Simply Cent$ible Nutrition is an adult direct education intervention designed to help individuals and families with limited resources shop, cook, and eat healthier on a budget. Nutrition educators teach the 8-lesson hands-on series. Each lesson includes cooking a new recipe, physical activities, and interactive activities that help participants build skills and knowledge related to eating healthy, physical activity, food resource management, and food safety. Lessons are based on MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Intervention Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Reducing Screen Time
SNAP-Ed Strategies: Direct Education
Simply Cent$ible Nutrition targets adults with limited resources. The curriculum is designed to be adaptable for cultural relevancy and to accommodate varying physical abilities of participants. The curriculum includes clear lesson outlines for paraprofessionals to promote program fidelity.
Settings: Community-wide
Age/Population Group: High school, Adults, Older Adults, Parents/Caregivers, Unhoused
Race: All
Ethnicity: All
This intervention consists of 8 lessons intended to be delivered weekly, with pre- and post- surveys delivered before and after the series. Adaptations to the curriculum should be taken from program recommendations. The curriculum is designed to provide all information necessary for implementation including detailed outlines for each lesson. Suggested resources, an additional background section for each lesson, and references are provided, if more information or training is necessary.
The curriculum utilizes many support materials to create hands-on and interactive lessons for the participants. The materials include:
- Curriculum binder
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- 8 detailed lesson outlines including recipes and physical activities
- Teaching materials
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- Welcome folders, questionnaires, PowerPoint presentations, handouts, posters, recipes for cooking activities, kitchen tools, activity cards
- Participant materials
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- Simply Cent$ible Nutrition cookbook, kitchen tools, menu planner, expense tracker envelope, and physical activity tools
- Marketing materials
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- Flyers
According to the 2022 evaluation report:
- Families who participated in CNP in 2022 saved an average of $48.20 per month or $578.00 per year on groceries.
- 97% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition showed improvement in one or more of diet quality indicators, including:
- Eating fruits
- Eating vegetables
- Drinking less regular soda
- Cooking dinner at home
- 93% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible improved in one or more of the food resource management practices, including:
- Cooking dinner at home
- Comparing food prices
- Planning meals before shopping
- Making a shopping list
- 83% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition improved in one or more of the food safety practices
- Washing hands before preparing food
- Not thawing food at room temperature
- Using a food thermometer
- 70% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition improved in one or more physical activity behaviors, inlcuding:
- Exercising for at least 30 minutes
- Doing workouts to build and strengthen muscles
- Making small changes to be more active
- 52% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition ate fruit more often each day
- 40% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition cooked dinner at home more times a week
- 51% of adults who participated in Simply Cent$ible Nutrition improved budgeting enough money for food purchases
Evidence Base: Practice-tested
Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.
| Readiness and Capacity - Short Term (ST) | Changes - Medium Term (MT) | Effectiveness and Maintenance - Long Term (LT) | Population Results (R) | |
| Individual | ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4 | MT1, MT2, MT3, MT4 | LT1, LT2, LT3, LT4 | |
| Environmental Settings | ||||
| Sectors of Influence |
Currently, no evaluation tools or materials are publicly available.
Website: The website (https://uwyocnp.org/simply-centible-nutrition-curriculum/) includes a detailed description of intervention materials, successes, and ordering information.
General Contact Information:
Kira Winters
Program Coordinator Senior
Wyoming SNAP-Ed/Cent$ible Nutrition Program State Office
Phone: 307-766-5375
Email: cnp-info@uwyo.edu
*Updated as of November 2, 2023