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Monday, August 12, 2013

Buck Fifty Lunch

Is eating healthy on a budget possible? 

Yes! The 2013 senior dietetics students proved it - by putting on a luncheon where the cost of a single meal was less than a buck fifty. 

You see, buck fifty lunches started in Extension programs in Wyoming, Utah and a few other states several years ago. Heidi LeBlanc, the current director of Food $ense, was one of the first to put on buck fifty lunches. She passed the idea along to the USU dietetics program and made the luncheon possible by allowing Food $ense to sponsor it - Thanks Food $ense!

So the senior students started to work. They worked and they worked....After many hours of testing and re-testing recipes, designing handouts and advertising  - all the luncheon needed was some hungry attendees!














The flyers posted at WIC (Women Infants and Children) would hopefully bring
 many hungry attendees!  






















The menu was only $1.49 per meal!  















The booths were armed with information on how make a meal healthy....












filling...














and cheap!










At check-in, attendees were given a passport
 to have signed off at each booth.  











After checking in, everyone made their way through each booth and went to the serving window
 in the dining room to pick up their meal. 













People loved the meal! They especially loved the sweetness of the corn salad and the hot temperature of the spicy tortilla soup.
















Kelsie Bigelow, a Food $ense employee, won a rice cooker as the prize for the attendance drawing.










It sure took a lot of brain power, hours and hours of work, planning and re-planning for one event, one hour, one meal, one luncheon. But it was worth it! Everything about the luncheon made us proud.

So what about this luncheon were we PROUD of?

The food was delicious, colorful,  filling, satisfying, easy to replicate, useful, educational, and healthy. 


The decor was simple, cheap and STUNNING

 


 

 












 


The flow of people was smooth, logical and free of "bottlenecks"
Teamwork! Teamwork! Teamwork! Especially during the dance breakouts during food preparation! 

Last minute problems were solved! (Never underestimate the problem-solving
skills of 12 determined dietetic students!)

One of the attendees announced that she had a cilantro allergy. With the menu based on Southwestern flavors, cilantro was in just about everything. We racked our brains - was ANYTHING cilantro free? Aha! The lettuce was. And the beans, the tortilla chips, and the salsa. But what would be a cohesive dish with all those ingredients? TACO SALAD! (So it might have been a little boring but no one went hungry - even on a cilantro-free diet.



When the luncheon finished - there were loads of extra food because many people who RSVP'd actually attended. Sadness. Frustration. Disappointment. Think of all the people who didn't hear the message and the leftover food that was going to go to waste. 
*Sigh*
.
.
.
Aha! 
Wouldn't students on USU campus benefit from the delicious food and awesome knowledge about eating on a budget? Heaven knows most college students have limited budgets and not-so-nutritious diets. Round Two began. The leftover food, paper products, posters and handouts were not that easy to haul to the third floor of the engineering building - but well worth it! At least 20 more people benefited from the Bucky Fifty Luncheon. AND the facial expressions of students were PRICELESS when they learned the delicious meal they were eating cost less than a dollar fifty! 

When all was said and done, this luncheon was deemed a SUCCESS! 60 people learned how to eat healthier on a tight budget and the senior dietetic students gained priceless experience that will make them better dietitians in whichever field they choose. 




Want to recreate our Buck Fifty Lunch in your City? See below for links to the brains behind the project! 


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