Learning Objectives
• Develop practical skills in budgeting and grocery shopping for nutritious foods.
• Learn to make informed decisions when selecting ingredients for a healthy meal.
• Understand the importance of comparing prices and staying within a budget while grocery shopping.
Instructions
- Divide participants into small groups and provide each group with a budget and a list of ingredients for a healthy meal, make sure that they all are accompanied by a responsible adult.
- Instruct them to visit a grocery store or supermarket with their group and navigate the aisles to find the ingredients on their list.
- Encourage everyone to compare prices and choose the most cost-effective options while ensuring the ingredients meet the criteria for a healthy meal.
- Once they have completed their shopping, gather them together to review their purchases and discuss their decision-making process.
- For 15+, set a particular budget, within which they need to shop for all the ingredients for a heathy dinner (they need to pick up themselves the recipe, considering that it should contain all the needed nutrients and at the same time have affordable costs to stay within the set budget).
Debrief
- Lead a discussion about the grocery shopping challenge and their experiences.
- Encourage them to reflect on the decisions they made while shopping and how they stayed within their budget.
- Use open-ended questions to guide the conversation towards the learning objectives, such as:
• What strategies did you use to compare prices and make informed decisions while grocery shopping?
• Were there any challenges you encountered while staying within your budget? How did you overcome them?
• What did you learn about the cost of nutritious foods compared to less healthy options?
- Reinforce the importance of planning meals, comparing prices, and making smart choices to ensure a balanced and affordable diet.
- Encourage them to apply the skills they learned during the grocery shopping challenge to help in their houses.
Materials
1. Budget guidelines for each group
2. List of ingredients for a healthy meal
3. Notepads or smartphones for recording prices and calculations
