One Less Meal to Worry About: Reflections on the Food Toolkit Project
For many households, food insecurity means more than not having enough food. It can mean trying to plan meals around unpredictable ingredients, stretching groceries between pay periods, and feeding children with limited options. It means making difficult choices when food, rent, gas, and other costs all compete for the same income.
The Food Toolkit Project was one small effort to make something a little easier. We wanted to make existing food supports more practical and dignified for people's day-to-day lives.
Project Beginnings
Inspired by a pilot project in New Brunswick, Dr. Katie Oxford brought the Food Toolkit Project to Newfoundland and Labrador. As a medical student, Katie helped launch the project in St. John's in partnership with the Bridges to Hope Food Aid Centre in 2019. It provided hundreds of meals to community members until its end in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Katie wasn't ready to let the project go. In late 2023, she reached out to us to explore how we could restart the initiative.
Relaunching the Project in 2025
In 2025, Food First NL supported a team to relaunch the project. The McSheffrey Resource Centre Food Bank was our partnering food program. The Wellness Coalition-Avalon East provided funding. And Memorial University medical students played a major role as volunteers. Their time and support helped make the project possible.
The first year of the project ran from April to December, 2025. During that time, the McSheffrey Resource Centre Food Bank distributed 330 Food Toolkits to its clients.
How the Toolkits Worked
Each Toolkit included a simple recipe and pre-portioned ingredients for a complete meal. Student volunteers planned and assembled each Toolkit. They chose recipes using common food bank staples, like canned and dry goods. Volunteers combined these food bank staples with other ingredients purchased using project funds. For example, we provided protein, cheese, fresh vegetables, and spices as needed.
Example Recipes
Toolkit recipes included:
chilli
grilled cheese and tomato soup
black bean and corn quesadillas
chicken and vegetable stir fry
creamy chicken and rice soup
ground chicken pasta
shepherd's pie
This approach offered clients ideas about how to combine common food bank items for a meal. Food programs work hard to make the most of the food they receive. However, because donations vary from week to week, the items in a food hamper don’t always fit together easily. The Food Toolkits gave clients one less meal to plan. It also helped reduce food waste by using items that might otherwise go unused at the food bank or in homes.
The McSheffrey Resource Centre distributed the Toolkits alongside their regular food hampers.
Project Outcomes
The project recognized that while broader income-based solutions are needed, food supports can still be designed to reduce some of the stress of meal planning, make available foods easier to use, and support dignity in small but meaningful ways.
More Than Ingredients
For households already juggling the stress of rent, bills, groceries, and rising living costs, the Food Toolkit offered something simple but meaningful: one less meal to plan from scratch.
Clients told us the Toolkits took some of the pressure out of mealtimes. They described the Toolkits as convenient, easy to use, and helpful for meal prep. Several said the Toolkits were an important "extra" that helped stretch food further between pay periods.
Notably, the Project's impacts extended beyond the extra ingredients and food. People said they looked forward to receiving the Toolkits. They told us they enjoyed making the meals and sharing them with their families. The Toolkits offered a positive, low-stress experience with food and cooking. An experience where food could be a source of joy and connection.
While it is helpful to know how much food a program distributed, it only tells part of the story. As we heard during our Rethinking Food Charity consultations, the value of food support goes beyond the food itself. We also need to consider how a program reduces stress, supports dignity, and creates connections.
Getting Children Involved
“I look forward to my Food Toolkit. My kids love to help me follow the recipe.”
Some people also said that their children enjoyed helping with the recipes. Although we didn't expect this outcome, it's become one of its most meaningful impacts. The Toolkits created opportunities for children to connect with their families through food. They helped cook, tried new meals, and spent time together.
Learning About Food Insecurity Through Practice
The Toolkit Project gave volunteer medical students a chance to see food insecurity in a different light.
Volunteers helped plan recipes, estimate costs, shop for ingredients, and assemble the Toolkits. They could see, firsthand, how difficult it can be to prepare nutritious meals on a limited budget. And even more so when cost, availability, and household needs limit and shape food choices.
Food insecurity is a social determinant of health, meaning it directly impacts people's health and well-being. Through the project, medical student volunteers got to see this in practice: how food access, income, household size, and community supports shape daily life.
This hands-on learning can shape how students care for their future patients. Doctors who understand food insecurity as a systems issue are more aware of the broader conditions that shape health and well-being. This better prepares them to respond to food-insecure patients with empathy and humility.
What We’re Taking Forward
The Food Toolkit Project showed that small changes to food supports can make a meaningful difference. The Project helped reduce meal planning stress by pairing ingredients with recipes. It helped reduce food waste by using common surplus food bank items. It modelled one practical way to make food support programs more useful and respectful for the people who access them.
At the same time, the Project also reinforced a larger truth: food charity cannot solve food insecurity. Neither can food literacy programs or volunteer projects. We need long-term solutions that act on income, housing, and affordability. We need effective policies that enable people to access the food they need with dignity.
Next Steps
The Project's future depends on funding, partnerships, and volunteer capacity.
During its operation, partners and participants shared valuable feedback to strengthen the Project. The team also learned a lot about what works. For example, we want to offer different Toolkit sizes, school lunch and snack options, and culturally diverse recipes. We also want to strengthen volunteer coordination and create a student leadership structure.
Any potential partners or funders interested in getting involved can contact Madison Hynes, our Rethinking Food Charity Program Assistant, at madison@foodfirstnl.ca.
In the meantime, we continue to advocate for income-based solutions that address the root cause of food insecurity: inadequate incomes. Our vision of a province where everyone can eat with joy and dignity is possible. But only if we advocate and demand action together.
Published: July 27, 2026
Photo credit: David Trinks on Unsplash