Nanaimo Community Kitchens: Workshops.

Cooking together to create a healthy community.

NCK Programs

NCK Programs

Community Kitchen Cooking Groups
These are groups of participants who meet regularly to cook meals to feed themselves and their families. Everyone shares in the recipe selection, cooking and clean-up. You pay for the portion of food you take home.

Current groups include Casserole Ministry, Cooking with Friends, Supportive Apartment Living and Squpels Mustimuxw Qwulutum.

Cooking Out of the Box
Cooking out of the Box uses a monthly Good Food Box of fruits and vegetables as the foundation of a nutritious cooking session for low income individuals.

The program is free to participants and encourages the use of fresh fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet. At each 2 hour session, 3 to 4 recipes are prepared using the contents of the Good Food Box, which varies from month to month. The Community Kitchens facilitator chooses the recipes, purchases a Good Food Box for each location and the extra food needed to prepare the recipes. The sessions ends with a shared meal, group discussion and clean up. Participants receive copies of the recipes and extra food is divided among the clients to take home.

Thanks to funding from the United Way Central Island, we offer the program at three locations:

Foodshare Center, 271 Pine St
Women's Center, 285 Selby St
Tillicum Lelum, 602 Haliburton

Sessions are free but limited in space. Please phone Anita at 753-7470 for more information, or email: anita.nck@shaw.ca

Bellies to Babies and Beyond
A 10 week series of cooking sessions covering nutrition and economical, healthy food choices from pregnancy through infancy. Participants are involved in the choice of recipes and take home servings of each recipe to feed their families. There is no cost to participants and child minding is available. The program runs at Princess Royal Family Center on Monday mornings from 9:45-12:00. This program is a partnership with Vancouver Island Health Authority and Community Kitchens. More information

Participants say: "Cooking is not so scary", "I eat more vegetables", "I am more confident when trying new recipes", "I make proper meals", "I look at labels for fat, salt and sugar".

Cooking on a Budget
Weekly cooking sessions with clients of Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank. Participants prepare meals based on bag contents to take home. Program runs at Christ Community Church, 3 Mondays each month. Funded by the City of Nanaimo.

Participants say:

I learned a lot and laughed a lot and even came out of my shell.

My family loved the meals I came home with as they were different than what I normally make."

For more information, call Anita at 753-7470 or
Email: Anita.nck@shaw.ca

Nanaimo Community Kitchens is at
271 Pine St., Nanaimo, BC V9R 2B7
Phone: 250.753.7470

Anita.nck@shaw.ca