Four generations of an East Gippsland family were recently spotted shopping at Ritchies IGA Bairnsdale in the school holidays, a moment that captured the local spirit of the Let’s Veg Up! campaign.
From the youngest shopper Ryder to great grandmother Yvonne, the family stopped to pick up a Let’s Veg Up! recipe booklet, highlighting how healthy eating can be enjoyed at every stage of life.
Let’s Veg Up! is celebrating four years of encouraging East Gippsland residents to add more vegetables to everyday meals by providing recipe shopping lists in trolleys, linked by QR codes to LiveLighter® recipes.
Delivered by Gippsland Lakes Complete Health (GLCH), Let’s Veg Up! is designed to make healthy eating practical and affordable, using quick recipes, familiar ingredients and planning tools like shopping lists to support home cooking.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that adults consume at least five serves of vegetables each day, yet in East Gippsland most adults are only getting one or two serves in.
Health promotion officer Renate Hall said the strength of the campaign came from meeting people where food choices are made.
“Our evaluation of previous campaigns showed that 55 per cent of shoppers reported increasing their vegetable intake after engaging with Let’s Veg Up!, and more people were planning meals and using shopping lists, which is a big step towards healthier habits,” she said.
This year’s campaign features a Let’s Veg Up! Greatest Hits recipe booklet, including crowd favourite recipes from the past four years.
Local shoppers across Bairnsdale and Paynesville have been spotted picking up the booklet in store, including last year’s Let’s Veg Up! treasure hunt winner Jane Miles from Bairnsdale.
The Let’s Veg Up! treasure hunt has also returned for the final year of the campaign, giving shoppers the chance to collect veggie icons from the trolley shopping lists and recipes in the booklet, for their chance to enter a draw to win a $250 Ritchies IGA gift card.
Renate said the campaign had always focused on small, sustainable changes.
“From children discovering new vegetables to grandparents sticking with tried and true favourites, Let’s Veg Up! has shown
that healthy eating looks different for everyone, and all generations can be part of it,” she said.
Renate thanked community members, Ritchies IGA Paynesville and Bairnsdale, LiveLighter®, Cancer Council Victoria and Cancer Council WA for their support over the past four years.
The Let’s Veg Up! Greatest Hits booklet is available in store at Ritchies IGA in Paynesville and Eastwood, Bairnsdale and on the GLCH website glch.org.au/lets-veg-up, where you can enter the draw to win a $250 shopping voucher.
