Meal delivery kit

Brought to you by: Pathways Thunder Bay

“…it alleviated that stress of feeding ourselves a little bit and receiving that food, it ultimately felt really good. It felt like we were connected to something and that we were supported, and not left out of different things. And I liked that we can share that same feeling with many, many other students.” 

A Pathways student
Lady 2 Receiving Groceries

Program Activity Snapshot:

To provide meals for youth living in areas with limited access to groceries: 

  • A Youth Council was formed to create a meal delivery kit program  
    • Youth chose the recipes, created recipe cards, and purchased the local ingredients needed  
    • Youth created a delivery system where students could request the delivery of fresh fruits, meats, vegetables, and grains directly to their home every two weeks  
  • Youth participated in online cooking demonstrations together twice a week over Zoom 
  • Youth created a virtual follow-up reporting and engagement model to get feedback from the students who received the kits  

Objectives:

  1. Promote youth understanding of how a healthy diet can increase their success in school 
  2. Increase youth access to healthy food  

What was the result?

  • Participants reported a high increased understanding of how forms of systemic violence can affect healthy eating 
  • Youth gained leadership skills, a sense of purpose and meaning, and reported the desire to learn more about healthy lifestyle habits  

Want to try this out?

What you’ll need:

  1. Staffing Support: One Program Facilitator   
  2. Duration: Bi-weekly over the course of a school year  
  3. Teaching Aids:    
    • YouTube   
    • Zoom  
    • Access to social media 

What you’ll do:

  1. Recruit a youth council  
  2. Engage the youth council in creating a delivery system where students can request the delivery of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains directly to their homes every two weeks 
  3. Provide healthy recipes and nutritional guides with links to online resources for students to learn more about the benefits of eating healthy  
  4. Organize bi-weekly online cooking demonstrations over Zoom, featuring youth chefs that can also mentor students about healthy eating habits 
  5. Organize in-person feasts to introduce students to new recipes, familiarize them with the Canadian Food Guide, and provide them with the opportunity to try cultural dishes