Limerick Food Partnership

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:

Ballyhoura Development CLG
Health & Wellbeing Department, HSE
Health Promotion & Improvement, HSE
Limerick and Clare Education & Training Board
Limerick City & County Council
Limerick CYPSC
Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP)
Mary Immaculate College
Mid West SIMON
PAUL Partnership CLG
Redemptorists, Limerick
St Vincent de Paul
West Limerick Resources CLG

Objectives of Limerick Food Partnership:

To raise awareness in local communities around healthy food and healthy lifestyle
To build individual and community capacity to enhance their food related skills (e.g. menu plan, budget preparation & cooking) through evidence based training & education programmes (e.g. Cook it and Healthy Food Made Easy)
Supporting the development of existing and new Community Food initiatives in Limerick City and County
To facilitate intercultural integration and diversity through food partnership initiatives
To create and sustain a repository of information on available food initiatives and food poverty
To explore long-term sustainability of initiatives and opportunities for mainstreaming
To influence policy related to food supply and trade
To promote the availability and sustainability of healthy food options at reasonable prices and reducing food waste, without exploiting people or the environment, locally or worldwide.

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

Olivia O’Brien, Limerick Food Partnership Coordinator, Professor Niamh Hourigan, joint chair, Limerick Food Partnership, David Studer, CYPSC, Anne Ryan, Health & Wellbeing, HSE Mid-West, and Cllr Michael Collins, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick.
Photo by Diarmuid Greene

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.

Courses will be organised based on demand, suitability of group and availability of tutor.

If you or your community group are interested in taking part in this training, please complete the relevant form below, and return to oobrien@paulpartnership.ie .

HFME Referral Form – Individuals

HFME Referral Form for Groups

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