Food Values Pilot Programme Evaluation

• Project start date: 26 September 2009
• Project status: Completed
• Project type: Nutrition
• Discipline: Food skills
• Author/s: Community Food and Nutrition Team, Western Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland

Research objective

To develop the budgeting skills of participants to help them get better nutritional value for money when shopping for food.

Outputs

Research report

• Title: Food Values Pilot Programme Evaluation
• Publication date: 13 October 2010
• Summary: Food Values is a short programme showing how to get better nutritional value for money when shopping for food.
• Findings:
  • Tutors were generally positive about the training and felt it was informative and pitched at the right level.
  • The resources provided were popular with all participants apart from younger groups who thought they were ‘old-fashioned’.
  • All tutors enjoyed delivering the course.
  • All participants enjoyed the course and liked the activities.
  • Tutors who received the supermarket tour training had mixed views on it. Some did not enjoy it and thought it lacked direction.
  • All tutors taking part in the supermarket tour felt it was useful however, though some found it required some adaptation to suit their group.
  • Participants seemed to find the tour useful.
  • There was a decrease in average weekly food spend at follow up, among tutors and in the basic group.
  • An increase at follow up was shown across all three groups in the proportion of their weekly food spend on fruit and vegetables.
  • Most tutors and participants had changed their shopping pattern to either one large weekly shop, or one weekly shop + two ‘top ups’.
  • 89% of the enhanced group reported making changes to the way they shop, 68% of the basic group, and 44% of the tutor group.
  • The key skills learned from the programme were menu planning and using a shopping list, budgeting tips, cooking tips and healthy eating.
  • Participants’ felt more prepared when shopping.
  • At follow up, 39% of tutors ‘always’ checked labels; 54% of the basic group and 65% of the enhanced group ‘sometimes’ checking labels.
  • Eating more healthy foods and using fewer convenience foods were the greatest changes made to their eating habits.
  • At the end of the programme, consumption of ready meals and frozen savoury foods ‘daily’ and ‘most days’ generally decreased. At follow up, there was an increase across all groups in those reporting that they ‘never or rarely’ consumed take-away meals.
  • Preparing a home-cooked meal showed a 65% increase with of the enhanced group preparing this ‘daily’ or ‘most days’ after completing the course.
  • The use of leftovers increased considerably at follow-up with all the tutors now using leftovers and 92% of the enhanced group, and 64% of the Basic group.
  • 99% respondents enjoyed the course.
  • Main reasons reported from tutors include: budgeting tips, planning more, greater awareness of food, benefit to group, social and sharing of ideas.
  • Cooking was identified as the best part of the course across all groups.

   
• Recommendations:
  • Develop a pre-training questionnaire for tutors to assess their level of knowledge and to determine if they require additional training.
  • Increase the length of the course and restructure the sessions.
  • Implement a task for the supermarket tour. Ensure that the training is carried out in line with the Food Values training.
  • Offer an alternative to the free shopping bag, especially for younger groups. An information pack with leaflets and recipes should be included.
  • Use the Eatwell plate throughout the course as a guide. Give the information on its use and use this as a guide for shopping and cooking.
  • The Community Food and Nutrition Team, in conjunction with the trained tutors should investigate making the changes above.

  You can download a summary report below.

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