SNAP Meal Kits: A New Hope in the Fight Against Obesity

Abstract

This thesis is a first exploration of the viability of a large-scale policy intervention build around meal kits. In particular, this thesis attempts to answers the question of whether making meal kits accessible to SNAP benefit receiving families in underprivileged, urban areas, has the potential to improve diet quality and reduce obesity. It does this by investigating the hurdles time, availability and taste pose for those pursuing a healthier diet and examining how meal kits could contribute to alleviating some of them. This thesis finds that meal kits are well suited due to their ability to (a) provide a healthy diet according to USDA standards at significantly lower time cost when compared with the Thrifty Food Plan, (b) circumvent the limitations food deserts pose on the access to fresh produce and (c) influence taste preferences through building familiarity, cooking skills, and nutritional education. The thesis builds on these findings by outlining a possible intervention and proving its economic feasibility as well as nutritional adequacy. The thesis concludes by prosing further research in the form of an extensive pilot project in North Philadelphia that would provide the empirical evidence needed for a nationwide intervention.