A city program that was providing free groceries to senior citizens during the pandemic has switched over to frozen food, raising questions about whether a less appetizing menu might force some vulnerable New Yorkers to go shopping in the middle of the pandemic. 

What You Need To Know

  • City used to deliver groceries to low income homebound seniors, but switched to prepared meals this past summer

  • Recipients say the prepared meals are hard to eat because they taste bad and expire quickly

  • As a result, seniors are leaving their hikes to buy their groceries
  • At the same time city is telling people over 65 to stay home as much as possible to avoid contracting COVID-19

“A lot of the containers are already opened. The plastic on the containers cracks really easy," said Richard Campbell, a senior who receives meals.


Campbell has limited mobility and spent much of this pandemic at home where he received food assistance. But the type of food he is getting lately is not all that desirable.

“The frozen food goes bad fast. And people can’t eat it that fast. The dates on it expire really quick," he said.

Over the summer, the city switched from providing two weeks worth of groceries to low income homebound seniors, and switched instead to frozen prepared meals.

Met Council is the charity organization which had the city contract until October. It was providing 4,000 meals per week.

“Yeah, the problem is quite frankly, these are frozen airline meals. The food has deteriorated significantly. And if the whole purpose is that we are telling seniors to stay at home, we need the food that they want. And the food that they want is groceries so they can cook based on their own dietary and religious and cultural preferences,” said David Greenfield Met Council CEO.

According to Greenfield, seniors are more likely now to leave their homes to get the food they need. And that conflicts with the city’s stay-at-home guidelines for seniors issued December 1.

“That means stopping nonessential activities, staying in as much as possible," NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said earlier this month.

“We do offer a meal delivery program that we're very proud of and which receives a lot of positive feedback. It has served tens of millions of meals to seniors since late March," saud Joshua Goodman, a spokesman for the city's emergency food program in a statement. 

Critics say the city is only saving about 20% on each meal, which costs about $35.

“The city did this to save a few bucks. But the impact is that they are now exposing seniors to Covid because you are forcing them to leave the home to get groceries that they were getting delivered directly to their door through Met Council and their affiliates," said Greenfield.

According to a source familiar with the city’s food distribution program, they switched to prepared meals after the federal agency FEMA ordered them to use the lowest bidder. FEMA reimburses the city for the program. And the Met Council continues to receive hundreds of thousands pounds of produce from the city for its foodbanks.