Meal Box Program
Fresh Food Weekly was addressing chronic disease by using a free [to recipients] nutrition-based intervention program to deliver fresh food on a biweekly basis.
We raised funds to buy fresh and locally-sourced food, then packed this food into 'meal boxes' and then we delivered these meal boxes to the same recipients every other week. And for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, we raised extra funds so we could give one-time meal boxes to local low-income families.
Between June 2022 and January 2024, Fresh Food Weekly operated the Fresh Food Weekly 'Meal Box Program' at Countryside United Church in Thornton, Ont., located 15 minutes south of the City of Barrie. To briefly summarize what we did throughout this period; we raised funds to buy fresh and locally-sourced food at wholesale, then packed this food into meal boxes and delivered these meal boxes to the front doorsteps of the same low-income households in Barrie and Innisfil, every other Tuesday afternoon and evening (between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM).
We're experiencing a public health crisis.
Household food insecurity is an urgent and worsening public health problem. Canada’s economy and health care system is at the forefront of national concern as the number of Canadians experiencing food insecurity reaches an all-time high. By 2022, the percentage of Canadians living in food-insecure households had risen in every province. This means that 18.4% of Canadians - or 6.9 million people, including almost 1.8 million children (every one in four children under the age of 18), living in Canada struggled to access the food they needed. - PROOF When Canadians are approved for government-funded disability supports, or reach the age of 65, our government has already determined they’re not capable of financially supporting themselves because of their physical and/or mental limitations. Yet the financial supports they’re provided remain so inexcusably low, it’s causing our disabled and elderly citizens to experience unprecedented levels of hunger.
We addressed immediate needs.
Our biweekly meal box delivery program contributed to poverty reduction by providing access to fresh and nutritious food and by breaking down every single barrier preventing low-income families from getting enough fresh food into their homes. We treated food insecurity with on-going food access, and thus addressed the immediate and basic human needs of our program recipients. Regular, on-going fresh food deliveries stabilizes household food insecurity and thereby decreases the long-term strain on Canada’s health care system.
We care about the things that matter.
When people are provided with food options that reflect their dietary needs, it gives them a sense of dignity. It demonstrates that an importance has been placed on their physical and mental well-being and that that is something to be invested in. Furthermore, the privacy of having food delivered to them at home instead of outside in the elements, after waiting in long lineups, also provides dignity, making recipients feel more like human beings and less like animals.
We raised funds
We bought in Bulk
We packed Food
We Delivered It
We
Gathered
Funds
We
Sourced
in Bulk
We
Fulfilled
Orders
We
Delivered
to Doorsteps
The cost of food to feed 90 households biweekly was $5,400.00 every four weeks. The majority of our income came from donations, while a small portion came from fundraising.
During our region's harvest months, the local agriculture economy produces a myriad of vegetables - mostly root and leafy greens thanks to The Holland Marsh. Throughout the entire year, though, grain products such as breads and baked goods were often donated in high quantities as well. However, human beings need more than just root vegetables and leafy greens to survive. They need protein and iron too and if disadvantaged population groups have any chance at improving their mental health, they must have paper. End of story. Since Fresh Food Weekly purchased in bulk just like grocery stores, it was possible to get the same prices as grocery stores, or even "at cost" prices depending on the supplier. These cost-savings enabled us to buy quality products and premium brands while still getting a great deal.
Fresh Food Weekly was focused on delivering fresh food that arrived in the same shape it was purchased in. To help us do that, a couple local businesses stepped up and provided the heavy-duty delivery bags and cardboard bread boxes needed to keep food intact during the delivery process.
Fresh Food Weekly didn't offer its program recipients pickup and only offered free delivery, every other Tuesday evening between 4PM and 7PM. Fresh Food Weekly wasn't a food bank and didn’t store food. Instead, it was a food delivery service that operated in a similar way as Instacart. The only difference was, it was only for super low-income families. Fresh Food Weekly knows that for low-income families, accessing fresh and nutritious food was and continues to be just as much of a barrier to accessing nutritious food as the barrier of coming up with the funds to pay for the food itself. That's why we made sure to include this mandatory operations element in our foundation's governing trust document.
Funds raised over time
$176,868.76
Grand total of
raised.
Our recipients
When Fresh Food Weekly's on-going meal box program ended in January 2024, there were:
90
biweekly
families
=
206
program recipients
Our meal boxes
What went in our meal box meal kits?
"We provided our recipients with fresh, high-quality foods from local suppliers and food businesses."
Holiday Meal Boxes
Fresh Food Weekly also delivered special holiday meal boxes for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. These meal boxes included twice as much food as our regular, on-going meal boxes - and therefore cost twice as much, but they included many holiday-specific items that we decided were holiday "must-haves". We also opened up the holiday meal boxes to anyone who was low-income in Barrie and Innisfil (not just disabled or elderly low-income families). Please note, at Christmas time especially, food donations skyrocket.
