Cooking Collaborative

Feeding Our Community TOGETHER

Veggie Rescue recognizes that some nonprofit partners have clients that would benefit from prepared food, rather than fresh produce.

To help make our rescued food more accessible to people living with housing and food insecurity, we are developing cooking collaboratives. Multiple organizations joining together to share their expertise with the goal of providing fun, educational experiences for the community that also yield prepared soup (or other dishes) that can be shared with our nonprofit partners.

The first pilot program using this model was launched in Lompoc on January 20, 2024. The class was called Nourish and the result was amazing!

Veggie Rescue, Route One Farmers Market, Lompoc Valley Medical Center, Lompoc Hospital District Foundation, Dick DeWees Community & Senior Center and a handful of other Lompoc businesses contributed resources to this event that provided a FREE 3-hour class for local seniors and families.

Nearly 40 participants attended and working together close to 80 quarts of soup were made. Each participant took home a quart of soup and left knowing that they helped to make soup that would be donated to their neighbors in need.

We look forward to helping replicate this model in other parts of Santa Barbara County in 2024.

All photos are from January 20, 2024 NOURISH event in Lompoc, CA. Photo credit: Nora Wallace

What Success Looks Like

  • Barriers to access fresh, local produce are identified and removed through delivery innovations working with our partners.

  • Veggie Rescue increases the number of nonprofit partners serving hard to reach populations. People living with housing and food insecurity feel that they have access to fresh, local produce on a regular basis.

  • More community members are participating in the effort to prepare meals incorporating fresh produce.

How it works

  • Veggie Rescue identifies partners that can contribute the necessary resources.

  • Key partners needed for a cooking collaboration: a community or teaching kitchen, a culinary expert to create recipe and guide participants, community organization with volunteers to support class participants, event sponsors to help offset cost of containers, food/herbs/seasonings to supplement the produce donated by Veggie Rescue.

  • Community members work together in the kitchen: scrubbing vegetables, chopping vegetables, cooking (depending on kitchen set up), and packaging the food.

  • Veggie Rescue drivers pick up the food and deliver it to nonprofit partners serving community members who either can’t afford, are not able to, or unlikely to prepare fresh produce.

  • Information on the recipe and ingredients is shared with recipients so they can make the soup in their own home.

Our Prepared Food Value System

  • Limit the number of ingredients, keep it simple.

  • Prepare meals that the community being served would appreciate and enjoy.

  • Provide information to educate and encourage recipients to make the meals themselves.

  • Use family size, microwavable containers to maximize use and limit the number of containers used.

The Benefits of Plant-Based Meals

Cottage Population Health identified ethnicity, income, and education as the strongest indicators of health disparity for good health and well-being.

Whole food plant-based eating can reduce risk of developing:

- Cardiovascular disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Obesity
- Digestive disorders
- Certain cancers

Ready to Collaborate?

Help us put Good Food to Good Use by sharing your time or resources. Together we can help bridge access to nutritious food while also encouraging health through education.

Complete the volunteer form on the Get Involved page!