WED-084 - A Slice of Access: Evaluation of a Meal Kit Program for Food Insecure College Students
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM PST
Location: Plaza Foyer, Plaza Level
Area of Responsibility: Area IV: Evaluation and Research Keywords: College Health@@@Evaluation@@@Nutrition, Subcompetencies: 4.2.9 Implement a pilot test to refine and validate data collection instruments and procedures., 4.3.6 Analyze data. Research or Practice: Research
Associate Professor California State University, Chico Chico, California, United States
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Identify main barriers that prevent off-campus, food-insecure students from cooking and eating healthy food regularly.
Assess whether a pilot meal kit intervention increased cooking frequency, reduced food security, and improved cooking confidence.
Determine if a meal kit intervention is applicable to other campus contexts.
Brief Abstract Summary: In this presentation, participants will recognize key barriers to cooking and healthy eating among food-insecure college students, learn how a pilot meal kit program was implemented at a state university in California, and hear about its positive impact on food security and cooking behavior among participants.
Detailed abstract description: Food insecurity is of growing concern among college students. While available research shows the extent of food insecurity and associated behaviors, more research is needed to understand and address the everyday obstacles that prevent food-insecure students from cooking or eating nutritious meals. We explored the barriers that prevent off-campus, food-insecure students from cooking and eating healthy food regularly and piloted a meal kit intervention to assess impact on food security, cooking frequency, and cooking confidence. A total of 24 students at a 4-year state university in California enrolled in the 6-week meal kit pilot program. Participants received weekly meal kits with simple, nutrient-dense recipes and pre-portioned ingredients that were delivered to their homes. The program addressed barriers to cooking, such as lack of time, stress, cost, and lack of cooking tools, identified by participants. Wilcoxon signed-rank and McNemar’s tests were used to assess change in key variables from baseline to follow up among the 19 participants with complete baseline and follow up survey data. Thematic analysis was used to code and analyze the baseline (n=24) and follow up (n=17) interviews. Food insecurity significantly decreased from the beginning of the program (89%) to the end (58%). There was also a significant increase in cooking among participants. Cooking confidence was high at the beginning of the program and remained so at follow up. In interviews, students explained that the kits helped them avoid overthinking meals, save time and money, and make cooking feel more manageable. Based on our pilot study findings, meal kit programs are feasible in the college basic needs setting and could play an important role in reducing student food insecurity.
