Michigan Families for Fair Care Hosts “Stretch Your Dollar” Budget Community Cooking Class
On Wednesday, Michigan Families for Fair Care and End Gun Violence Michigan hosted “Stretch Your Dollar,” a free budget cooking class at First Presbyterian Church Dimondale. Led by community members who know firsthand what it’s like to stretch a tight grocery budget, the class featured a live demonstration, practical tips for saving money and cutting waste at the grocery store, and a shared meal. Attendees went home with recipe cards, a gift bag of spices, and information on local food resources.
The event doubles as a community conversation about how recent policies are affecting local families’ ability to put food on the table. It comes at a time when families across the country are growing frustrated with grocery prices. Coupled with recent tariffs have resulted in raised costs for groceries and everyday necessities for families across Michigan’s 7th congressional district. Michigan residents have paid $5600 due to tariffs alone since January 2025. This comes at a time when Michiganders are dealing with the effects of the Republican Tax Law, which gave huge tax breaks to billionaires and made historic cuts to food assistance that thousands of Michigan families rely on. Michigan’s 7th congressional district member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom Barrett, voted for both. With many tariffs still in place and prices still high, local families are cutting back at the checkout line and turning to their neighbors for support.
“Grocery prices keep leaving people more stressed when they leave the store than when they entered it. As someone who grew up in a household with a really tight budget, I know what it is like to have to be a bit creative when staring at the pantry. So I shared some recipes that were meaningful to me because I know they can feed families without breaking the bank. We can be resilient, but things still shouldn’t be this hard for so many families," said Maya, volunteer cook and MI-07 resident.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BE CAN BE FOUND HERE
Throughout the evening, attendees swapped ideas for planning meals, shopping sales, and making ingredients go further, and connected with local food resources in the area. The class reflected a community effort to help neighbors get through a time of high prices together. Michigan Families for Fair Care will continue educating Michigan residents on how the policies in Congress are affecting the cost of feeding their families and staying healthy.
