Fraser Kylie, Love Penelope, Campbell Karen J, Spence Alison
Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Djilang Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia.
Health Promot Int. 2025 Jul 1;40(4). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaf105.
Cooking at home is a key recommendation to improve family nutrition. However, parents of young children face barriers to preparing healthy meals. Commercial meal kit subscription services (MKSSs) may support parents to overcome challenges and influence food literacy. This study explored how parents of young children (2-5 years) use MKSSs, examining how food literacy is supported and can be strengthened to promote healthy family meal provisioning. Twenty-five primary meal providers were recruited via social media (e.g. Facebook) for semi-structured interviews over phone or Zoom. Interviews were conducted with participants who had recently purchased meal kits from Australian MKSSs. Transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis followed by deductive mapping to a food literacy framework consisting of four domains (plan and manage, select, prepare, and eat). Three themes captured participants' meal kit use: (i) managing the complexities of feeding a family with young children, (ii) shifting the mental load, and (iii) broadening culinary horizons for all. Mapping of each theme to the four food literacy domains highlighted that meal kits primarily supported the 'plan and manage' and 'prepare' domains of family meal provisioning by alleviating pressures in the feeding of young children. The 'select' and 'eat' domains were less supported. These findings suggest while meal kits may support aspects of food literacy, further guidance on selecting nutritious meals, modifying recipes, involving children, and fostering mealtime practices could strengthen their impact on healthy family meal provisioning. Further research is needed to explore how meal kits could be leveraged to improve parental food literacy and family nutrition.
在家做饭是改善家庭营养的一项关键建议。然而，幼儿的父母在准备健康餐食时面临诸多障碍。商业餐食配送服务套餐订阅服务（MKSSs）或许能帮助父母克服这些挑战，并影响食物素养。本研究探讨了幼儿（2至5岁）的父母如何使用MKSSs，考察了食物素养是如何得到支持以及如何能够得到强化以促进健康的家庭餐食供应。通过社交媒体（如脸书）招募了25位主要餐食供应商，通过电话或Zoom进行半结构化访谈。对那些最近从澳大利亚MKSSs购买过餐食配送服务套餐的参与者进行了访谈。使用归纳主题分析法对访谈记录进行分析，随后将其演绎映射到一个由四个领域（计划与管理、选择、准备和饮食）组成的食物素养框架中。三个主题概括了参与者对餐食配送服务套餐的使用情况：（i）应对喂养幼儿家庭的复杂性，（ii）减轻心理负担，以及（iii）拓宽所有人的烹饪视野。将每个主题映射到四个食物素养领域表明，餐食配送服务套餐主要通过减轻喂养幼儿的压力来支持家庭餐食供应的“计划与管理”和“准备”领域。“选择”和“饮食”领域得到的支持较少。这些发现表明，虽然餐食配送服务套餐可能会支持食物素养的某些方面，但在选择营养膳食、修改食谱、让孩子参与以及培养用餐习惯方面提供进一步指导，可能会增强它们对健康家庭餐食供应的影响。需要进一步研究来探索如何利用餐食配送服务套餐来提高父母的食物素养和家庭营养。
