The food choices of US university students during COVID-19

COVID-19 triggered widespread disruption in the lives of university students across the United States. We conducted 9 online focus groups with 30 students from a large public university to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the food choices of those displaced from their typical residences due to the pandemic. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative research to examine the changes in food choice for US university students due to COVID-19 and offer insight into why these changes occurred. Students in this study reported significant, and often negative, changes in food choices during the pandemic compared to when on campus. Many students described changes in the foods they ate, the amount consumed, and increased snacking behaviors. We found food availability and household roles to be powerful factors influencing food choices. Most students had returned to family homes with many students taking a passive role in activities that shape food choices. Parents usually purchased groceries and prepared meals with students eating foods made available to them. Increased free time contributed to boredom and snacking for some students, while for a few students with increased skills and/or agency, additional free time was used to plan and prepare meals. About a third of the students attributed eating different foods at home to food availability issues related to the pandemic such as groceries being out of stock, purchasing non-perishable foods, or the inability to get to a store. This information may be helpful to researchers and health promotion professionals interested in the effects of COVID-19 on student nutrition and related food behaviors, including those interested in the relationship between context and food choice.