FoodFinder Social Media Campaign

FoodFinder social media campaign would focus around cooking, encouraging people especially children to cook and be creative. Since FoodFinder is all about using ingredients they already have, this campaign would encourage making simple and easy recipes from stuff they have in their house. Parents would post using the #kidswhocook to post videos and pictures of them cooking with their kids. It is proven that kids who learn to cook earlier tend to eat healthier foods. They are also aware of more foods and have a more diverse palette. 

This campaign would also use social media influencers to post with their own kids and spread the word that way. They would also talk about FoodFinder and how easy it is to find ingredients that make easy meals in their house with their kids. It would focus on Instagram and Twitter but YouTube influencers can also post videos. There are a lot of vloggers on YouTube that post daily or weekly vlogs. They can talk about FoodFinder in their videos and promote it that way. This will allow people to see first hand how the app is used and why it is so important to cook with your kids. 

These three social media platforms will be essential to promoting healthy eating, the FoodFinder app and cooking with your kids. 

Hello Fresh Social Media Campaign

Hello Fresh is a food service that you sign up for and they send you fresh ingredients that create a meal for dinner. It has become very popular among millennials and families. It targets people who are busy but still want a healthy, fresh and easy meal they can cook up fast. There are a few companies that also do the same thing but this one stands out to me for its use of social media.

They have figured out a way to use Instagram to their advantage. Besides their own Instagram which is filled with bright and colorful meals, they have looked to social media influencers to help spread their name. They have these people post on their own social media a picture or video of their food or cooking the food and a caption about how great it is to be able to cook their own meals without having to do any of the prep. The food comes all packaged to your door and all you do is follow the easy step-by-step instructions to get a perfectly cooked healthy meal. You also don't have to worry about extra ingredients because it is measured out beforehand. At the end of the entry, they give a discount code to get started. By adding this discount code, it gives people a little bit of an incentive to start the service and allows Hello Fresh to track how effective each social media influencer is.

Along with social media influencers, they also have a few hashtags that have been going around from their page and their collaborators. Some of these hashtags are #freshfriends and #hellofreshpics. This encourages anyone to post a picture of their creation and show their friends.

Hello Fresh has definitely encouraged people to cook their own food instead of going out and buying something fast and possibly unhealthy. By cooking your own food, you are in charge of what you put it in. Since it is shown a reason people don't cook is simply because they can't come up with easy, fast recipes. This definitely solves that problem by allowing people to still cook and have fresh food. Even if you substitute this meal service only a few days a week thats less that you would have to think of your own recipes.  

Multimedia Script

Infographic on Healthy Cooking and Eating

Link to my prezi and written speech

Here is a link to my Prezi.
https://prezi.com/view/HU239mJZTfRykEPzlpzC/

Written Speech to go with Prezi

Hello, I am Foodblogger and I have an exciting opportunity to bring to you today! Have you ever gotten home after a long day of work and didn't know what to make for dinner. In fact, "More than half of Americans (51 percent) would prepare dinner at home more often if they had new ideas." What if they had someway to put healthy, easy and fast meals together that didn't require much prep and an extra trip to the grocery store.

Well now you can do all the with Food Finder. Food Finder is an application that will scan your fridge and create a recipe based on what you have already in your home. It really is that easy. All you do is take your smartphone, open the app, point it an the fridge like you would take a picture and let the phone scan your fridge and give you a bunch of recipes to make with your food. This is a constant problem with "Americans are now spending over $190 billion on fast food each year." Statistics show that people that work more than 35 hours a week tend to cook less and go out more.

The great thing about Food Finder is that any one can use it. With its simple interface, kids can use it with their parents, working professionals, busy moms - to name a few. Along with being able to give recipes, Food Finder will also show you a step-by-step process of how to cook and prepare the food.

With your help we will be able to launch a full fledged application by November 2018. By following the strict timeline and working with developers, we will be able to allow everyone to become chefs in their own home.

Recommending a restaurant

Living in a city, there are so many restaurants to try and experience. Whenever I go to a restaurant I think about a few important factors before recommending it to someone.

Food
The first most important thing is how the food was. At the end of the day you go to a restaurant for the food so the food should be the first thing that is rated. If all else fails,  the food should be amazing. You are paying for someone who hopefully is skilled at cooking to cook and prepare your food for you.

Service
Another thing is the service. The service can really make or break your experience at a restaurant. Service is so so important. There are people who's job it is to make sure you are having a good experience and that you feel taken care of. Service can include how the waiter/waitress was, how fast the food came out, if everyone's food came out at the same time (if it is a big party this can be a little more difficult), even things as simple as filling your water, asking if you are enjoying the food, etc. These are all small things that can make your experience better.

Atmosphere
The last thing to think about before recommending a restaurant is the atmosphere. This is definitely less important but something about a great atmosphere makes the experience (service and food) a little better. Some restaurants are so dark or so loud its hard to enjoy the food when you can't see it. Of course there are times that dark or loud restaurants are what you are looking for but most meals you just want to be able to hear the people you are with and be able to enjoy a nice, calm experience.

Food Finder proposal

Have you ever gotten home from a long day dealing with clients at work and realized you hadn't even thought about dinner? You look in the fridge and think there couldn't be the right ingredients for a meal. This is a problem a lot of working individuals face when coming home after a long day and not having the energy to go to the grocery store to pick up some food for a simple meal. However, you'd be surprised at how many things you already have that can become an easy, fast meal. 

With Food Finder, scan your fridge and pantry with your smartphone and Food Finder will generate simple recipes based on ingredients you already have in your pantry and fridge. This will save individuals, families, just about everyone who looks in their fridge and doesn't see the potential of all their random food items.

