How Urban Food Pantries are Stocked and Food Is Distributed: Food Pantry Manager Perspectives from Baltimore

ABSTRACT

Low-income, food-insecure Baltimore residents frequently rely on food pantries. In this study, pantry managers were key informants who shared information on how and why certain products were obtained and distributed and their perceptions around the need for nutritious products. Managers prioritized providing “staple” foods that could comprise a meal, and most of these foods were shelf-stable. Most pantries distributed pre-assembled, uniform bags, rather than using a client choice method. Managers did not perceive that their clients wanted healthy foods, despite clients informing them of diet-related health conditions. Manager-level training may be necessary to align pantry operations with clients’ food needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Food pantries
• food insecurity
• Baltimore
• nutrition

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute Small Grant and Bloomberg American Health Initiative Obesity and the Food System Seed Grant (Ox-SE-03-18010) for providing the funding for this project, and to the Maryland Food Bank for support in carrying out this project.

Declaration of Interest

No authors have any interests to disclose.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative [Ox-SE-03-18010];Johns Hopkins University Urban Health Initiative.