Food Pantries: Food and Nutrition Education in a Non-Traditional Setting

This article describes an informal approach to delivering nutrition education to a limited resource audience in a food pantry. Improving dietary quality by increasing vegetables and fruits, and safe food handling were the main focus of the education. Extension educators created simple and quick main dishes using foods only from the food pantry. Nutrition education materials focusing on food safety were distributed. Ability/flexibility to create a fast and easy main dish dependant upon foods available, developing trust and rapport with staff and clients, cultural appropriateness, and language barrier issues should be considered when delivering an Extension education program in food pantries.