FIELD NOTES: PEOPLE, PROGRAMS, & POLICIES:* Exploratory Evaluation of Home-Delivered Meal-kits within a Rural, Southern United States Community Food System

ABSTRACT This preliminary project evaluated home-delivered meal-kits and their relationship to a sustainable community food system. An exploratory evaluation/case study was conducted to understand how meal-kit messaging may reduce food loss and waste. Box contents and inner and outer packaging materials, including marketing messages, were evaluated based on the FAO’s food supply chain framework for community food systems. Home-delivered meal-kits may impact consumer behavior, decreasing food waste and loss. Studying the impact of meal-kit messaging on consumer behavior in rural and nonrural household may be a worthwhile avenue to decrease food and food packaging waste and loss in the United States.