Table 2.

Changes in food environment identified by focus group participants in Laurel County, Kentucky, April 2021.

Modifications of Community Food and Nutrition Resources
Loss of Pre-Existing Nutrition and Health Education Resources	“I did go to classes at the Extension office, but since COVID, they haven’t had those and we used to have them come in our church once a month, and they would do a class on healthy eating and give out prizes and stuff like that.”
	“But they [Laurel Co. Public Library] don’t have such activities yet resumed, because of the pandemic but usually they offer all these courses.”
New or Expanded Emergency Food Assistance	“Well, I know that there are a lot of churches and organizations that are offering like the food boxes.”
	“I know that they set up like at North Laurel High School one day, and it was just, you know, you drive through and get a box.”
Expansion and Utilization of Online Food Ordering
Grocery and Supermarket	“But even, like, grocery delivery from Walmart and Kroger and that kind of thing, you know, people who probably would never have used online grocery ordering and delivery are now using that.”
	“I try to do our grocery orders as part of a pickup so that if I’m in, you know, if I do go to the store, I’m not in there for very long, and honestly, I think it’s something that I’m going to continue to do after, you know, things hopefully get back to whatever the new normal looks like. Because it’s just, you know, more convenient and time saving measure and honestly, I think you spend less too, because you know exactly what you want to get and you put that in there, and you don’t get tempted by you know the displays or anything like that.”
DoorDash/Food Delivery	“I do think there’s a lot more utilizing like online purchasing and DoorDash like pre coronavirus there wasn’t DoorDash in Laurel County, and now there is so that’s different.”
	“We’ve never had any delivery, like the except like pizza, but nothing like even our little, I mean, about all of our mom-and-pop places now even has DoorDash you can have your desserts delivered or wherever you need them now instead.”
Curbside Pick-Up	“I do the curbside because the drive thru is wrapped around. But my [phone] app didn’t work so, I had to get back in that line and go through the drive thru and wait 20 min to get to the door.”
	“Well, for me, it’s pickup. I still live far enough that nobody’s dashing to my door or anything like that.”
Implications of the Home Food Environment
Spending More Time at Home	“I think people were trying to eat more at home.”
	“Kind of for us, you know, really the pandemic has kind of helped with that a little bit because we were so busy before. That we were doing a lot of eating out and not a lot of thinking about, you know, meals at home and planning that. And so, I think that’s one of the positives that’s come out of the pandemic for our family is, you know, being eating at home more, and making better choices, because we’re not doing the fast food and eating out because we’ve got five sporting events this week or whatever.”
Produce Gardening	“I think that was something from the pandemic that a lot of people had gardens last year that hadn’t had gardens in the past, or you know, so I think that’s something else that comes from it there came from it that was positive.”
	“This year we started a garden. There was a program through one of the schools and they gave kids seeds and Jiffy Pellets to put the seeds in. I mean it was so much easier than I thought.”