Influencing nutritional habits of college students using a food pantry

Objective: Food insecurity in college students is associated with poor eating habits. The purpose of this project was to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in college students using a campus food pantry. Participants: Twenty-nine college students completed the study. Methods: Participants viewed weekly food preparation videos demonstrating cost-effective recipes containing fruits and vegetables and a key take-away message. Participants were provided a recipe and food to cook at home based on the Cooking Matters Food Pantry Toolkit. A 24-h dietary recall was collected pre- and postintervention using the Automated Self-Administered 24-H Dietary Assessment. This descriptive comparative study used repeated measure ANOVA. Results: Females (n = 19) increased their fruit and vegetable consumption by 1.3 cups daily (p < .05) while males (n = 10) decreased fruit and vegetable consumption at the postintervention measurement. Conclusion: Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables in female college students using the food pantry was a modifiable behavior in this study.