Make It Fresh,for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children

Objective

To evaluate the effects of a supermarket meal bundling and electronic reminder intervention on food choices of families with children.

Design

Quasi-experimental (meal bundling) and randomized, controlled trial (electronic reminders).

Setting

Large supermarket in Maine during 40-week baseline and 16-week intervention periods in 2015–2016.

Participants

English-speaking adults living with at least 1 child aged ≤18 years (n?=?300) with 25% of households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Intervention(s)

(1) Four bundles of ingredients needed to make 8 low-cost healthful meals were promoted in the store through displays and point-of-purchase messaging for 4 weeks each; (2) weekly electronic messages based on principles from behavioral psychology were sent to study participants reminding them to look for meal bundles in the store.

Main Outcome Measures

(1) Difference in storewide sales and individual purchases of bundled items (measured using supermarket loyalty card data) from baseline to intervention in intervention vs control groups.

Analysis

Regressions controlling for total food spending and accounting for repeated measures.

Results

There were no differences in spending on bundled items resulting from the meal bundling intervention or the electronic reminders.

Conclusions and Implications

Overall, there was little impact of healthful meal bundles and electronic reminders on storewide sales or purchases of promoted items in a large supermarket.