Ronan High School holds first Budget Bites Food Fair
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RONAN — The students of the Family Career Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club at Ronan High School held their first Budget Bites Food Fair for graduating seniors.
Organized by family consumer science teacher Katie Umbriaco, the fair is meant to help kids be financially fit as they’re graduating high school and getting ready to start adult lives.
“We were trying to think of a way to educate them in how much the average person can spend if they’re eating out all the time, and how cheap homemade meals can be; and how simple and easy they can be too,” Umbriaco said. “This is the first time we’ve tried something like this.”
After noticing some students developing bad spending habits in terms of food, the FCCLA club and the culinary arts and economics teacher teamed up to find a way to help kids learn how to better budget their meals and gain a little cooking confidence.
Seniors were brought into the fair by other teachers for 50-minute windows. In that time, students were given an activity to work out a monthly budget, and then the club demonstrated five simple recipes: a breakfast banana oat cookie with no added sugar, three-can chili that can be made with venison or beef, quick fajitas, teriyaki chicken stir-fry with noodles, and pizza snacks. “We tried to think of things that would appeal to teenagers,” Umbriaco laughed.
At the end of each session, students were given small cookbooks with each easy recipe printed inside to take home. The high school’s food pantry participated as well, making ingredients for every recipe easily available to all students who came by wanting to try out cooking at home.
“Too many kids think they just can’t cook, or that they’re bad cooks,” Umbriaco said. “I just want every senior to feel like they can be confident in preparing something that tastes good that’s economic too. What I would really love is if they tasted something while they’re here that they liked enough to go try and cook at home.”
Students voted on their favorite recipes at the end of each session, with the fajitas and teriyaki chicken tied for first place by the afternoon. Student interest and engagement bodes well for the future, Umbriaco noted. “We’ll have to make this an annual thing.”
