Boîte à Lunch Centre-Sud

“My favorite thing about Boîte à Lunch was making lunches and having fun!”

– A workshop participant

Boîte à Lunch Centre-Sud is a free after-school program that invites children in the Centre-Sud neighborhood into the kitchen to learn how to cook while creating a tasty meal that they can eat at home or enjoy for lunch the next day at school. By engaging the young participants in the preparation of healthy and tasty meals and in the exploration of flavours, the Carrefour aims to equip these young people and their families to make healthier choices throughout their lives. This project is run in affiliation with Boîte à Lunch from The Depot CFC.

Elementary Workshops

• Who: Students in grade 4 or 5 who attend a school in the Ste-Marie sector
• What: Preparing a meal to take home and participating in activities about cooking and nutrition, including taste-tests!
• Duration: One 2-hour after-school workshop per week for 10 weeks
• This program is completely free!
• The Fall 2024 workshops are offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays with walking service from the following schools: Jean Baptiste Meilleur, Garneau, Champlain, Marguerite-Bourgeois, and Saint-Ansèlme.

Registration is done in September for the fall semester and in January for the winter/spring session.

Teen Workshops

• Who: Secondary 1 and 2 students (we sometimes accept 6th graders, if space is available)
• What we do: Preparation by and for the children of a healthy meal and snack for the teens to take home + fun activities on healthy eating.
• Duration: 1 afternoon per week (2-hour workshop) for 20 weeks, with a break from mid-December to mid-February.
• Free registration!
• Workshops for the 2023-2024 session are offered on Mondays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Registration opens in September for the entire 2023-2024 session.

“I find that my son has more confidence in the kitchen.”

– Parent of a participant

Program Objectives

• Develop food knowledge and cooking skills of children and, in turn, those of their families. Through the learning process in the kitchen, a child’s autonomy, sense of pleasure and self-esteem grow.
• Develop the joy of cooking and eating well early in their lives to help these young people grow into adults with healthy eating habits, a key ingredient for the health and well-being of an entire generation.
• Improve food security for children and their families.