Learning to Cook

Cooking at home has many benefits. For example, cooking allows you to:

• Learn new skills 

• Chose the ingredients and control what goes into the food

• Save money by eating out or ordering-in less often

• Share food and cultural traditions with your family and friends

Recipes, cooking tips & videos

• Food Guide Kitchen – Recipes and cooking skills articles

• UnlockFood.ca – Recipes 

• Cookspiration - Recipes & Menu Planner Tool

• Cooking with Kids of Different Ages - Age-appropriate cooking skills for children

• You Can Cook - A video series designed to help you get comfortable in the kitchen and learn some basic food skills in 5 minutes or less.

• Project Chef Canada – A video series designed to teach children and families basic food skills.

Learn about food safety

It is important to follow good food safety practices when you are cooking and preparing food at home to prevent foodborne illness, or food poisoning. Food safety at home.

Cooking programs are a great way to bring people together to learn about food and how to cook. If you are interested in starting a cooking program but not sure where to start, these community kitchen resources can be used to help plan your program.

Created by Public Health Dietitians in an Ontario Public Health Unit, these modules can be used to guide your community kitchen programs. The recipe books can be given to clients or used at home.

• Community Kitchen Facilitator Manual
• Community Kitchen Participant Manual
• 5 x 5 Pantry Module / Recipes
• Budget Friendly Family Meals Module / Recipes
• Cooking with a Good Food Box Module / Recipes
• Homemade Soups Module / Recipes
• Quick and Easy Breakfast and Lunch Module / Recipes
• Quick and Easy Supper Module / Recipes
• Food Allergies & Special Diets

Food Safety

Handling food safely is important to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, or food poisoning. It is important to follow good food safety practices when running a cooking program. It is recommended to have your Food Handler Certification if you will be leading a cooking program. 

Questions about starting a cooking program?

Registered Dietitians at Hamilton Public Health Services are not available to run cooking programs. However, we are happy to answer questions as you start to plan a cooking program or a community kitchen. 

For inquiries related to cooking programs email [email protected]