Easter
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Recipient responsibilities
Food Order Forms
Each meal box was planned out in advance - but not too far out in advance because you can never count of food prices staying the same for long. Each month, all the meal boxes for that month were planned at the same time. There were usually just two delivery days each month but some months had three. For each meal box, recipients were required to fill out a food order form, as to reduce as much food waste as possible, as well as because of the variant choices offered. For example, there were many types of milk and bread variants offered, and recipients also always had the choice of not choosing to receive something if they didn’t like it as well. Additionally, we would sometimes offer recipients their choice of one out of two items. However, we only did this once with fruit because we knew that 90 per cent of recipients wanted both and it felt awful making them choose just one. We decided only to do this with some vegetables like brussels sprouts because we knew a large portion of recipients wouldn’t eat them; so we gave the option of brussels sprouts or broccoli. Programs that offer choices between items recipients are familiar with, as well as items they’re less likely to have been exposed to, will increase their likelihood of trying it. Food order form emails also included each form's deadline submission date, and any other program updates or information they needed to know. Upon submitting food order forms, recipients would receive an automated confirmation email with their delivery day details, which included the same delivery time frame of: “sometime between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM”. Recipients also received a reminder email the day before each delivery day with a more accurate estimated time of delivery, which would be a one-hour time frame. However, there was always a “please note” area explaining that their meal box delivery could be late due to things like traffic (especially in the summer on weekends), when volunteers have to work later than they expected or just don’t show up or have legitimate cancellations, or because of bad weather. In fact, Leah was literally in the middle of doing deliveries in Barrie when the EF2 Tornado hit in July 2021. She was driving northbound on HWY 400 and saw about 20 ambulances fly past her southbound moments after the radio's tornado warning issued said a tornado might be touching down nearby.
Receive Meal Box
People were only eligible for the meal box delivery program if they had a home. Not only did the majority of food items delivered require refrigeration and/or freezing, they also included all the ingredients needed to make a meal. Therefore, being on this program also required recipients to have cookware, cooking appliances and adequate food storage capabilities. Program recipients were also required to have someone home to receive their meal box, or they could arrange to have it delivered to a friend or family member instead, if they already knew in advance that they weren’t going to be home on a delivery day. The reason we required someone to be home to receive their meal box is because of the amount of refrigerated and frozen food that could have gone bad if it was left in the sun for too long on a hot summer day, or left at the door base inside an apartment building. Furthermore, meal boxes left unattended could get stolen, and Leah was adamant with recipients about not wasting perfectly good food when there were hundreds of other people waiting to be on the program, who were more than happy to make themselves, or someone in their household, or even someone they knew and trusted, available for one hour every other Tuesday evening to receive their fresh food meal box delivery. Some people have asked about making the process of filling out food order forms simpler by having some sort of food preferences profile, and eliminate the need to fill out biweekly food order forms altogether. However, we noticed a direct correlation between the date recipients submitted their biweekly food order forms and the recipients who didn’t receive a meal box because they weren’t home. The recipients who filled out their food order forms as soon as they were available never seemed to miss a delivery. The ones who were constantly forgetting to fill out their forms, were also constantly forgetting to answer their door when their driver knocked, or answer their phone when their driver called. We've learned that if recipients can’t be bothered to submit a food order form that takes less than two minutes to fill out, they’re unlikely to be bothered to remember to be home for one-hour every other Tuesday, even with the reminder sent the day before. What If Their Mental Health Caused A Receiving Problem? If, for whatever reason, a recipient wasn’t able to receive a meal box, i.e., they had a legitimate memory problem (this is a bad example but it’s an example nonetheless), and if they had parents in town, we would arrange to have their meal boxes delivered to their parents address instead. Of all the recipients on our program, we did this for two recipients. And for a third recipient, we dropped his meal box off to his referring agency since he wasn't good at receiving his meal box. He also didn’t have a cell phone or landline, and it was impossible to get ahold of him at all times. What About Missed Deliveries? Recipients could reach out to Leah no earlier than two hours after their one-hour estimated delivery time frame to inform her of their delivery not showing up. Of all the deliveries we did, only one was missed and it was delivered the next day by an Instacart. We decided to just buy the exact same items from the grocery store since we gave away all the extra food to other local charities the night before.
Cook Meals
We also noticed that many of our program recipients enjoyed cooking meal box meals and providing pictures of their final product. Many recipients would take pictures of their cooked meals and either post it directly to Leah’s Facebook wall, or text it to her for her to post because they wanted to remain anonymous. This shows that recipients were taking pride in their newly acquired knowledge and cooking skillset. Peer affirmation on social media appears to be an effective driver to creating healthy eating habits among program recipients.
Eat Fresh Food
The goal of the meal box delivery program was to ensure low-income families received fresh food, could cook it, and eat meals at home. Were There Many Complaints? Oh yes. But there were way more gratitudes and thank-you’s. The best part about the meal box program is the feeling you get when they see the look on someone’s face upon delivery; the look of pure relief.
Other operational activities
Our impact
Between June 2022 and January 2024, Fresh Food Weekly hosted 36 delivery days which resulted in the delivery of 2,867 fresh food meal boxes. Each meal box had an average value offering of $104.
