A group of members of the Appalachian Students Dietetic Association were discussing healthy eating and sharing cooking tips when one of them chimed in saying he didn’t know how to cook a chicken breast.

The nutrition and health promotion majors in the group saw this to be a big problem, and their concern led to the creation of the Cooking Healthy for Everyone Away from Parents program.

“It was the brainchild of health promotion and nutrition majors,” said senior nutrition and foods major Cameron Herritt.

The project was launched by ASDA as a way to effectively teach students how to shop for nutritious foods intelligently and to prepare basic, healthy meals on their own.

The tentative timeline for CHEAP states that the first class is Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5 p.m. in the Watauga County Agricultural Center. CHEAP will include seven cooking classes and one grocery store visit occurring over eight Wednesday nights until the end of the spring semester.

“According to the survey we gave out to 96 students, most people shop at Wal-Mart, so our shopping trip will be there,” said senior nutrition and foods major Sarah Grenier.

The program costs $20 up front for all eight classes or $5 per class. If paying per class, prospective students must give a week’s notice before the class they attend.

“There’s a Johnson & Wales graduate with us, too,” Grenier said. “So it’s not just going to be nutrition majors trying to get people skinny.”

Despite their grand plans, the members have run into a couple of problems with the organization process.

“We do not have the number of students signed up to go ahead with the class,” Herritt said. “Right now we are still trying to figure out if it’s going to happen.”

Story: EMMA SPECKMAN, Senior A&E Reporter