Food Deserts and How Mobile Pantries Improve Food Access

Mobile food pantries help address food deserts by bringing free groceries directly to communities where transportation, distance, income, mobility, or limited grocery options make it difficult to access nutritious food. Instead of requiring neighbors to travel to a pantry or full-service grocery store, mobile pantries use trucks, volunteers, and local host sites to distribute food in convenient community locations.

Distilled to its essence, meeting the challenge of hunger and food insecurity in our communities is all about dismantling the barriers that prevent people from getting nutritious, nourishing food. By distributing food free of charge, food banks and food pantries help dismantle barriers related to factors like income, employment status, and economic status, but issues such as lack of transportation and proximity to hunger relief organizations still loom.

So, how do we dismantle barriers related to proximity and transportation? Studies have shown the effectiveness of bringing food directly to communities where a strong need has been identified via delivery operations known as mobile food pantries. Before we dive into how these programs can help, let’s take a longer look at how food insecurity, transportation, and geography are intertwined.

Key Takeaways

• Food deserts are commonly understood as areas where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food.
• USDA now often refers to these communities as low-income and low-access areas because food access depends on income, distance, transportation, vehicle availability, mobility, and nearby food retailers.
• Mobile food pantries bring food directly to convenient community locations such as parks, town halls, church parking lots, county fairgrounds, and older adult housing communities.
• Food Bank of the Rockies operates 70-plus mobile food pantry sites across Colorado and Wyoming.
• Those mobile pantries distribute more than 505,000 pounds of food each month on average, equal to approximately 408,000 meals.
• Mobile pantries can help neighbors access nutrient-rich and familiar foods closer to home.

What Are Food Deserts?

“Food desert” is a commonly used term for a community where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food, especially full-service grocery stores. USDA’s Economic Research Service now generally describes these areas as low-income and low-access areas because food access is shaped by several factors, including income, transportation, distance, vehicle availability, mobility, and the types of food retailers nearby.

Food insecurity can look very different depending on its setting. An older adult living in a low-income urban area may experience food insecurity acutely because there are no full-service grocery stores in their neighborhood, they don’t own a car, or they have mobility issues due to a chronic illness.

A young working couple with children living in a rural area might also experience food insecurity because the nearest grocery store to their community is more than 15 miles away, their vehicle is unreliable, and public transportation in their area is nonexistent.

These types of communities are often called food deserts. One USDA measure identifies low-income census tracts where at least 500 people or 33% of the population live more than one mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store in urban areas, or more than 10 miles away in rural areas.

In a 2009 report to Congress, the USDA shared a study indicating that a small but statistically significant percentage of Americans are constrained in their ability to access affordable nutritious food because they live far from a supermarket or large grocery store and do not have easy access to transportation. This study also identified that people living in food deserts spend significantly more time traveling to the grocery store than the national average.

The USDA has provided a helpful visual aid for showing food access challenges by mapping low-income and low-access areas on its Food Access Research Atlas. By viewing the map, you can see evidence of food access barriers in both urban and rural areas throughout Colorado.

Food Deserts, Low-Access Areas, and Food Insecurity

Food deserts and food insecurity are closely related, but they are not the same thing.

Food insecurity refers to limited or uncertain access to enough food for an active, healthy life. A food desert, or low-income and low-access area, describes a place where residents may have difficulty reaching affordable, nutritious food because of geography, transportation, income, or other barriers.

Distance is only part of the challenge. Food access can also be affected by:

• Income and food prices
• Vehicle availability
• Public transportation options
• Disability or mobility limitations
• Store hours
• Weather
• Work schedules
• Child care responsibilities
• Whether nearby stores carry nutrient-rich and familiar foods

For many neighbors, the issue is not just whether food technically exists nearby. It is whether that food is affordable, accessible, nourishing, culturally familiar, and practical to bring home and prepare.

Food Access Barriers in Colorado and Wyoming

Across Colorado and Wyoming, food access challenges can look different from one community to another.

In urban neighborhoods, barriers may include limited nearby grocery options, high food prices, lack of vehicle access, mobility limitations, or difficulty carrying groceries long distances.

In rural and mountain communities, neighbors may need to travel many miles to reach a full-service grocery store. Weather, fuel costs, limited public transportation, and work schedules can make that trip even harder.

Mobile pantries help address these different barriers by bringing food directly to community locations where need has been identified.

How Mobile Food Pantries Work

At Food Bank of the Rockies, our mobile food pantries begin with a delivery truck, which is loaded with a variety of nutritious food items at one of our central food bank distribution centers. That truck is then driven to specific locations within communities in need, usually large and conveniently accessible public meeting spaces.

