Everyone thinks they can build a better meal kit, but local communities could have a leg up in the market. The purpose of this paper is to detail the launch of a SNAP-approved meal kit program initiated via community-based research (CBR). Public health and nutrition professionals use CBR to create health programs that are specific to and inclusive of community. However, CBR is more than a method. It is a framework used to build a bridge between expert and local knowledge; bring race, class, and gender to the forefront of research; and create action. In University Town, which has a 43% African American population, low-income families receive “top-down” nutrition education from primarily white female health professionals; they are not involved in the process of creating knowledge. Two of the goals of this work are to identify best practices for meal kit development and recommendations for how to include meal kits in SNAP policy.
A meal kit is a box of pre-portioned ingredients with corresponding recipes that can be made into a fixed number of meals per week. The meal kit industry has changed drastically since its inception in 2007; currently there are more than 150 companies in the US. Among online companies, HelloFresh has the highest volume of market shares, while large grocers (i.e., Walmart, Kroger, Albertson) have increased competition by creating meal kits that are more accessible than their online counterparts. According to a consumer report, meal kits are purchased for convenience, overall cooking experience (i.e., fun), and exposure to new foods. However, consumers also indicate that meal kits are expensive and wasteful (e.g., plastic containers). Although nascent, meal kits might also be useful for a different purpose: improving food security. Meal kits have the potential to help low income families overcome key barriers to fresh and nutritious food consumption such as transportation and meal preparation time. We partnered with University Town Grocer, where 60% of customers are African American and 40% of customers use SNAP. In a brief intercept survey, we asked shoppers (n=20) if they would be interested in a meal kit program and what types of meals they would prefer. Based on their responses, 3 recipes were created. Community meetings were held with members of a local Black church (n=7) and parents whose children participate in the Head Start program (n=12). The meetings included a taste test of the recipes and responding to the question, “How do we make a meal kit program happen in University Town?” Preliminary results suggest that community members are interested in meal kits, although they expressed little interest in building the program themselves. Participants gave open-ended feedback on the recipe format and the meals, and a favorite emerged of the three trial meals. Future plans include making the favorite meal kit purchasable with SNAP dollars and piloting it at University Town Grocer.
