This month’s Well-being Program Challenge is a 28-Day challenge with one rule: cook at home.

Either cook your own food or get invited to a friend’s or family member’s place for a home-cooked meal. No grocery store takeout, cafeteria meals, fast food, restaurants, coffee shops, or vending machines. You get the idea.

The challenge is May 1 to May 28.

Advice for people who want to learn to cook

One of the biggest hurdles to eating at home is knowing how to cook. “I hear all the time from employees who say, ‘I just can’t make food taste good at home.’ The classes from Wellbeats will teach you how,” said Justin Roberson, manager of the state’s well-being program.

Wellbeats is free when you login through your well-being program.

• Check out free cooking classes. Marinate food to boost flavors, sauté, use spices, cook with oils and more.
• Follow step-by-step video recipes. Want to eat more fish? Make a spicy tilapia basil burger in five minutes. Egg fried rice with shrimp, 11 minutes. Spaghetti Bolognese, 12 minutes.

Roberson shared his personal favorite source for cooking tips and recipes: Struggle Meals. It’s on YouTube, other streaming services and cable tv.

“It’s the greatest. I’ve watched every episode, all eight seasons. It’s not fancy. Just good, simple food. The chef started the show during college, and it’s now gone global.”

Advice for people who love to cook but can’t find time

Time is another hurdle people often mention, Roberson said. The Foodsmart website and app can help.

• Quick and easy meals. The 30-minute or less recipe category is helpful when you’re short on time and energy.
• Get help planning. Foodsmart’s meal planning tool helps whether planning for quick and healthy meals for one, a family or crowd. The tool makes grocery lists based on the meals you choose. You can even send the list to a grocery delivery service if you’d like.
• Use what you have on hand. The Cook It Now tool, also in Foodsmart, gives you recipe suggestions based on ingredients you have at home and what you like to eat.

Advice for people who probably don’t need cooking advice

Well-being program Planning Director Dawn Cvengros has ideas for the cooks among us. “Looking through old family recipes or cookbooks if you have them is always interesting. Make something from a page that had a lot of use.

“And have some fun with this challenge. Try something new. You’ll find more than one million recipes in Foodsmart . LifeMatters offers recipes, too. High fiber, low fiber, beef, vegetarian and a whole lot more.”

Join the challenge

• Sign up or log in to the well-being program vendor.
• Each day, you answer the yes or no question: Did you eat only home-cooked meals?
• The last day to sign up is May 5.

You should know

• Participant names and challenge activity will be visible on a leaderboard.
• Don’t wait until the end of the challenge to report your activity.
• To earn the 100 points, eat home-cooked meals 23 out of 28 days. Eligible employees who earn at least 300 points by Oct. 31, 2023 get $70 off on their 2024 Advantage Medical Plan deductible. Learn more about reward program details.