Food Finder is looking for funding from food corporations and healthy initiatives looking to help individuals make healthy and simple food after a long day. The app will begin development in September 2017 and be up and running hopefully by November 2018. This will take a lot of dedicated hardworking individuals that are passionate about Food Finder and providing resources for people to use to make healthy choices.

Creating an easy salad

Easy Salad Recipes

Oh salad, most people don't like the idea of eating lettuce and considering dinner. If you've gone to any event they usually serve salad before the entrèe and you just consider a small something before you eat the real meal. Well that doesn't have to be the case. If made correctly a salad can be a healthy, complete dinner! Crazy, right. But really, starting with lettuce as a base and adding delicious mix-ins you can create a whole meal. Yes this concept isn't new. Sweetgreen and Chop'd have already started this trend but have you ever thought you can make it at home for only a few dollars? You go into Sweetgreen and pay $10-15 to get what you could make at home easily. 

All you have to do is start with a base. Pick your favorite lettuce or mix a few different types. Then add some protein. Protein can be in the form of meat, nuts, beans, etc. The great thing is making salads at home is you can add anything. For me, I like to stir-fry some tofu on the stove and add that. Then I go for some sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, chopped avocado, chickpeas (great source of protein as well!), and corn. These are all sold pretty inexpensive and can be used for more than one. salad. Top it off with some homemade dressing. Yes, homemade sounds complicated and hard but honestly all you need is some lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil and you got yourself a healthy, delicious dressing with no added sugar! Pro-tip: Creamy dressings have lots of added calories and high in fat. Even less creamy dressings have added sugar that can be avoided by making a homemade dressing.

Well they you have it, an easy, filling salad recipe that you can make at home! Let me know if you have any dinner staples that are healthy and easy to whip up.

Ingenious ideas

Food Finder
Ever get home after a long day, most likely from work, and don't know what to eat for dinner. You look in the fridge and see a bunch of food but nothing that seems like dinner. You are too lazy to go to the store and buy the usual (chicken, rice, corn) so you sit down in defeat. What if there was an app that scanned your fridge for you and gave you suggestions on foods to eat? Using food finder, now you can! 

Just open the app, take a picture of your fridge and food finder will give you great suggestions based off what you already have. No need to order expensive takeout! Make quick and easy food in your own home with food you already have.


Meal Creative
If your like me, you look up recipes online, save them and then get to the grocery store unprepared on what you need. You end up scrolling fast through the recipe to try to make sure you get all the ingredients. Then you get home and realize you missed the most essential ingredients. 

Well what if you didn't have to do any of it? All you have to do is go on the app before noon and tell Meal Creative what kind of mood you are in. It will offer suggestions on easy recipes and list all the ingredients that you can easily select. When you get home for dinner all your ingredients will be at your door, ready to make an easy and fast meal. All you do it put in your credit card and address and you will have a customized meal just for you. Unlike Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, this meal is designed just for you and you won't have to worry about eating the same thing as everyone else using the service.

I guess I need to learn to cook

Cooking is something some people are really good at and some people don't have a clue about. Some people learn it from their parents or grandparents or watching the food network. Before this year, I fell into the category of not having a clue about cooking. I had baked in the past and cooked a few times here and there but never consistently. I never needed to cook in college since the café always had food and if I wasn't eating in the café I was going to a local restaurant or eating someone else's food. 

So why am I giving you a summary of my cooking and eating history? Because I feel like this is very common when you move out and have to start providing dinner for yourself. Going out is fun (I mean what can be better than looking at a piece of paper pointing to something and 15 min later it is right in front of you) but it becomes less exciting if you do it all the time and also turns into a waste of money. So being the millennial I am, I turned to the internet. I started researching easy recipes and ingredients. There are so many really easy recipes that you can use to start on the journey of cooking. Here are some things to keep in mind when starting:

1. Trader Joe's is the best. They have almost everything you could ever want to use when cooking besides lemon juice (still bitter). If you have a Tj's near you go there. Most things are relatively cheaper than other organic grocery stores and they have some exotic ingredients that are fun to try. But be aware it is always packed between 5-7 pm so if you have the opportunity to go at a different time do it or just suck it up and wait in line. It's not that bad and it's worth it with all the food you can get. I went and got pretty much everything for a week for under $50. That's like eating 2-3 meals out!

2. Something as simple as a salad can become a full meal. Some people assume a salad is an appetizer or something to eat before your full meal. This is becoming less the case with restaurants like Sweetgreen or chop'd. Salads are so simple, healthy and filling if you add the right ingredients. (Full salad article to follow)

3. If cooking really scares you start off simple. Think of what goes on a plate at a restaurant. Usually some sort of grain (rice, quinoa), protein (chicken, steak, fish) and veggies (broccoli, carrots, potato). This will help the juices start flowing. After you start making some simple dishes like this you will see all the potential.

Happy cooking and get ready for some other great tips and tricks!

Mid-Term Self Evaluation

This has been a very interesting exercise learning how to find my voice and create content around the arts and the importance of the arts. Since I am very passionate about the arts, I assumed it would be a piece of cake. Turns out its harder than it seemed. I feel I have written a few interesting pieces one including "how to host a paint night party." I really enjoyed writing this one and thought it showcased my voice and passion for the arts the best. It got a good response and was definitely one of the best pieces of writing. Although it wasn't a serious piece, it was informative and interesting and relatable. It has been hard to come up with creative things to write about that aren't just about the importance of the arts. I think that is what has been limiting me to really explore this class and create long form pieces. 

With that being said, I think I am going to change my topic to something a little more broad that I can explore. I will be changing my blog to a food blog and will be exploring all things related to food from recipes, to restaurants all from an amateur foodie! I have never written about food but I feel it is something I am interested in and can write more about. I am changing my username to "foodblogger22" Get ready for some new and hopefully interesting content!