Cooking Matters: healthier eating on a budget
Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Cooking Matters is a hands-on cooking class for adults eighteen or older, families with young children, and caregivers or guardians of young children. The Cooking Matters program focuses on how to cook and prepare healthy and affordable meals for the entire family.
In partnership with the Mississippi State University Extension, Cooking Matters offers a free six-week course led by trained educators. Participants will learn about meal preparation, grocery shopping, food budgeting, and nutrition during two-hour weekly sessions. The program teaches how to shop for healthy meals on a budget, understand nutrition information, master proper knife skills, read ingredient labels, and cook delicious dishes.
Cooking Matters aims to empower families to help prepare healthy meals by using practical recipes and tasting sessions during class.
“This class is an empowering educational tool that can be utilized throughout a lifetime,” said nutrition educator Grace Brinster. “Something that we encourage class participants to do is to bring home the culinary skills that we’re learning in class to their friends and family.”
Brinster has been working with the Mississippi State University Extension Service for four years and recently moved to Pearl River County. As a certified nutrition educator, her background in nutrition is fueled by a passion for empowering families to lead healthier lives. She describes Cooking Matters as an educational tool that teaches lifelong skills like how to make healthy food choices and encourages participants to share the skills learned in class with their families.
One of the more notable activities offered in this class is a grocery store tour, which focuses on selecting nutrient-dense foods and learning how to shop the perimeter of the store for healthier options. The grocery store tour includes topics like the differences between fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, cost-saving tips to help your budget, and why choosing in-season produce is a win-win. The classes are designed to be simple and applicable, ensuring that everyone can practice their new skills at home and in the grocery store.
The main takeaway from these classes is for participants to incorporate skills, such as reading nutrition labels, into their daily lives. Brinster values hearing the success stories of participants who actively apply the skills they learned in the Cooking Matters program that helps them to go on to lead healthier lives.
Cooking Matters is free and open to adults eighteen years or older, families with young children, and caregivers or guardians of young children interested in improving their cooking skills and nutrition choices. These classes are not only fun and interactive but also informative, covering topics like budgeting, grocery shopping skills, and selecting healthy food options.
“The class is a ton of fun as it’s not just strict education,” Brinster said. “It’s hands-on, and participants get to actively cook in the class and try the recipes that we make. So, along with the nutritive value, the nutrition education, the budgeting skills, the culinary skills, and the basic knife skills, we have so much fun.”
Classes are held at various locations in Pearl River County, including the Mississippi State University Extension Office auditorium.
If you’re interested in signing up for this program, please contact the Pearl River County Extension Office at 601-403-2280 or reach out to Brinster directly at gb997@msstate.edu.
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