The Evolution of Good Food at Home: Expanding Access, Choice, and Impact
We launched Good Food at Home in 2020 with one goal: to provide fruits and vegetables to families in need of good food. In the U.S., more than 47 million people — including 13 million children — live in food-insecure households, lacking consistent access to enough food to support an active, healthy life.
Through Good Food at Home, we’re making it easier for families to get the fruits and vegetables they want and need. In just 5 years, the program has evolved from a small pilot to a national initiative that’s helped over 4,000 families across 40+ cities get access to over 22 million servings of produce.
Starting Small, Learning Fast
Good Food at Home started in 2020 as a COVID-19 relief effort that was designed to help the growing number of families experiencing food insecurity. Our first pilot was in Denver, Colorado with 4,000 families. For 14 weeks, participants received a produce box filled with fresh fruits and vegetables.
The pilot was a huge success — and inspired work in Rochester, New York and Aurora, Colorado, reaching a similar number of people.
From there, PHA rapidly expanded the program. Over the course of 2021, the program reached 25 cities and an estimated 92,000 people. We verified and validated the health-building effects of the program, which were published in the CDC Journal Preventing Chronic Disease. That research showed that families wanted more flexibility, so in 2022, we worked with Instacart to test an online version of the program, where families received $50 of Instacart Health Fresh Funds to buy fresh fruits and vegetables from local grocers and get them delivered at home.
Our next evaluation confirmed what we heard from families: 80% of participants preferred receiving produce credits over produce boxes because of the added convenience and flexibility.
Expanding Reach, Measuring Impact
Armed with this insight, we brought the produce credit model to 4 new cities in 2023: Washington, DC; Englewood, NJ; Denver, CO; Milwaukee, WI. This time around, we raised the monthly benefit from $50 to $60, and the results were very validating: ~85% of participants said the program helped their families build a healthy habit of eating more produce.
In 2024, we took that even further by expanding the program to 3 more cities: New Orleans, LA; Wichita, KS; and Chicago, IL. Our results showed one key thing: families loved buying fresh produce, but they also wanted the option to buy frozen food that would last longer.
In response, we expanded the list of eligible items to include frozen produce as well as fresh. We tested the impact of these changes in Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD, and received positive feedback from participants.
I want to thank you on behalf of my grandmother, Mattie Andrews, for the monthly benefits. She was able to purchase fresh, as well as frozen fruits and vegetables to add to her daily meals. As she is on a fixed income, these items can be very expensive to purchase, so this has been a tremendous help to her.
-Good Food at Home Participant in Chicago
What’s Next: A Bigger, Bolder Vision
This summer, Good Food at Home is entering its next chapter. Starting this month, canned fruits and vegetables have been added to the list of eligible items, providing even more choice and flexibility for families.
In response to participants’ feedback, we’re also extending the program for this next iteration from 3 months to 8 months to better understand how sustained access to produce can shape long-term habits. We’ll be testing this longer timeframe with 925 families in Washington, DC, with our partner DC Hunger Solutions; Detroit, MI, with our partner Focus: Hope; and Sacramento, CA, with our partner the Health Education Council.
A Model That Grows With Families
Over the past five years, Good Food at Home, which is part of our larger Good Food Cities work, has proven that when communities have a voice in program design, real change is possible. The program has been shaped by the voices of participants, and that feedback continues to guide our evolution.