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Healthy Food Resources

The Healthy Living Program strives to create healthier communities by making it easier to access healthy food. Good nutrition is key for the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. We help communities access healthy food in a variety of ways:

  • Working with food pantries, worksites, hospitals, colleges, and other food venues on creating nutrition guidelines known as our Eat Well Utah program.
  • Supporting programs such as SNAP and Double-up Food Bucks.
  • Connecting people to their nearest food pantries, farmers markets, and other food assistance (FeedUT).
  • Helping run healthy food drives to increase the amount nutritious food in our local food pantries.

Food Assistance Locator

FEED UT

FeedUT was developed to help those in need quickly and easily find their nearest emergency and non-emergency food resources. With a few clicks or taps, you can locate your ten nearest food pantries or prepared meal sites. It provides information such as: who qualifies, the days and hours it is open, items to bring, and directions for getting there.

We encourage those who are wishing to donate money or food or those who are looking to volunteer to use this valuable resource to find their nearest food pantry or prepared meal site.

Food Venue Endorsement

Eat Well Utah is the Utah Department of Health and Human Service’s statewide program to make healthy food choices more available wherever food is served or sold. Cafeterias, concession stands, institutional meal service, and catering services are invited to participate.

By participating in Eat Well Utah, organizations will work with Salt Lake County Health Department to identify how they can better service their customers by making the “healthy choice the easy choice.” This may include making changes to their food offerings, recipes, product placement, or signage.

Expanding your healthy options can benefit your venue.

The potential benefits of participating in Eat Well Utah are many, and include the following:

  • Contributing to the health and wellness of customers
  • Setting a positive example for employees, students, community members, or other institutions
  • Increasing consumer demand for healthier food provided by food suppliers
  • Strengthening local food systems
  • Increasing revenue by increasing customer satisfaction
  • Offering a positive marketing tool

We will help!

We are committed to supporting you through this process. We can offer the following:

  • Assessments of your patron desires and your current offerings.
  • Suggestions on how to improve.
  • Technical assistance including nutritional analysis, menu planning, and product selection and placement.
  • Policy recommendations to help incentivize patron purchases of healthy food, and educational marketing materials.
  • Promotion through a brand-new recognition system.
  • Potential funding for implementation efforts, depending on our grant cycle.

Join us now!

By joining the Eat Well Utah initiative, you are taking the next steps to promote health through good food choices in your establishment.

Farmers Markets

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Farmers markets connect communities with fresh, local products like seasonal fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and meats.

Double Up Food Bucks Program

Do you receive SNAP benefits? If so, you can double your dollars at your local farmers market! Double Up Food Bucks is a program that doubles your SNAP dollars when spent on locally grown fruits and vegetables. View the Farmers Market schedule to see which markets are participating.

What is SNAP?

SNAP is the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). It provides families with their basic nutritional needs to get them through hard times. SNAP participants use electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to make purchases at SNAP authorized grocery stores and farmers markets equipped to accept EBT.

Grow Your Own Food

For those who have access to a summer garden, we encourage you to grow an extra row of vegetables to donate to your nearest pantry. Follow these tips to provide fresh and delicious food to those in need:

  1. Check with your nearest pantry to see if they are willing to accept fresh fruit and vegetable donations.
  2. If you are using pesticides or manure in your garden, follow directions carefully to minimize contamination.
  3. Use safe food handling when picking fruits and vegetables. Wash your hands and use clean tools.
  4. Pick fruits and vegetables early in the morning and wipe off any mud or dirt. Do not wash or rinse unless you are taking it directly to the food pantry. The water can cause the food to spoil faster.
  5. Do not mix different types of fruits and vegetables in containers and always use clean containers.
  6. Take fruits and vegetables to food pantry as soon as possible after removing them from your garden.
  7. Do not donate fruits and vegetables that are overripe, have mold, insects, or are spoiling.