SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS in town are working on a healthy eating campaign to help people see that they don’t have to spend a lot to eat nutritious meals.
Frugalicious Fridays lets people, who become friends with Ksan Society on Facebook, enter to win a day’s meals for a family of four complete with recipes and the ingredients to make them.
Frugalicious – which is a combination of frugal, nutritious and delicious – Fridays is now in its third month and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s growing every single time,” said Marianne Brorup Weston of the Ksan House Society. “What’s really interesting is the cross-section of community members, so we’re not getting just people who are interested in food or healthy food or just people who have food security issues, we’re hitting right across the board.”
It takes place every two weeks and Ksan posts a note on Friday letting its friends on Facebook know they can sign up for the next contest, then the next Wednesday a winner is drawn and that person or family has Thursday and Friday to pick up the food from the Ksan office.
The recipes will be posted on the Ksan website as well.
It’s the brainchild of Ksan, Northern Health, the Greater Terrace Food Association and FoodShare Terrace, all of which are working together on it.
Right now, it’s a virtual thing, taking place online, but when renovations are finished at Ksan Place, it’s hoped that people can come there to find out what it’s like shopping for a particular meal, how much it cost, what items can be substituted, watch the foods being made and taste them, said Brorup Weston.
It’s expensive to try to eat healthy, she added. When shopping for the food items, she’s only come in on budget once out of the four times a winner has been chosen, she said.
“We’ve only come in on budget once out of the four times, and when you’re thinking of someone living at the poverty line or below it, eating healthy is not easy,” she said.
Stores will sometimes offer items on sale, which can be cheaper if you buy in bulk, but if you don’t have a car to carry the items home, then how can you buy in bulk, she explained.
And produce is expensive, added Brorup Weston.
The meals have all been meatless, partly because it’s perishable, but also to show that you can have a healthy meal without eating meat, which is often cheaper.
A dietitian puts together the meals and recipes and has been creative with the meatless meals to ensure people still get the protein, vitamins and other nutrients needed to be healthy, said Brorup Weston.
To enter the contest, a person has to be a friend of Ksan on Facebook and should be able to come pick up the groceries from Ksan if they win, said Brorup Weston.
And even though people have been asking, Ksan staff will not come over and cook the food for the winners, she said.
Feedback from people has been positive: they’re interested and asking where can they can go to see the recipes, she added.
Frugalicious Fridays will continue for a year.
The next contest starts July 15, the draw for a winner will be July 20 and the winner is to pick up the groceries from Ksan Society July 21 or 22.