Healthy Food Resources

The Healthy Living Program strives to create healthier communities by making it easier to access to 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
• Supporting programs such as SNAP and Double-up Food Bucks
• Connecting people to their nearest food pantries and farmers markets
• Helping run healthy food drives to increase the amount nutritious food in our local food pantries

If you have questions, email healthpromotion@slco.org

FeedUT.org helps people quickly and easily find their nearest 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.

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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.

Find information for gardening in Utah at USU Extension Yard and Garden

Eat Well Utah is the Utah Department of Health’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.

If you have questions, email healthpromotion@slco.org

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

Find a market near you:

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. Click HERE to learn more!

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. Click here to learn more about SNAP and to apply for benefits.

One way to increase access to healthy foods in underserved populations is by donating to your local food pantry or food bank. Salt Lake County Health Department encourages the donation of healthy food for many reasons:

• Billions of people lack the essential vitamins and minerals their bodies need to lead an active and healthy life
• While over 800 million suffer from hunger, more suffer from overweight and obesity related to unhealthy food
• Unhealthy diets combined with lifestyles on limited moving has become the world’s number ONE leading risk factor for death worldwide

When donating, please consider the following healthy items:

If you would like to donate directly to a food pantry, find your nearest locatino here. Also, you can donate to Utah Food Bank through the FeedUT Virtual Food and Fund Drive. Every $1 you donate can provide $8.03 worth of goods and services for Utahns facing hunger.

Interested in hosting a food drive? Contact healthpromotion@slco.org for tips and ideas.