Healthy eating just got easier with 'the wellness box'
Food-packing service already making a difference in Sudbury
Busy families and older adults in Sudbury have a new option to access healthy foods.
The Good Food Box program has produced the wellness box — a package of fresh produce that's been washed, cut and portioned.
It's a small tweak to the Good Food Box program, in which subscribers can pay a small monthly fee ($8-$17) to have a box of produce selected for them.
The new package provides the fruits and vegetables with prep work already done, making it easier for people to eat healthy.
Shelly Laronde, a healthy kids worker at N'Swakamok Native Friendship Centre, orders both boxes for her clients, and that recently a single parent told her the wellness box already made a difference.
"She has four small [children] and two older ones, so it helps her out," Laronde said, "It was already prepped for her to get going on her meal, she said it really helped and the children were eating it right away and it was a good thing for her."
LaRonde said the centre uses the money they save from the Good Food Box on other programming like cooking classes.
Wellness box for seniors
The ready-to-go boxes are also great for seniors who are struggling to prepare food for themselves, said Camille Boulay, the wellness box leader at the Good Food Box.
"I mean holding a vegetable down as you're trying to come down on it with a knife, it can become a bit of a safety issue if you've lost your grip or you've lost a bit of your strength with age or any condition," Boulay said.
The Good Food Box group is now taking box orders for March.
With files from Samantha Samson