Changes in Home Food Inventories and Food Procurement Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: To examine how home food inventories and food procurement practices changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Cross sectional baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of a home food environment intervention. Telephone interviews were conducted from October 2020 to December 2022.

Setting: Four 2-1-1 United Way agencies in Georgia, U.S.

Participants: 2-1-1 clients (n=602); 80.6% identified as Black and 90.9% as women. Mean age was 42.8 (SD=11.80). The majority were food insecure (73.4%) and received SNAP benefits (65.8%).

Results: A majority of participants reported smaller inventories of fresh fruits and vegetables (65.1%) and unhealthy snacks (61.6%) in the home relative to before COVID-19. The majority (55.8%) also reported decreased shopping for fruits and vegetables, and decreased use of fast food for family meals (56.1%). Over half (56.2%) started to use a food pantry and 44.9% started ordering groceries online due to COVID-19. A COVID-19 stressors scale was significantly associated with decreased odds of a smaller fresh fruit and vegetable inventory [OR=0.61, CI 0.51, 0.73], and a smaller unhealthy snack inventory [OR=0.86, CI 0.74, 0.99]. COVID-19 stressors were also associated with changed food procurement practices including increased online grocery shopping [OR=1.19, CI 1.03, 1.37], and starting to use a food pantry [OR=1.31, CI 1.13, 1.51].

Conclusion: The pandemic had a significant impact on home food inventories and procurement practices. Understanding how major events such as pandemics affect home food environments may help to stave off negative nutritional outcomes from similar events in the future.