Kroger works with Get Cooking to donate meal kits to OCPS families

Kroger Deliver and Get Cooking, an Orlando-based nonprofit, are donating meal kits with a Thanksgiving turkey Tuesday, Nov. 18, to dozens of Orange County Public Schools families. 

On top of receiving a Thanksgiving turkey, families will receive ingredients and instructions on how to use turkey leftovers to create a nutritious and tasty meal that will be demonstrated during a live Zoom call Get Cooking will host Saturday, Nov. 22. 

"We founded Get Cooking on the principle of teaching families with limited resources how to cook a healthy dinner for $20 or less," said Stacie Archer, Get Cooking CEO. "We're also teaching families how they can stretch their budgets and maximize their resources. Often, families throw away leftover food and ingredients because they are not sure how to repurpose them, so we are excited to use this holiday to empower families to be creative with their leftovers."

Get Cooking works with OCPS to identify families facing food insecurity. Four OCPS schools that participate in the Get Cooking program each month are Ocoee Elementary, OCPS ACE Elementary and Evans and Jones high schools. To date, the program has delivered more than 1,600 meal kits and hosted 26 cooking classes to empower food insecure students and their families. 

Kroger Delivery provides fresh, healthy ingredients for each of the 80 meal kits distributed monthly to participating families. 

"We have been thrilled to partner with Get Cooking to bring fresh, affordable meals to families in our community," said Krystal Diaz, Kroger communications and public affairs manager. "This season can be especially stressful for families, so we look forward to relieving some of that stress by helping to put food on tables this Thanksgiving and giving families practical assistance."