These could be public parks, church parking lots, town halls, county fairgrounds, older adult housing communities — anywhere with enough space for the truck to park and people to congregate.

The process generally works like this:

1. Food is packed or staged at a distribution center. Trucks are loaded with a variety of groceries, which may include produce, meat, dairy, bread, and shelf-stable ingredients.
2. The truck travels to a community site. Mobile pantries are hosted at accessible locations such as parks, church parking lots, town halls, county fairgrounds, or older adult housing communities.
3. Volunteers set up the distribution. Food may be pre-packed in boxes or arranged in a farmers-market style format where neighbors can select items.
4. Neighbors receive food close to home. The process is designed to reduce transportation barriers and make pickup as quick and convenient as possible.
5. People can find upcoming distributions online. Food Bank of the Rockies lists mobile pantry locations, hours, addresses, and other relevant details in its Find Food Pantry Locator.

Volunteers will then set up temporary distribution areas where community members can pick up food, with the process designed to be as quick and convenient for visitors as possible. Mobile food pantries usually feature cardboard boxes that have been pre-packed for convenience, featuring a mixture of fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, and ingredients for easy-to-prepare meals.

Some mobile food pantries will also feature those aforementioned items displayed in a style similar to a farmers’ market, allowing community members to select items a la carte to suit their own needs. Other mobile pantries will also offer personal care or child care items like diapers, toiletries, and first aid supplies.

Volunteers will also be available to aid community members who require assistance with physically strenuous tasks like loading food items into vehicles.

Why Nutrient-Rich and Familiar Foods Matter

Improving food access is not only about providing enough calories. It also means helping neighbors access foods that support their health, fit their culture, and work for their household’s cooking equipment, storage space, schedule, and dietary needs.

Mobile pantries may include fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, grains, shelf-stable staples, and ingredients for easy-to-prepare meals. Some distributions also offer personal-care or child-care items such as diapers, toiletries, and first-aid supplies.

When possible, offering choice can help neighbors select foods they know how to prepare, foods their families enjoy, and foods that align with medical, cultural, or religious needs.

This is why mobile pantries can be especially valuable in communities where nearby food options are limited, expensive, or not aligned with what neighbors need or are familiar with.

Fixed Food Pantries vs. Mobile Food Pantries

Both models are important. Fixed food pantries offer dependable, ongoing access points for neighbors, while mobile pantries can reach communities where distance, transportation, mobility, or geography make it harder to visit a traditional pantry.

Do Mobile Food Pantries Work?

While mobile food pantries are a relatively new phenomenon, early studies are showing promising signs about the effectiveness of these programs in meeting the challenge of food insecurity.

A recent study by Columbia University College of Physicians found that a mobile food pantry program similar to those operated by Food Bank of the Rockies was associated with reduced food insecurity in families with young children.

This study also found that mobile food pantries had a measurable impact on these children’s health by reducing childhood obesity risk factors.

While each community’s needs are different, the study supports what many hunger-relief organizations see in practice: bringing food closer to where people live, work, or receive services can reduce barriers for households that struggle with transportation, distance, or scheduling.

At Food Bank of the Rockies, we’ve seen similar results firsthand.

Mobile Pantries by the Numbers

At our 70-plus mobile food pantry sites across Colorado and Wyoming, we distribute more than 505,000 pounds of food every month on average. This translates to an average of approximately 408,000 meals delivered to community members every month, helping put nutritious food on the tables of everyone from children to older adults.

Food Bank of the Rockies’ mobile pantry program includes:

• 70-plus mobile food pantry sites across Colorado and Wyoming
• More than 505,000 pounds of food distributed each month on average
• Approximately 408,000 meals delivered to community members each month
• Distributions serving children, families, older adults, and neighbors in both urban and rural communities

Source: Food Bank of the Rockies mobile pantry program data. Meal equivalents should be calculated using the organization’s current approved pounds-to-meals methodology.

How to Find a Mobile Pantry Near You

Food Bank of the Rockies makes it easy for people experiencing food insecurity to connect with mobile pantry deliveries in their area by utilizing the Find Food Pantry Locator on our website.

Mobile pantry listings on the Pantry Locator contain up-to-date information about a mobile pantry’s address, hours of operation, and other relevant information.

If you or someone you know needs food assistance, use the Find Food Pantry Locator to search by location and find nearby food resources, including mobile pantries and Hunger Relief Partners.

Frequently Asked Questions About Food Deserts and Mobile Pantries