Meijer Partnership Aims to Educate Families About Healthy Food Choices

In a bid to take the fear factor out of grocery shopping for consumers in underserved areas, Meijer, Inc. is partnering with "Generation With Promise" (GWP) to provide grocery store tours as part of a nutrition education class. Dubbed "Side by Side," the classes, offered by the Share Our Strength Operation Frontline Program, involve an educational field trip to Meijer that aims to empower and educate families about making healthy food choices.

"We know the importance of experiential learning," said Michigan's Surgeon General, Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom. "Meijer store tours provide parents with new information to make food purchases that are healthy, budget-conscious, easy to prepare and good-tasting, too."

Each class is held after school and provides nutrition education and a cooking demonstration based on a sample recipe. The program is led by Generation With Promise facilitators, a chef from Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeast Michigan, and a nutrition educator from Michigan State University Extension. At the end of each session, the child and caregiver receive a bag of groceries with the necessary food items to re-create the sample recipe at home.

"Many people falsely believe that it costs more to eat healthy," said Christina Miller, one of Meijer's on-staff healthy living advisors. "These tours are an excellent opportunity for us to teach parents and their children how to make budget-wise, nutritious food choices."

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer also will provide simple meal-planning ideas and recipes families can use to easily incorporate healthy food choices into family meals.