CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI – The focus groups are over and now Greg McKenna and his colleagues are ready to analyze and use the data.

McKenna is a research consultant at Holland College, and part of a team that uses the kitchen to empower islanders with developmental disabilities.

McKenna saw an interest in and a need for a cooking skills program when he took part in a video cookbook project called Let’s Get Cooking.

“The idea was to help people improve their independent living skills,” he said.

The cookbook was produced in partnership with the PEI Association for Community Living and Tremploy, and McKenna is once again working with them to deliver Boxing Up the Basics.

“We really wanted to expand the idea of ​​the video cookbook and there were two goals. One was to provide people with the basic skills they need to be able to create their own meals, ”he said.

“The other piece was the potential for social enterprise development… the idea is (to see) if we can add that notion of meal kits to that, things like HelloFresh and those other well-known programs.”

“There is often nothing better than walking into someone’s house or going to have a meal prepared. So I think that being able to not only create that independence for themselves, but that pride in being able to create and give to someone else is precious. “

– Julie Smith

Project

With funding from NSERC (National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada), McKenna and her team are working with Canada’s Smartest Kitchen at Holland College to develop recipes that meet criteria set by clients at the ACL.

The hope is that another organization will help turn this into a social enterprise aimed at empowering its staff, rather than generating a profit, McKenna said.

“Organizations like Tremploy can include that in their job training process and it gets a bit of a – making money might be the wrong word – but at least it would be kind of a balancing act where they can. train people and this can hopefully pay for itself.

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Good to know:

Springboard:

• Tremploy, Inc. is a registered non-profit community organization that provides job training and support services to adults with developmental disabilities.

• Services aim to help each individual explore their full potential and empower them to contribute and participate meaningfully in the community.

• Tremploy exists to provide innovative, challenging and challenging programming that provides training opportunities to enhance comprehensive capacity development and facilitate progress towards the optimal functioning level for each client.

• Job training and support services aim to provide community living opportunities which include, but are not limited to: gainful employment; increased improvement in quality of life; increased skills development.

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This contribution from people with autism and developmental disabilities makes it client-centered, which is essential, McKenna said, noting some of the criteria they set.

“Things like ingredients have to be readily available; they should be inexpensive… there are always several steps in the recipes, but they should be relatively easy to create, as opposed to the ones that are too complicated; very appealing, like we can’t focus on super spicy foods; the equipment you need should be what you find in every kitchen. All of those kinds of things in order to make it as accessible as possible.

The partners

Learning to cook and sharing with others also has a social benefit, said Julie Smith, executive director of ACL.

“There is often nothing better than walking into someone’s house or going to have a meal prepared. So I think that being able to not only create that independence for themselves, but that pride in being able to create and give to someone else is precious. “

There is also a benefit for people facing the rising prices of groceries, Smith said.

“Being able to reduce grocery bills by exposing individuals (to grocery costs) and giving them the ability to know the cost breakdown of some of their favorite recipes and foods, and be able to see an analysis of them.” cost, is really important, instead of taking the most ready-to-eat foods that some people get.

With all this potential to benefit the community, Boxing Up the Basics is a big deal, McKenna said.

“It’s still one of the best projects I will ever have the opportunity to work on, I think.”