Table 2.
Frequency distribution of Feeding America’s Foods to Encourage and Other Foods offered in 357 Arkansas food pantries, as reported by staff member responses to an online survey
| “Thinking back across the days you were open during the past 6 months, how often does your agency offer each of the following?” | Never (Approximately 0% of the time) | Rarely (Approximately 25% of the time) | Sometimes (Approximately 50% of the time) | Often (Approximately 75% of the time) | Always (Approximately 100% of the time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FOODS TO ENCOURAGE | |||||
| Fruits and Vegetables | |||||
| Fresh fruits | 17.1 | 33.9 | 18.0 | 16.2 | 14.7 |
| Fresh vegetables | 11.5 | 29.3 | 20.2 | 19.9 | 19.0 |
| Canned vegetables, low sodium (not including beans) | 4.8 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 22.9 | 33.7 |
| Canned fruits, low sugar/light syrup | 5.7 | 26.4 | 25.5 | 20.1 | 22.2 |
| Frozen fruits and/or vegetables | 32.0 | 32.0 | 19.6 | 10.0 | 6.3 |
| Grains | |||||
| 100% whole grain bread | 19.9 | 20.6 | 23.3 | 19.9 | 16.3 |
| Whole grain cereal | 8.3 | 27.2 | 28.8 | 20.5 | 15.3 |
| Oatmeal/rolled oats (not instant) | 24.7 | 32.9 | 23.8 | 10.7 | 7.9 |
| Wild/brown rice | 16.3 | 31.4 | 23.0 | 16.3 | 13.0 |
| Whole grain pasta | 16.5 | 31.7 | 25.3 | 17.7 | 8.8 |
| Proteins | |||||
| Peanut butter | 2.7 | 12.4 | 26.7 | 23.6 | 34.6 |
| Nuts/seeds with nothing added | 43.3 | 39.2 | 13.8 | 1.6 | 2.2 |
| Canned beans, low sodium | 12.7 | 27.5 | 29.0 | 18.1 | 12.7 |
| Dry beans/lentils | 9.8 | 16.9 | 20.9 | 23.3 | 29.1 |
| Meat/poultry/seafood without breading and not fried | 13.7 | 9.7 | 17.0 | 23.7 | 35.9 |
| Eggs | 47.4 | 27.1 | 10.6 | 8.2 | 6.7 |
| Dairy | |||||
| Low fat/1%/skim yogurt | 46.3 | 27.4 | 11.3 | 10.1 | 4.9 |
| Low fat/1%/skim milk | 35.8 | 27.2 | 11.3 | 15.3 | 10.4 |
| Unsweetened milk substitutes (soy or almond milks) | 54.2 | 26.7 | 9.7 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| Low fat/1%/skim cheese | 53.5 | 28.6 | 9.7 | 4.9 | 3.3 |
| OTHER FOODS | |||||
| Breaded or fried meat/poultry/seafood | 22.5 | 23.1 | 21.9 | 18.2 | 14.3 |
| Salty snacks (chips, pretzels, crackers, etc.) | 7.6 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 20.7 | 13.7 |
| Prepared desserts (snack cakes, donuts, pastries, etc.) | 8.4 | 21.1 | 23.8 | 25.6 | 21.1 |
| Candy | 26.4 | 42.3 | 21.0 | 7.6 | 2.7 |
Note: One staff member per food pantry responded to the online survey. Foods to Encourage refers to food categories included in Feeding America’s Detailed Foods to Encourage framework.20 Each number in the table refers to a row percentage (i.e., the number of food pantries represented in that table cell divided by the number of total food pantries represented in the row of the table, converted to a percentage). The denominators for percentages are based on the number of valid responses for each row. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.