation care, etc. The kit is also designed to train Aboriginal Health Workers or Aboriginal community members to deliver the cooking program.

What do participants say?

Comments have been: "I am surprised at how easy the recipes were to cook and I'll definitely make them for my family" Sonya, 37. "It was good to learn how to make the meal go further" Lisa, 28. "I didn't know you could grate potato!" John, 33.

How can I get a copy!

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