Van Aken enlists local chefs to teach healthy cooking on a budget “Get Cooking” will live-Zoom monthly from Valencia’s downtown campus kitchen
Timing is everything, they say. And that Orlando’s new “Get Cooking” program, a collaboration between the legendary Norman Van Aken and successful food blogger Stacie Archer, dropped the same week as news that the cost of living comfortably here, for just one person, is over $100,000 a year, is timing that can’t be ignored.
“It kills me to see people in such dire straits when it comes to having quality food for themselves and their families,” says the man behind Norman’s Orlando, recently named the Best New Restaurant in Florida for 2024 in Southern Living Magazine.“I feel like God gave me a gift when it comes to cooking and I like to share that gift with people besides those who can afford to eat in restaurants like this one.”
Archer launched Get Cooking, a nonprofit which teaches under-resourced families how to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals for four for less than $20, in 2020. Working with Camillus House, which has been serving the vulnerable and homeless in South Florida for more than 60 years, Zoom-coordinated classes allowed participants to cook alongside her, adding new meals to their repertoire, building camaraderie along with skills and knowledge of both prep and ingredients. (Read more by clicking the link below.)
We had the good fortune of connecting with Stacie Archer and we've shared our conversation below.
Hi Stacie, what principle do you value most?
I value the opportunity to give back for all that I have been blessed with in my life. My biggest blessing is my family. Spending time with them is limited. I guess that’s why I have made it a point to have dinner together as much as possible. It’s a routine that grounds us as a family. There is a quote I once heard and believe in wholeheartedly. “A strong family has well worn seats at the dinner table.”
Florida mom proves families on a tight budget can cook healthy meals
Stacie Archer’s Get Cooking program currently serves families in Miami and Orlando
Stacie Archer knows all too well how stressful it can be to cook healthy meals for an entire family on a tight budget. It is an immeasurable amount of pressure that Archer – a single mom of three – never wanted anyone else to feel, especially other families struggling to make ends meet. Read more:
Miami celebrity chefs offer inspiration, and a good meal, in Camillus cooking program
When Vanessa Alonso isn’t studying to be an aesthetician, she’s taking care of her seven kids. And that involves loads of cooking.
Through the Camillus House’s CHEF Challenge, about once a month Alonso takes a virtual cooking class offered by established Miami chefs who volunteer their time and teach the class out of FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
“The last one we did — oh, my God — it was delicious,” Alonso, 32, said, describing an Asian-inspired chicken dish. “They are so cool. You get healthy cooked meals in an hour.” Read more…
https://amp.miamiherald.com/living/helping-others/article280116259.html
We have reached over one thousand families in our quest to teach healthy cooking online. These families get a head start to the class when meal kits containing all the ingredients needed are delivered to their homes by their case workers. We strive to make it simple and easy in order to encourage participation.
Watch this news clip from Miami’s Channel 7 WSVN to see just how the program works!