North Valley Food Bank Fills a Need with Ready-to-Eat Meals
Food bank staff are producing nutrient-dense meals for customers who lack kitchen access as the region’s homeless population and food insecurity continues to grow
By Maggie Dresser
In response to a growth in homelessness across the Flathead Valley, North Valley Food Bank (NVFB) is preparing ready-to-eat meals with locally sourced produce for customers who do not have kitchen access, according to a news release.
The food bank has historically sourced “sorted rescue food” from local grocery stores, which usually entails high quality food that does not meet aesthetic retail standards or is close to expiring.
NVFB Culinary Arts Manager Rachael Broom and a team of volunteers began experimenting with rescue food items last year to develop the new ready-to-eat packages and now distribute more than 1,000 meals monthly. Made with fresh food from local farms and ranches, rescue food, and the Montana Food Bank Network, the meals are easily reheated.
“We are using produce from so many of our local farms [including] carrots, spinach, kohlrabi and more,” Broom said in the release. “We are trying to be super creative and use all parts of the vegetables. For our pop-up eatery in September, we pickled a bunch of brassica stems for our sandwiches and roasted corn hair as a soup topping.”
Meals are nutrient-dense and utilize regularly stocked items in the food bank’s free grocery store like rice and beans. Other meals include potato soup, beet burgers and banana pancakes.
“These are comfort meals like shepherd’s pie, breakfast casserole, and hearty soup packed with fresh herbs and local produce,” Broom said.
The to-go food packages are meeting the demand of a growing volume of homeless individuals and families who are increasingly living in campers, cars, motels and other quarters where they do not have kitchen access.
According to the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) survey count, the Flathead Valley has the highest volume of chronically homeless children in the state, prompting NVFB to collaborate with local nonprofits to funnel meals directly to the youth.
For example, the food bank has shared ready-to-eat frozen meals with the HEARTProgram, a local organization that connects homeless children and youth to resources like food, clothing, toiletries and other community services. Meals are shared at the HEART Locker’s family open hours and stocked in the youth drop-in center freezer. NVFB staff also provides cooking classes for teens.
“Whether our neighbor needs a single meal for dinner, they’re shopping at the food bank for the week or signing up for a cooking class, these meals are an answer to the issue of food insecurity for our neighbors living in all kinds of situations,” Broom said. “I am excited about our plans to offer more nutrition education, holiday specific meals, and pay-what-you-can pop-up eateries in the near future. We love to build our programming in response to the needs of our community.”
North Valley Food Bank is located at 251 Flathead Avenue in Whitefish.