The Cooking Club brings together low-income families for regular shared cooking sessions that combine nutritional education, hands-on cooking instruction, food cost savings and positive social interaction.  Club participants share ideas and experiences for making family meals an important part of family life, as well as tips for eating healthy and stretching tight food budgets.  At each session, participants also share in batch pre-cooking of several healthy recipes to take home for use in family meals during the busy week – saving both time and money.  As much as practical, the clubs access foods directly from local producers and farmers markets.

The Family Table Cooking Club is a way to encourage low-income families to become engaged in the growing local foods movement.  It connects them directly to local farms, provides positive social interaction (food and cooking are powerful social connectors) and offers real-life savings in family food budgets.  Local cooking clubs are designed to become very self-directed, with club members taking an active role in organizing and planning sessions and sharing resources and ideas.

At present, Cooking Clubs are operating on a pilot basis in Dunn County.  We hope to establish new clubs as local financial support is available.  Want to start a Family Table Club in your community?  Family Table clubs welcome sponsorship and support from local organizations, businesses and churches.