The purpose of the initiative is to encourage employees to eat more vegetables and fruit everyday. Topics covered include: easy ways to add more vegetables and fruit-at home, at work and on the go, Fast food’s healthier choices, how much is a serving, organic versus non-organic and adding more variety for added nutritional benefits.

Planning a theme-related activity is a great way to let employees know about upcoming activities, contests, resources, and information available to them. By doing this, you will help employees make the connection between the event or activity and the other components of your campaign for this initiative. Below are a variety of ideas. Feel free to adapt these to suit the needs of your workplace, or come up with ideas of your own.

Bottomless Fruit Basket

Promote a “potluck” fruit basket in various work areas or departments. Suggest that employees take turns refilling the basket on a regular basis with washed, fresh fruit.

Vegetables and Fruit Recipe Contest

Hold a contest encouraging employees to submit a favourite vegetable or fruit recipe. The recipes can be shared with other employees to provide new ideas. Post or publish photos of the winning entries, and compile the recipes into a vegetable and fruit cookbook that could be provided to employees or sold as a fundraiser. Categories may include: best fruit or vegetable salad; best fruit-based dessert; best fruit smoothie drink or best side-dish or entree.

Fruit Bonanza Day 

Encourage employees to eat more fruit by organizing fruit sampling at the workplace. A fruit-tasting table could include chunks of fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, peaches, or nectarines. Ask for employees to volunteer from several cultural backgrounds to demonstrate how to prepare them. Add a tropical flair to the event by inviting employees to wear a Hawaiian shirt or clothing with a fruit or vegetable theme.

Share the Bounty of the Harvest

Encourage employees who have home gardens to share any produce their family cannot use with employees who do not have a garden of their own. Another option is to promote sharing extra produce with local food banks.

Vegetable Plant Give-away 

Provide employees with one or more vegetable plants (e.g. tomato, green pepper, leafy green lettuce) to take home and plant. Encourage the involvement of their children in planting and taking care of the growing plant. Promote this activity through the workplace newsletter, voice mail, bulletin board postings, or departmental meetings. Ask employees to take photos of their plant’s progress to be posted on a bulletin board for all to see.

Cultural Health Fair

Canada is one of the most diverse nations in the world and Windsor-Essex County is one of the most culturally diverse regions in Canada. As a result, a wide variety of vegetables and fruit are available. Celebrate our multiculturalism by organizing a cultural food fair featuring a wide variety of vegetable and fruit recipes prepared by the employees. Invite employees to explain the cultural heritage behind their dishes while participants sample the food.

“Lunch and Learn” Workshop or Presentation

Kick off your vegetable and fruit initiative by inviting a guest speaker to present a “Lunch and Learn” workshop during a meal break. For example, invite a “master gardener” (www.gardenontario.org/mas/hotline.php) to host a “lunch-and-learn” session on tips for vegetable and fruit gardening. Other ideas include presentations on barbequing vegetables and fruit, or cooking classes/demonstrations on ethnic vegetable or fruit dishes.

Don’t forget the vegetables and fruit!

When organizing a physical activity event (e.g. group walk), include a variety of fruits and vegetables to sample during or after the event. Include veggie or fruit trays with low fat dips or have fruit “to go” that employees can take along to the event. Highlight the importance of re-hydration during physical activity by focusing on vegetables and fruit with a high-water content (e.g. watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges). 

Pay Stub/ Electronic E-mail Attachments

Include tips on eating more vegetables and fruit, or notices of upcoming events (e.g. contests) with employee pay stubs. Have a weekly trivia contest or “Questions and Answers” session on a specific vegetable or fruit through workplace emails during the initiative.

Cooking Up a Storm

Provide employees with the opportunity to fill up their freezers by organizing a “batch” cooking session at a local grocery store with a community kitchen or other location with cooking facilities. Interested employees can develop menus and shopping lists and prepare large batches of food that can then be divided and shared.  Having healthy, ready-to-eat food in the freezer will help reduce meal time stress at home.

Supermarket Tours

A hands-on supermarket tour is a great way to learn about healthy eating and the variety of fruits and vegetables available. Tours are available at supermarkets in Windsor and Essex County through the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. For more information, please phone 258-2146 x 3100.

Workplace Farmers’ Market

Invite local growers into your workplace to sample and sell fresh, in-season vegetables and fruit. Not only is this a great way to support local farmers, but it also highlights the vegetables and fruit grown right in your own community. Be sure to provide support materials, available through the Windsor Essex County Health Unit, on safe food handling and food washing practices at this event.

Passport to Vegetables and Fruit

Create stations throughout your workplace where employees can sample vegetables and fruit that may be new to them. At each station, have an activity for employees to complete that will educate them about the food they are sampling. After completing the activity, stamp a passport that you have developed for the event. Once employees successfully complete all of the activities, they can submit their completed passport for a chance to win prizes.  

Vegetable and Fruit Line-up

A fun and simple activity to organize, the vegetable and fruit line-up has many different variations. The basic concept is as follows: select a series of lesser know vegetables and fruit and ask employees to determine the name of each one. You may want to provide them with multiple choice options and clues/fast facts to help them to identify the vegetable or fruit’s true identity. After visiting each station, allow employees to submit a form with their guesses for a chance to win prizes. Another variation of this activity is to place each vegetable or fruit into a bag and ask employees to determine its identity based on the feel and texture. This activity is a great way to introduce employees to new vegetables and fruit and can be easily incorporated into other event ideas for the 5 to TEN initiative.

Fruit and Vegetable Spies

Designate one or more employees to act as fruit and vegetable “spies”. These individuals will distribute prize ballots to employees eating fruits and/or vegetables during a work break or meal break. The prize ballots can be deposited into a draw for one or more prizes.