5 August 2011

Healthy cooking classes are proving hugely popular at Pact’s Apartment in Dunedin.

Pact healthy lifestyles coordinator Carina Perner began cooking classes at The Apartment in early May and they have been so popular they are now being held twice a week – on a Wednesday with Carina and on a Friday with support worker Lynne Campbell.

Carina says there are five to seven people at each two-hour class. Only a couple of people can use the stove at a time but everyone can use the bench area to prepare the food for cooking.

"They love it – we have heaps of fun," Carina says.

At the beginning of the class, Carina and patrons discuss topics like nutrition, nutrition-related disease and illnesses, food safety and digestion.

Then they talk about what they are going to cook.

"We work it out together instead of me just giving instructions. I see if they have other ideas and we go from there."

Some people eat the meal at The Apartment and others take it home to eat later. Meals have included quiche and spaghetti and meatballs.

They add extra vegetables to every dish they make to get the recommended "five plus" a day.

"We’ve done shepherds’ pie, pizza, chicken curry and bacon and egg pie and twisted it in a healthy way," Carina says. "For example, instead of bacon we use shaved ham and just added green leafy vegetables to it. Or with the quiche we just add heaps and heaps of vegetables to make it more nutritious."