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. 2023 Aug 25:36:102382.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102382. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Evaluating a Washington DC Community-based meal-kit service aimed at mitigating dietary disparities: Results from the SouthEats pilot study

Joelle N Robinson-Oghogho  1 , Anne Palmer  1   2 , Melissa Davey-Rothwell  1 , Roland J Thorpe Jr  1   3
Affiliations

Evaluating a Washington DC Community-based meal-kit service aimed at mitigating dietary disparities: Results from the SouthEats pilot study

Joelle N Robinson-Oghogho et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Vegetable consumption is known to reduce the risk of various chronic health conditions. Yet a small percentage of US adults consume enough vegetables to meet national dietary guidelines. The SouthEats community-led meal-kit service was developed in Washington DC to address known barriers to healthy eating and vegetable consumption among middle- and low-income households.

Methods: Using a series of online surveys, we conducted a pilot study to provide preliminary information on the influence of SouthEats on vegetable consumption and factors known to influence vegetable consumption. Wilcoxon matched-pair sign ranked tests were used to examine changes in key outcomes between baseline, midpoint and endpoint surveys.

Results: Among SouthEats customers who completed all pilot study surveys (n = 23) there was a significant decrease in the median amount of time spent on meal prep between baseline and midpoint. Between baseline and endpoint, participants also indicated increased feelings that they had enough time to meet their needs including cooking healthfully. Overall vegetable and fruit and vegetable consumption increased between the baseline and midpoint but then decreased between the midpoint and endpoint survey periods. However, there were no statistically significant changes in the outcomes of home eating behaviors, perceptions of neighborhood healthy food access, vegetable self-efficacy, or vegetable consumption.

Conclusion: Our results provide some preliminary evidence suggesting that the SouthEats meal-kit service could help reduce the amount of time spent on cooking, reduce feelings of time scarcity, and increase vegetable consumption in the short-term. Further research exploring this topic will require a larger study sample.

Keywords: Cooking behaviors; Eating behaviors; Food access; Interventions; Meal-kits; Pilot study; Vegetables.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Joelle Robinson-Oghogho is a co-founder and worker-owner member of the SouthEats community-based meal-kit service. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Description of 2021 SouthEats Pilot Study Recruitment and Participant Retention.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Median Estimated Daily Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among 2021 SouthEats Study Participants Completing All Three Data Collection Surveys and Who Reported Receiving SouthEats Meals at Midpoint or Endpoint.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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