It’s hard to make healthy food choices on a limited budget.
SNAP-Ed can help.
What is SNAP-Ed?
SNAP-Ed is short for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education. This program offers educational classes to teach you how to make healthy food choices on a limited budget. It also shows you how to incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle.
SNAP-Ed classes teach behavioral changes such as how to:
- Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains
- Drink fewer sugary beverages and reduce sodium intake
- Increase physical activity levels
- Maintain appropriate nutritional balance at all life stages
Who Can Participate?
Classes are free and open to the public. Zufall Health offers classes in Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren counties. (See below for contact in other regions of NJ.) Call 862-305-0608 to find out if there is a class near you. If there is not a class available in your area, we may be able to help you get one started. Or, we’ll keep your name on a waiting list and let you know when a class is scheduled.
What Cooking Classes are Offered?
Cooking Matters for Kids
- Aimed at third through fifth graders
- Teaches children how to prepare healthy snacks and meals and to make smart eating choices
- Series of 6 classes
Cooking Matters for Teens
- Aimed at teens, 6th through 12th grade
- Hands on lessons about cooking and nutrition
- Includes extreme food makeovers and challenges
Cooking Matters at the Store
- Grocery store tours that empower families to stretch their food budgets
- Skills learned include: reading food labels, comparing unit prices, finding whole grain foods and purchasing produce
- Special version for WIC families
- One session only
Eating Smart, Being Active
- Focus is adults with special lessons available for pregnant women
- Participants learn about physical activity, nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, food prep & safety, and food resource management
- Pregnant women lessons include eating healthy and being active during pregnancy, breastfeeding and introducing solid foods
- Nine lessons of 1-2 hours each
Heart Smarts
- Mini lessons to be taught at Healthy Corner Stores
- Eight lessons that focus on food groups, drinks, snacks, prepared foods, and nutrients
Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables
- Direct education at farmer’s markets, community events and food pantries
- Thirteen different workshops
- Includes taste test
*Additional curricula to follow as staff are trained on them.
Classes are adapted to each audience including special lessons to meet the needs of children, teens, adults, seniors and pregnant, breast-feeding or new moms. Check back often as more classes will be added soon.
How Can My Organization Host a Class?
If you are an organization that would like to host a class, here’s what you need:
- A minimum of 8 participants (If you don’t have 8, call us to see if we have any participants waiting for a class in your area.)
- A facility with sufficient space with tables and chairs, preferably with a kitchen that can hold 10-15 participants
- At least 50% of your audience must meet SNAP income requirements
- To be eligible for SNAP, a household must have a gross monthly income under $1926 for a single person or under $3970 for a family of 4 (as of October 2019). A chart with all current income levels can be viewed at https://www.nj.gov/humanservices/dfd/programs/njsnap/
Community-based Programming
Whole School, Whole Child, Whole Community (WSCC)
- Model to assist schools in developing comprehensive wellness policies
- Focus on healthy eating and active living
- SNAP-Ed staff work with School Wellness Teams to provide training and technical assistance
Healthy Corner Stores
- SNAP-Ed staff provide training and technical assistance to small retail food stores
- Focus on enabling stores to include healthy products for their customers
- Includes introducing new healthy products, implementing marketing campaigns, providing training about managing & selling healthy products and more
Faithful Families
- Includes faith-based direct education interventions based at congregant sites
- Lessons taught by SNAP-Ed educator and lay leader from Faith-Based Organization (FBO)
- Classes help participants decide what healthy changes to make at FBO
For More Information, Contact:
Jane Selitto, RDN, Director of SNAP-Ed Program
jselitto@zufallhealth.org
862-254-6309
NJ SNAP-Ed Information
SNAP-Ed is an extension of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. To learn more about SNAP-Ed and find healthy recipes or SNAP-Ed classes in your area, visit www.NJSNAP-Ed.gov.
Zufall Health runs the SNAP-Ed program in Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren counties. Contact: Jane Selitto, jselitto@zufallhealth.org or 862-254-6309.
Community Food Bank of New Jersey offers programs in Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, and Union counties. Contact: snaped@cfbnj.org or 908-355-3663 ext. 526.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension offers programs in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties. Contact the Region 2 office at 856-224-8034 and a member of the SNAP-Ed team will be in touch shortly.
SNAP-Ed is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture/Food and Nutrition Service through the New Jersey Department of Human Services in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH).