Food Pantry Client and Staff Preferences for Nutritious no Prep Ready-to-eat Meals

NCT05593510 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: STU-2022-0809
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 85
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The specific aims of this pilot study are: Aim 1) To identify whether no prep ready to eat meals (intervention) or ingredient bundles (control) have higher client acceptability, liking, satisfaction, and perceived diet quality ratings. Aim 2) To identify whether no prep ready to eat meals (intervention) or ingredient bundles (control) have higher feasibility ratings with food pantry staff. Exploratory Aim) To identify whether no prep ready to meals (intervention) or ingredient bundles (control) lead to greater improvements in food security, perceived diet quality, and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Conditions

Diet, Healthy; Food Security

Keywords

Food security; Food pantry; Diet quality; Intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Hedonic Liking of Study Foods

  Liking of study foods will be measured by showing the name and picture of the meal or ingredient bundle and asking participants to respond to a hedonic 9-point bipolar scale (this scale does not have an official name or title, therefore, 9-point hedonic liking scale can be considered the unabbreviated scale name). The scale has four measures of liking (6-9) and four measures of dislike (1-4) and a neutral "neither like nor dislike" (5). A higher score = more liking of the food. The average of all hedonic liking ratings for each meal was taken to create a hedonic liking score across meals.

  14-days

• Satisfaction of Study Foods

  Satisfaction items were adapted from previously validated food pantry client satisfaction surveys (e.g., "How satisfied are you with the amount/variety/frequency of food that you and others in your household receive at this food pantry?") (Dunmire M. Level of satisfaction among food pantry clients, staff/volunteers, and directors and its association with client choice in food pantry layouts. South Dakota State University; 2019.). Response options were "Strongly agree" "Agree" "Disagree" and "Strongly disagree". The items were summed to create an Intervention Satisfaction variable with the lowest possible score of 4 if all responses were "Strongly disagree" and the highest possible score of 20 if all responses were "Strongly agree."

  14-days

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived Diet Quality

  14-days

Other Outcomes (1)

• Fruit and Vegetable Frequency

  14-days

Study Arms (3)

No prep ready-to-eat meals

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: No prep ready-to-eat meals

Ingredient bundles (e.g. meal kits)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Ingredient bundles (e.g. meal kits)

Pantry Staff Group

NO INTERVENTION

They participate in qualitative interviews only. No demographic or other identifiable information from them. They do not receive an intervention. No Intervention Group.

Interventions

No prep ready-to-eat meals BEHAVIORAL

Pantry clients will select no prep ready-to-eat meals for up to 14-days' worth of meals for themselves and 2-members of their household using an online food selection platform. The food retailer supplying the meals produces over 70 meals. We have elected to study 14-days of meals to offer clients variety and determine which flavors are most desirable to clients. After ordering, meals will be retrieved from a refrigeration unit, boxed by pantry staff, and brought to the participant to take home. An example dinner is "Teriyaki Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli", and an example breakfast is "Omelet with Peppers and Zucchini". Meals can be stored in a refrigerator or freezer and eaten immediately or after reheating depending on the meal and consumer preference.

No prep ready-to-eat meals

Ingredient bundles (e.g. meal kits) BEHAVIORAL

Ingredient bundles will group individual meal ingredients (e.g., chicken, teriyaki, broccoli, potatoes) in a bag or box and pair those healthy food items with a recipe that instructs the client on how to make a healthier meal. Similar to the no prep ready-to-eat meal initiative, clients will select ingredient bundles for themselves and 2-members of their household using the food pantry online food selection platform. The ingredient bundles will closely replicate the no prep ready-to-eat meals.

Ingredient bundles (e.g. meal kits)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• years of age or older;
• ability to read, write, and speak English or Spanish;
• ability to provide informed consent;
• current or new pantry user at our community partner;
• willing to participate;
• no dietary restrictions, allergies, or sensitivities that would put the participant at-risk of harm from consuming study foods.

You may not qualify if:

• Under 18 years of age;
• inability to read, write, and speak English or Spanish;
• unable to provide informed consent;
• not a pantry user at our community partner or uninterested in becoming a pantry user;
• not wanting to participate;
• dietary restrictions, allergies, or sensitivities that would put the participant at-risk of harm from consuming study foods.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Crossroads Community Services

Dallas, Texas, 75236, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Hollis-Hansen K, Haskins C, Turcios J, Bowen ME, Leonard T, Lee M, Albin J, Wadkins-Chambers B, Thompson C, Hall T, Pruitt SL. A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing nutritious meal kits and no-prep meals to improve food security and diet quality among food pantry clients. BMC Public Health. 2023 Dec 1;23(1):2389. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17355-3.

  PMID: 38041070 RESULT

• Hollis-Hansen K, Haskins C, Turcios J, Bowen ME, Leonard T, Lee M, Albin J, Chambers BW, Thompson C, Hall T, Pruitt SL. A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing nutritious meal kits and no-prep meals to improve food security and diet quality among food pantry clients. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2023 Oct 6:rs.3.rs-3029813. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3029813/v1.

  PMID: 37886450 DERIVED

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen
• Organization: UT Southwestern Medical Center

kelseanna.hollis-hansen@utsouthwestern.edu

214-645-7676

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Model Details: Randomized repeated measures between-subjects design

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 20, 2022
• First Posted: October 25, 2022
• Study Start: February 12, 2023
• Primary Completion: April 26, 2023
• Study Completion: April 26, 2023
• Last Updated: March 11, 2025
• Results First Posted: March 11, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: Deidentified data will be available in January 2024 and will be submitted as supplemental files along with manuscript submissions to PubMed, meaning the data will be available so long as PubMed hosts supplementary data files.

Locations

US (1)