MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Some convenience stores in central Alabama are going beyond putting fresh fruits and vegetables on shelves—they’re hosting cooking classes with the Wellness Coalition to help customers learn how to prepare the produce, the Montgomery Advertiser reports.

The Wellness Coalition has been working with convenience stores located in food deserts to provide fresh produce to their customers. This fall, the coalition joined with EAT South and the Central Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission to host a demonstration on how to prepare meals with produce.

“It’s someone who’s not a professional chef, but has cooking experience, demonstrating how to use fresh fruits and vegetables found in a convenience store,” said Sara Byard, REACH program coordinator with the Wellness Coalition. “They use very simple recipes with [a] minimal number of ingredients that can all pretty much be found in that store. The idea is to demonstrate how regular people can eat healthier using the items you can find right there in the store.”

The cooking demonstrations have taken place at the Petro Mart, a Shell station and a Kwik Shop in Montgomery. “We chose to do this in a convenience store because those are existing outlets where people get food and they are the closest outlets that exist already that we can work with,” she said. “Getting [in] a grocery store is not the easiest thing to do, and the cities have been trying for a while now.”

So far, the cooking demos have garnered positive responses from customers, who have appreciated the ability to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and see new ways to cook the produce at their local convenience store. NACS teamed up with United Fresh on the report, “Building the Case for Produce at Convenience Stores.”