Quick! Help for Meals: personalized recipes from the food pantry

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One question asked when providing free or low cost food to the communities in low socio-economic areas is what are they actually doing with the food?  More than 30 million low-income people in the United States rely on 26,000 community pantries each year for obtaining part of their household’s food, and the availability of fresh produce been increasing steadily (http://www. feedingamerica.org). Unfortunately, much of this is distributed in a haphazard way, and many don’t know what they are getting or what to do with it.
     One current solution to this problem is a software program called Quick! Help for Meals.  As community members get their bag of pantry food, they are asked a few simple food questions. These questions are entered into the program and out pops a small colored recipe booklet tailored to them and the food they are getting.
     What is important here is that the food being distributed is being used to its full nutritional value by the pantry client. The software is inexpensive for the pantry to use and allows for what is called ““indigenous” tailoring where the information is friendly and personal to the individual. This style differs from the “paternalistic” where the information is just a straight, one size fits all directions. Those who developed the program discovered that more fresh produce was used and in more ways by those who received Quick Help recipes than with those who did not.

     The more fun, personal help we can provide those in low SES with their food choices, the more they appear to be eating healthy.

Clarke, P., Evans, S. H., & Hovy, E. H. (2011). Indigenous message tailoring increases consumption of fresh vegetables by clients of community pantries. Health communication, 26(6), 571-582.

FD

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