In 2022, Fresh Food Weekly did monthly meal box deliveries.
In 2023, Fresh Food Weekly did biweekly meal box deliveries.
During these 19 months of delivering fresh food to low-income families for free, Fresh Food Weekly spent $93,282.07 on the food given.
This food was valued at $362,500.00.
Here's a breakdown of what we gave:
Milk
Milk & Cream: Cost & Value
Between June 2022 and January 2024, we spent $12,836 on milk and cream at wholesale, which saved us $4,075.00 because we're able to buy in bulk.
Milk & Cream: Litres Delivered
For Fresh Food Weekly, $13K = 8,000 litres of milk and cream.
Timeline to Deliver 8,000L
Butter Preferences
Butter: Cost & Value
For Fresh Food Weekly, $8,700 = 1,700 lbs of butter.
Butter: Pounds Delivered
Between June 2022 and January 2024, we spent $8,755 on butter at wholesale, which saved us $6,761 because we're able to buy in bulk.
How much cheese did Fresh Food Weekly deliver in its community?
"Between June 2022 and January 2024, we delivered +500,000 grams of cheese throughout our community, for free."
Cheese Variants Delivered
***Cheeses are in order of lowest calcium content [left] to highest calcium content [right].***
Timeline to Deliver 500,000g
It took a while to find additional cheese variants at wholesale, but when we finally found a good price, we started offering additional types of cheese in our product offerings.
Cheese Variant Preferences
When we finally did start offering these four cheese variants, Cheddar was by far the most popular option.
On-going produce donations
Timeline to Deliver +25,000 Eggs
Eggs are highly nutritional, easy to transport, easy to store and easy to deliver. They should always be included in every meal box delivery.
x 648 heads
x 432 heads
x 816 stalks
x 3,816 lbs
or
x 3,483 lbs
x 791 squashes
These are all the produce items Fresh Food Weekly received on an on-going and unlimited basis, throughout each item's growing season.
As you can see, we received an unlimited amount of carrots and onions year-round; so they were available throughout 100 percent of the year. However, we only offered these two items on a monthly basis. In the past, we had offered them more frequently and recipients found biweekly offering of carrots and onions to be too frequent.
Leafy greens were freely available for 25 percent of the year, and celery was available for an additional three weeks each year since it's growing season is slightly longer. Recipients enjoyed receiving romaine lettuce and their choice of either red or green leaf lettuce each delivery day though, throughout the summer months.
Although apples are available at a significantly reduced price year-round, they're only donated during their growing season throughout the fall.
And finally, squashes are usually only available for two months of the year. Although the shelf life of squashes is longer than that of lettuce, recipients enjoyed receiving squashes as frequently as possible. However, the squashes make deliveries particularly heavy. When we give carrots and onions, we give in two-pound quantities. Some squashes can weigh up to six pounds and offering even two squashes per household can become challenging for delivery drivers.
Fruit offered
Vegetables offered
Grains offered
Bread Loaf Variants
Program recipients were eventually given 12 bread loaf variants to choose from:
Fresh Bread
With the exception of the Ozery Family Bakery mini pitas, all of the fresh breads delivered to recipients of the Fresh Food Weekly program came from Fox's Bakery & Deli in downtown Barrie.
Furthermore, all of Fox's bakery breads were delivered on the same day they were baked because we wanted our recipients to receive the freshest food possible. If we're going to order bread anyways, why not just order it for the same day it gets delivered?
Fresh Food Weekly's rule of thumb has always been to purchase foods using the same budget as the average annual income for working residents in the city. Simply put, the foods we give are the exact same foods you'd give yourself, assuming you have an average income.
That being said, we know the average person doesn't only buy 'same-day baked bread'. However, it takes no extra effort or money to pickup bread in bulk on delivery days, so we might as well choose the fresher option because it's the more thoughtful thing to do.
Here's a list of all our freshly baked bread items, both the on-going variant offerings as well as the one-time specialty/seasonal offerings that were delivered in meal boxes:
Desserts offered
The majority of desserts Fresh Food Weekly offered were completely donated. We always made sure that program recipients were able to get some desserts included in all of the holiday meal boxes.
Meats offered
How much did Fresh Food Weekly spend on meats?
Total Cost: $23,472.18
Total Value: $69,274.70
45% of the total meat value represents the portion of meats paid for.
Beginning in January 2023, Fresh Food Weekly started receiving weekly donations of various frozen meats donated by Nick's No Frills. Shortly after, Goodness Me! Natural Food Market started donated frozen meats as well. One of the really great ways local grocery stores supported Fresh Food Weekly was by freezing their meats the day before the expiry date.
Non-perishables offered
Fresh Food Weekly offered various non-perishable items that either complimented the other items in the meal box, or were required for the specific recipe included in that delivery's meal box.
Fresh Food Weekly started including a six-pack of Costco toilet paper in monthly meal boxes right from the beginning.
In 2023 when we started doing biweekly deliveries, we continued to deliver toilet paper on a monthly basis.