Eileen Humphreys, Social Policy and Local Development researcher, Limerick City and County Council, Fr Seamus Enright, Joint Chair Limerick Food Partnership, Christine Gurnett, Senior Community Dietician, HSE, Olivia O’Brien, Limerick Food Partnership Coordinator, and Cllr Michael Collins, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick.
Photo by Diarmuid Greene
Limerick Food Partnership (LFP) is a strategic collaboration between voluntary organisations, community organisations and statutory agencies, hosted by PAUL Partnership. The overall aim of Limerick Food Partnership is to raise awareness, improve access and increase the supply of healthy food options to its target communities in Limerick City and County. This will be achieved through a range of interventions.
Limerick Food Partnership is managed by a Steering Group, comprising of representatives from:
Objectives of Limerick Food Partnership:
This project is being delivered throughout Limerick City and County.
In December 2020, the Limerick Food Partnership was formally relaunched by the Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr. Michael Collins. For more information about the re-launch, click here: Relaunch of Limerick Food Partnership
HEALTHY FOOD MADE EASY
The Healthy Food Made Easy (HFME) programme is a national programme rolled out in Limerick city and county through the Limerick Food Partnership, Healthy Limerick and the HSE. It offers a basic nutrition and cookery course that helps people switch to a healthier diet, plan meals on a budget and create easy to cook meals. The course content is based on the most up-to-date healthy eating guidelines from the Department of Health in Ireland.
This 6-week nutrition education programme is developed by community dietitians for use with adult groups to promote healthy eating and to build simple cookery skills. The aim is to improve the nutritional knowledge and eating habits of participants which in turn can ultimately help reduce diet related chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes & cancer.
Programme content:
There are 6 weekly sessions lasting roughly 2 hours. These practical sessions focus on healthy eating on a budget and preparing simple family foods. There is group participation in the cookery/cook along session and participants are encouraged to try the recommended recipes out at home. A community dietitian visits the course on week 5/6 to provide an input and to answer any specific dietary questions.
Session 1– ‘Building a Food Pyramid’ (introducing healthy eating guidelines)
Session 2– ‘The Fibre Providers’ (Fibre in cereals, fruit & vegetables)
Session 3– ‘Focus on Fats’ (learning about the good & bad fats)
Session 4– ‘Food for Life’ (family eating, children’s diets)
Session 5– ‘Shop Smart’ (Shopping on a budget, food labelling)
Session 6– ‘The Road Ahead’ (planning long term changes in eating habits)
Who can take part?
Any individual or group can sign-up for the programme.
Examples of groups that have undertaken this training in the past have included young parents, men/women living alone with poor cooking skills, adults moving from care into independent living, but the course is adaptable to any group or individual.
It is not suitable for groups of young people less than 17 years of age.
Trained tutors are available to deliver the programme across Limerick City and County.
Due to the pandemic, sessions are currently restricted to groups of no more than 6 people.
Courses will be organised based on demand, suitability of group and availability of tutor.
If you have any questions, or belong to a group that would like further information please contact:
Olivia O’Brien
Limerick Food Partnership Coordinator,
PAUL Partnership
Tel: 087 4420995
E-mail: oobrien@paulpartnership.ie
For more information about the Food Partnership, check out the links below:
To find out more about the work of Limerick Food Partnership:
Contact:
Olivia O Brien, Limerick Food Partnership Coordinator
T: 061 419388
M: 087 4420995
E: oobrien@paulpartnership.ie
Twitter: @food_limerick
