Community Kitchen
About Us || How We Can Help || What You Can Do || Contact Us
About Us
The Prince Albert Community Kitchen Partnership is a non-profit organization that promotes healthy eating habits and positive lifestyles. Community Kitchens promote better overall health and nutrition knowledge through proper meal planning, budgeting, basic meal preparation and portion control. They are also a wonderful way to bring community residents together in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.
A number of Community Kitchens are currently operating in a variety of locations across Prince Albert and the surrounding area. Participants include young students, pregnant women, teen parents, seniors, and adults with mental health issues. Community Kitchens are open to people of all ages and skill levels. Each Community Kitchen is tailored to suit the needs of the group.
There is no specific model for the Community Kitchen program, although the goal is always to work with groups through hands-on participation. Participants themselves plan the meal and prepare food, which can either be shared as a group or packed into family-sized portions for later use. A kitchen facilitator, or lay leader, helps guide participants through the planning, budgeting and meal preparation process. Lay leaders must have basic cooking skills and be comfortable leading a group. In addition to their personal cooking experience, they receive training through the Community Kitchen Leadership Training program, which provides tips on working with groups and helping others learn. Leadership training sessions run several times a year in Prince Albert.
The Community Kitchen Partnership receives funding to help cover the start-up costs of kitchen programs in and around the city. Some funding is available to cover the cost of ingredients and supplies needed to start the kitchen. However, it is important that participants also contribute toward the cost of food for each session to encourage accountability and build on budgeting and planning skills. The contribution can be as little as $2 or $3 per person for each kitchen session. Participants work together to determine how much money each will contribute in order to buy enough ingredients for the cooking session. Our goal is to make each kitchen sustainable on its own in the long term.
How We Can Help
The Prince Albert & Area Community Kitchen Program works with local organizers and community kitchen participants to plan new community kitchens. Each program is tailored to meet the needs of the group.
The Community Kitchen Partnership can help fund new kitchen programs. The funding can be used to buy food or staple items such as flour, pasta, rice, canned goods etc. The money can also be put toward the purchase of kitchen items to prepare the food including pots and pans, utensils, aprons or oven mitts.
In addition, we provide a “kitchen kit” to each new group. The kit includes a sampling of small items necessary for the cooking program including measuring cups, oven mitts, plastic gloves, and utensils.
The community kitchen program can also provide training for people interested in leading a community kitchen. The training includes information on organizing a community kitchen, finding participants and funding, along with food label and nutrition information and healthy meal ideas. Leadership training sessions are held several times a year and are free of charge. Once you have completed the leadership training session, we also recommend participants sign up for a Food Safe course organized by the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region. The Community Kitchen Partnership will cover the cost of attendance in the Food Safe program for those who intend to lead a community kitchen.
What You Can Do
Community kitchens are a simple way to enjoy healthy, home cooked meals and meet new people at the same time. Cooking sessions don’t take a lot of time or money and are open to participants of all skills levels and income groups.
You can help promote the community kitchen program in your area by putting up posters, advertising the program in newsletters and telling your friends. Our program offers startup funds for each new kitchen program, although our goal is also to help your group become self-sufficient. We recommend that community kitchen participants contribute financially to the program to help pay for the cost of food and other supplies. A small contribution of $2 or $3 is often all that is needed to buy enough food for a home-cooked meal for the entire group. Meals such as meatloaf, beef stew, soup or spaghetti and meatballs are some examples of meals that can be prepared in a community kitchen. The meals can then either be shared as a group or portioned for each member to take home and freeze. By preparing meals together, participants can control the amount of fat and salt in each dish, or change the recipe to suit their needs. Adding extra vegetables is another great way increase the nutrition content of your meal!
How to Contact Us
If you are interested in participating in a community kitchen or starting a program, please contact the program coordinator, Charlene Cyr at cyrcharlene@yahoo.com, or call 763-5142.