Learning Kitchen & Classroom

We envision a community that embraces food justice where social safety net programs are recognized as part of the solution.


In the Bill & Rosemary Gallagher Learning Kitchen, our food bank offers free cooking classes to help connect families with skill and know-how for healthy, low-cost meal preparation and food preservation. We are also able to partner with other service providers in this space for workshops and other educational opportunities for our community.

Explore upcoming classes & events taking place in the Bill & Rosemary Gallagher Learning Kitchen or take a look at all upcoming events at Missoula Food Bank & Community Center.


For more information

Contact Ashlee Schleicher at ashlee@missoulafoodbank.org or 406.541.0784.

To learn about sponsorship opportunities for programming in the Bill & Rosemary Gallagher Learning Kitchen, contact Jesse Jaeger: jesse@missoulafoodbank.org.

Sign up for a Free Cooking Class

November 14, 12pm-1:30pm

Caregivers and kiddos, come and bake classic turkey day treats (a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, a chocolate silk pie) together with instructor Ashlee S. Each family will make and get to take home versions of each pie to share and enjoy with family/friends! Kiddos 6+ please, and please have 1-2 kids max per adult.

Please sign up here
if you plan to participate. One slot for each participating child. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge to participants.

November 15, 10am-1pm

Holidays can be a challenge when eating gluten free. I will share with you some of my favorite holiday staples and we can talk about how to handle eating with relatives, friends, or co-workers when gluten is everywhere.

Do you have a favorite gluten free holiday dish? Feel free to email it to me and I can print out those to share as well! A little gluten free holiday recipe swap.

Please sign up
if you plan to participate. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge.

This class is aimed at adults, but you are welcome to bring along a kiddo who is interested in cooking, can listen to instructions, participate fully, and has a 2.5 hour long attention span. This class would be great for a homeschooler. Each individual- adult or teen/tween- needs to sign up for a slot on sign up genius.

Please note: ingredients will be gluten free, but we will be working with eggs, dairy, and nuts.

November 18th, 10am-12pm

Welcome! This beginner class will focus on empowering tweens/teens (ages 10-18) to cook a meal on their own for themselves or for their families.

In addition to registering on Sign Up Genius, PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM so that we can know what meals our participants would like to cook. We want to make sure we make things that everyone is interested in.

We also need you to fill out this form so that we have emergency contact info for our youth participants. Participants aged 12 and older can attend without an adult present. If the participant is under the age of 12, an adult caregiver will be required to remain in the building, but children can still attend the class if they have the interest and attention span to participate. The idea is that the kids would be able to cook on their own, but younger participants might want or need a little help or supervision from their caregiver.

Please keep in mind that siblings and caregivers who are not attending the class are welcome to pop down to EmPower Place during this time. We have all kinds of things to do down there for any age- playing with toys, doing some art or STEM activities, reading/checking out books, or playing board games.

We are limiting this to 8 participants this time. If it turns out you cannot make it, please update your sign up ASAP so someone on the waitlist can take your place.

November 25th, 1pm-3pm

We are so excited to have Josie joing us, teaching how to make traditional tortillas. She will also be sharing some ways she likes to eat them.

Please sign up here
if you plan to participate. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge.

November 21st, 11am-1pm

Come and create some creative side dishes to enjoy on Turkey Day. Your instructor, Ashlee S. will work with you to create four sides (roasted apple salad, spoon bread, coconut sweet potatoes, stuffed acorn squash, and tortellini salad) that you can added to your turkey day spread. After cooking, we will all sit together to eat together and share our thoughts on the recipes and favorite turkey day dishes.

Please sign up here if you plan to participate. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge to participants.

December 13th, 12:30pm-2:30pm

We are going to don our aprons, get creative, and see who can become a star baker. (Spoiler alert- it's everyone!) This year we will be making cupcakes. We will work in small groups to create a base recipe, and then split the batter so that each individual can create their own unique cupcake creation. Ages 8 and up for this class, please.

In addition to registering on Sign Up Genius, PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM so that I can bring the ingredients our participants want to use and try to avoid getting extra things that won't be used.

We also need you to fill out this form so that we have emergency contact info for our youth participants. Participants aged 12 and older can attend without an adult present. If the participant is under the age of 12, an adult caregiver will be required to remain in the room. Our younger participants might need a help or supervision from their caregiver, and it's always nice to have some adults around to help with measuring, supervising, and clean up.

Please keep in mind that siblings and caregivers who are not attending the class are welcome to pop down to EmPower Place during this time. We have all kinds of things to do down there for any age- playing with toys, doing some art or STEM activities, reading/checking out books, or playing board games. Children do need to be accompanied by a caregiver in EmPower Place so if the caregiver needs to stay in the kitchen with a participant under the age of 12, siblings may color, play games, etc in the conference room connected to the learning kitchen. Please bring activities for them to do if you can! I'm sure they will make excellent taste testers as well.

We are limiting this to 8 participants this time. If it turns out you cannot make it, please update your sign up ASAP so someone on the waitlist can take your place.

December 5th, 12pm-2pm

Judith will be leading participants in making gifts for the holidays! If you are looking for an opportunity to make the people in your life some thoughtful (and delicious!) homemade gifts, then this class is for you.

This has been such a popular class that Judith will be offering it at two different times. Please sign up here if you plan to participate. Make sure to select the date and time you want- please do not sign up for both dates in order to give other people a chance to take the class. It is the same exact class offered at two different times. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge to participants.

December 16th, 12pm-2pm

Judith will be leading participants in making gifts for the holidays! If you are looking for an opportunity to make the people in your life some thoughtful (and delicious!) homemade gifts, then this class is for you.

This has been such a popular class that Judith will be offering it at two different times. Please sign up here if you plan to participate. Make sure to select the date and time you want- please do not sign up for both dates in order to give other people a chance to take the class. It is the same exact class offered at two different times. If you aren't able to make it, please remove your name from this list so if we have a waitlist, someone else can join us!

Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, our cooking classes are offered at no charge to participants.