If you want to be a star in the kitchen, try the food & nutrition project! You’ll learn kitchen and cooking safety, how to prepare nutritious meals and snacks, and meal ideas to reduce your risk of disease. Learning experiences focus on nutrition, food purchasing, food preparation, food safety, and related careers.
Resources
- Project Information Sheet
- 9 Tips for Healthy Grocery Shopping
- 20 Money Saving Grocery Shopping Tips
- Altering Recipes for Good Health
- Cooking up Healthy Choices
- Dietary Guidelines For Americans
- Dinner Tonight: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
- Easy, Tasty, Healthy: Simple Ingredient Substitutions for Your Recipes
- Explore Guide: Food & Nutrition – Cooking in the Kitchen | Participant Survey
- Explore Guide: Food & Nutrition – Dollars and Sense | Participant Survey
- Explore Guide: Food & Nutrition – Food Challenge | Participant Survey
- Explore Guide: Food & Nutrition – Kitchen Safety | Participant Survey
- Explore Guide: Food & Nutrition – Keeping Food Safe | Participant Survey
- FightBac – Fight Foodborne Bacteria Brochure
- Food Safety
- Food Safety Fact Sheet
- Know Your Nutrients
- My Plate
- MyPlate Mini Poster
- National 4-H Curriculumn
- National Food Challenge Website
- Nutrition Guide for Athletes
- Nutritional Concepts
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
- Preparation Principles & Function of Ingredients
- Quick Ingredient Substitutions
- Safe Home Food Storage
- Stretch Your Food Dollars At the Grocery Store
- Agent Resource: Texas 4-H Food and Nutrition Project Survey Instructions | Survey
Videos Resources
- Cost Analysis Video
- Example presentation #1
- Example presentation #2
- Example presentation #3
- Food Challenge introduction
- Food product bag
- Organizing your team
- Pantry visit
- Preparing your dish
- 4-H FCH Contest Learning Series: Food Challenge
- 4-H FCH Contest Learning Series: Food Show
Contests
Food Challenge
At the Food Challenge, teams of 3-4 students receive a list of ingredients and have 40 minutes to create a dish. The teams then present their dish to judges are scored on preparation, serving size, food safety concerns, nutritional value and cost. Students qualify at the country and district level to compete at the state contest. Review all the rules in the Food Challenge Manual.
- Download – 2023 Guidelines
- Download – 2023 Preparation Scorecard
- Download – 2023 Presentation Scorecard
- Download – Worksheet
- Download – Food Safety Fact Sheet
- Download – FightBac – Fight Foodborne Bacteria Brochure
- Download – Know Your Nutrients
- Download – MyPlate Mini Poster
Family & Community Health (FCH) Quiz Bowl
A “Quiz Bowl” is a quiz game that tests teams of 4 on their knowledge of basic nutrition, consumer information, food and kitchen safety, food preparation skills and storage, and health. Up against the clock, the 4-Hers buzz in to answer a question and earn points for correct answers. Teams advance in a tournament-system bracket to win the competition.The contest will cover materials found in Food & Nutrition Healthy Lifestyles Invitational Consumer Decision Making.
- Webpage – Texas 4-H Quiz Bowl Resources
- Download – FCH Quiz Bowl Food and Nutrition Study Guide
- Webpage – Healthy Lifestyles
- Webpage – Consumer Decision Making
Food Show
At the Food Show you choose a recipe from the contest categories and then prepare and present it to a panel of judges. During your interview with the judges, you will show how you prepared it, the nutrients and ingredients, personal dietary needs, healthy substitutions, and a cost analysis.
- Download – Guidelines
- Download – Preparation Scorecard
- Download – Presentation Scorecard
- Download – Recipe Submission Paperwork
- Download – Theme Resources
- Download – Recipes For Good Health
Agricultural Product ID
This contest provides youth the ability to further their knowledge and skills when evaluating agricultural products grown in Texas. For the Agriculture Product Identification contest, 20 Texas agricultural products are selected and exhibited at separate stations. Contestants select the correct identification of each product from four possible answers. Following the product identification, each station has one multiple-choice question pertaining to the product on display. Questions can be general to the industry that produced the product, (i.e. Texas’ national ranking, economic impact to Texas, general nutrition content, region of production) and specific to the individual product that is on display (i.e. cooking method, use, growing season, specific nutrition of the cut or variety).
- Download – Agricultural Product ID Explore Guide
- Video – Agricultural Product ID Training Video
- PowerPoint – Agricultural Product ID PowerPoint
- Weblink – Mini Mock Contest (5 stations)
