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Eating Healthy With What You’ve Got

It was 10:30am and there were around 40 people spread about the dining room, sitting at tables alone or with others, and most likely holding a hot tea or coffee. No doubt in this brutally cold winter, they were all grateful that the Morristown Community Soup Kitchen’s (CSK) dining hall now opens at 9:00am for breakfast and anyone is welcome to utilize the room well before lunch hours for the warmth emanating from the building, a hot beverage, or a familiar face.  Maybe they need a restroom, some socks or a hat, or have a question for the social workers. Whatever it is, they are in a welcoming place.

I walked around the room asking folks if they had a place where they could cook for themselves, carrying a list of kitchen supplies in English and Spanish, as well as images for both in case I really butchered the Spanish translation. I was researching recipes with limited appliances as part of a recent joint grant AGAR and the CSK received from Impact 100 Garden State. I expected most people to just have a hot plate.

Nearly half of the room is not able to cook for themselves. One gentleman kindly responded with a smile, “I live in the woods! I cook by campfire! But thanks for asking.” It never occurred to me to think of recipes, let alone ones filled with nutritious hearty vegetables, for this situation. Nearly half of the total room was either in this man’s situation or staying in a shelter nearby. Yet, most of these guests need to head out for the day, looking for somewhere else to be.

However, perhaps surprisingly, almost half of the room had a microwave, stove/oven and a pot and pan and only 2 people had a hot plate. For me, I sighed a bit of relief thinking I could expand my search options. At the same time, it was just another reminder of what people in poverty face today. The means to cook, but not always the means to purchase the food. The majority of people believe soup kitchens are mainly for our neighbors without homes, but the reality is about 70% attending the soup kitchen do have a place to live and cook.

With my appliance list in hand, I set out to find a healthy recipe suitable for both microwave and oven, keeping in mind convenience. Rich or poor, we can all face time poverty in the midst of demands from work, finding work, kids or any picky eaters we’re attempting to serve. The latter is something the education team has been trying to keep in mind in searching for healthy recipes. There is often not extra room in the budget to introduce a new food a dozen times, the recommendation for helping children developing their palate to enjoy, for example, a more bitter vegetable.  Caregivers need to know that their child(ren) will feel satisfied after a meal, not want to throw it out (or on the floor).

Thanks to search engines, there are many internet sites out there promoting healthy microwavable recipe. No thanks to some of the links though, many of them were not quite as “healthy” as promoted, or they focus more on breakfast and dessert. I finally stumbled on microwavable stuffed peppers (adding ¼ tsp salt, 1 clove minced garlic, and leaving out the parmesan), and we decided a casserole version would work well for a taste test (much easier than trying to cut up stuffed peppers).  I snobily admit that I was quite turned off by making an entire dish in the microwave, despite the current research that it doesn’t zap as many nutrients as we once thought and could be one of the healthiest ways to cook. You do lose some of the crispiness, but I have to say that when tested at home, it was quite satisfying to provide a family approved and healthy recipe straight from the microwave.

The casserole version was well received in the dining hall and most people willingly took the recipe in Spanish or English, especially when we said that it could be made in the microwave. Fortunately most of these ingredients are regularly available at the CSK’s Healthy Produce Market on Mondays and Fridays, either gleaned from local grocery stores or purchased wholesale. AGAR of course looks forward to continuing our delivery of peppers and onions (and other vegetables) in season straight from the farm, and hopes that stuffed peppers, or any variations, will be on the table.

I have known for some time now, especially with a toddler in tow, that planning ahead is one of the keys to getting healthy food on the table that all will enjoy. It takes time, not forgetting ingredients at the grocery store and strong consideration of budget and multiple palates. Add in limited appliances, and it’s easy to understand why a cheap frozen meal becomes the solution. I ran into many roadblocks myself to find and pull this recipe together and was grateful for the support of my colleagues and partners.  So as we continue our Impact 100 workshops at the CSK this year, we stand ready for whatever steps we can collectively take to help each other find ways to get healthier food on the table. And we will try to keep sharing what we find, so we can pass it on to you or someone else you know striving to eat healthy on a budget.

-Leena

 

 

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