The (meal) preppers Busy mum-of-four Carmen Donhardt (pictured) is a “prepper” – a meal prepper that is. Looking to get her kids into new foods, she recently joined a program at the Healthy Food Co in Smithfield Plains to learn how to make a week’s worth of healthy meals ahead of time. “I have older children with special needs around food,” Carmen said. “This was a chance to encourage them to try different foods.” The program sees four participants cook easy meal kits together in the onsite kitchen and divide the meals among the group. When it comes to the endless question of “what’s for dinner?” Carmen, from Andrews Farm, said she tried as much as she could to cook but, like most of us, life got in the way. “I’ve never thought of doing one week’s worth of meals in one day before,” she said. Carmen said the cottage pie was a fan favourite at her house, but Mexican rice, beef casserole, tuna mornay, apricot chicken and basic scones were among the other dishes served up in a flash. “It was really good to do it with other people,” she said. “We could discuss other ideas and what we would do differently.” The first three weeks of the program focus on healthy dinners, with the final week on lunch box snacks like mini quiches and pizza scrolls. Having now completed the program, Carmen encouraged others to try meal prepping with the whole family.
Keep an eye on The Precinct Facebook page for future sessions of the Family Meal Prep Program. Enjoy the jam-packed delicious meal prep, socialising and fun! PAGE 22 | playford.sa.gov.au
For more information on the program or to register your interest contact the Playford Wellbeing Hub team on 8480 0100.
