As of 2021, more than 44,000 people in Lubbock county are food insecure, which is about 14% of the population, according to Feeding America.
Food insecurity can be defined as a lack of reliable access to enough affordable, safe, and healthful food for a healthy life.
“If you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, or how you’re going to get your next meal– that is basically food insecurity,” said Dr. Modhurmia Dey Amin, an associate professor with Texas Tech University’s Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics.
Statewide nonprofit Feeding Texas reported that 13% of Texas households are food insecure, affecting nearly 4 million people. Many do not have the funds to consistently feed their household, others struggle getting to grocery stores, and some don’t feel they can seek federal aid, be it due to social stigma, immigration status, or just not knowing how.
While Lubbock county is in line with national averages of insecurity, Dr. Carlos Carpio, another Agriculture and Applied Economics professor, said as of 2016, the city’s food landscape tells a different story.
Lubbock has more fast-food restaurants per 1000 people than the national average, but fewer full-service restaurants, he explained.
Lubbock has 0.88 restaurants per 1000 people and the national average is 0.58.
“So it seems that people here in Lubbock like to eat out more, or spend more out, and also are spending more on fast-food restaurants,” Carpio said.
People in Lubbock spend more on both fast-food and full-service restaurants than the national average.
Struggles with food access look different depending on the part of the city in which a person lives.
A food desert is an area lacking grocery stores or other places to buy food, while a food swamp is an area in which there is available food, but the options are unhealthy. The city of Lubbock, Amin said, is a food swamp.
For those living outside of city limits, it may feel more like a desert. And parts of the city such as the east and northeast, do not have the same access to grocery stores as other areas like the south.
Along with location and transportation, another major factor in food access is income.
Carpio explained that the lower a person’s income is, the higher the percentage of that income they spend on food. Those in the lowest 20% of income in the United States spend about 30% of their income on food. Those in the highest 20%, spend just 6% of their income on food.
Money is just one element of “cost” when it comes to food, the other is time.
The problem of time can be two-fold, according to Amin– fresh produce is perishable, meaning less time to use it. And home-cooked meals take more time to prepare than fast-food and frozen dinners.
Fast-food options are also more calorie-dense and provide energy quickly, something Amin said is valuable to those short on time.
People working multiple jobs likely do not have time at the end of the day to cook a meal, Amin said. And preparing meals can take even longer if one does not have the skills.
Lubbock has several groups providing access and guidance for people hoping to build out their skillset, including local nonprofit Growing Together Texas.
The organization is dedicated to supporting gardeners, growers, and cooks in the community. It focuses largely on education and access.
Growing Together Texas has a contract with Lubbock Independent School District to support six schools, including Priority Intervention Academy.
Jessica Tullar Caroom, executive director of Growing Together Texas and a board member of the South Plains Food Bank, said school gardens are valuable in getting kids excited about fresh food and in teaching youth leadership.
South Plains Food Bank offers similar programs to teach and provide fresh produce, Caroom said.
Growing Together Texas works with three community gardens across the city: Roots Community Garden, Guadalupe Community Garden, and Heart of Lubbock Community Garden.
All of the gardens are free to harvest and open to anyone during operating hours.
Another Growing Together Texas program is LBK Grown, an online farmer’s market which operates as a subscription box.
When it first began, the 20 available produce boxes sold out in 36 hours and Caroom has had 150 people sign up online. She is working on adding more shares to increase the number of people the program reaches.
LBK Grown also accounts for those who may need guidance. Every box comes with recipe cards explaining how to cook the produce items, be it a specialty item, like spaghetti squash, or something more common, like carrots.
Another program helping to equip Lubbockites with the skills for nutritional success is the free cooking class offered by Sustainable Food Center, or SFC.
Sustainable Food Center is a nonprofit in central and west Texas which seeks to create a food system that is healthy for people and the environment.
La Cocina Alegre, or The Happy Kitchen, is a free cooking class that focuses on accessibility, explained SFC’s West Texas program manager, Sarah Castro.
The recipes taught in the class can be made to feed a family for less than $2.24.
Those who have gone through the program as students can also complete training to be instructors and earn money teaching the classes.
Programs like The Happy Kitchen and those offered by Growing Together Texas help to reach a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to food insecurity– those who do not qualify for federal programs, but still have a hard time getting food on the table.
In Lubbock county, 68% of those experiencing food insecurity qualify for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to Feeding America.
Sustainable Food Center offers programs to take further advantage of government programs like SNAP, and the WIC program for women who are or were recently pregnant, infants, and children under 5.
The Double Up Food Bucks program matches up to $30 in purchases of SNAP eligible items like meat and bread, for vouchers for fruits and vegetables at local farmers’ markets.
The WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program provides vouchers for WIC members to buy fresh produce at local markets.
Those who have SNAP and a United Supermarket rewards card can also get $5 toward fresh produce for every $5 they spend on produce. The program is offered at the location on Parkway Drive in Lubbock as well as in Brownfield.
Despite having fewer grocery stores and more fast-food joints than the national average, Dr. Caprio said compared to other metropolitan areas, food in Lubbock is more affordable. However, that does not change the fact that some people are geographically removed from places that sell nutritious food.
Dr. Amin said about 5-6% of stores in Lubbock have healthful food options, which is below the state and national averages.
To Castro, that makes it even more important for people to seek out farmer’s markets, community gardens, and programs like LBK Grown.
Resources
- South Plains Food Bank: Food Assistance Application
- Texas Tech University: Raider Red's Food Pantry
- Your Texas Benefits: Qualifying for SNAP or WIC
- Sustainable Food Center: Double Up Food Bucks and WIC Vouchers
- United Supermarkets: How to earn Double Up Food Bucks
- LBK Grown: Subscriptions
- Roots Community Garden: Facebook Page
- Heart of Lubbock Community Garden: Facebook Page
- Farmers’ Markets: