Fighting Food Insecurity at the Holidays: The Panther Pantry Introduces a Holiday Cookbook and Meal Kits

The cookbook offers 30 recipes using ingredients found in the Panther Pantry and the meal kits contain everything pantry-goers need for Thanksgiving except the turkey.

Walk by Earle Hall on Adelphi's Garden City campus and you'll see colorful letters across the ground-level windows spelling out "Welcome to the Panther Pantry." It's the home of the University's student-led organization that provides members of the Adelphi community experiencing food insecurity with ingredients and toiletry items, free of charge.

Erica Gibson, a third-year senior psychology major with a double minor in ethics, law, and justice and criminal justice, is the volunteer coordinator of the Panther Pantry. She says items like peanut butter, pasta and sauce are popular with Pantry patrons, but she wanted to encourage people to incorporate healthy ingredients like the fresh vegetables offered.

With the holiday season around the corner, Gibson and team have put together their first-ever digital cookbook. Titled Sweet Pea's Cookbook, it contains 30 community-crafted recipes. Now Pantry guests can not only pick up pasta but also get ideas for how to create a tasty and healthier dish with vegetables on the side and spices from the Panther Pantry's selection. "We want the Pantry to be available for those that need a quick bite and for those that want to create a full meal," Gibson said, adding, "The Panther Pantry is at its best when we can help people."

The cookbooks were initially sold for $5 at a recent fall fundraiser to help raise funds for the Pantry but is now available for free in their office on the lower level of Earle Hall. As of now, the cookbook is accessible with a QR code that's posted in the Pantry, and it's planned to be added to MyAULife in the near future as well.

"We want to improve our Pantry with variety, making bigger and better cookbooks, things of that nature, with the end goal eventually being both a digital and physical cookbook," Gibson said. "With the wonderful support of our community, I think it's something that would be possible sooner rather than later."

The cover of the cookbook features a panther, but this isn't Paws; it's Sweet Pea. "She is our main mascot," said Gibson. And her cover companion is her brother, a bear named Griffin who "entered the family last year when I thought Sweet Pea looked a little lonely in the Pantry. Same as Sweet Pea, a variety of names were suggested by our volunteers and we all voted." They are featured on the cover, she said, "because they tie the volunteers together as a community."

Healthy for the Holidays

The cookbook also offers recipes for a mini Thanksgiving meal of mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, carrots and an optional choice of meat as well as a no-meat Thanksgiving meal and recipes for apple crisp, oatmeal pumpkin pie, apple oatmeal pie, apple cranberry oatmeal pie and crunchy stuffing.

And to make Thanksgiving even easier for patrons, the Pantry is offering another first: Thanksgiving meal kits, which contain all the ingredients needed for a full Thanksgiving meal, including turkey stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, carrots, green beans, pumpkin and apple pie fillings, and a graham cracker pie crust.

Due to anticipated demand, those interested can fill out an application for a kit until November 22 at 11:59 p.m.

Powered by Panthers

The efforts of volunteers are what help the Pantry to help as many students as possible, especially during the holiday season, and Gibson's community-building background led her to take on her volunteer coordinator role. She became a part of the Panther Pantry after joining Adelphi's award-winning First-Year Community Action Program, in which first-year students weed community gardens, work at the VA hospital and otherwise perform community service before starting their first semester at Adelphi. She met dedicated individuals on campus who believed in giving back, including the Pantry student staff. She's since sought out other philanthropy and leadership opportunities at Adelphi, such as being the president of the Resident Student Association, becoming a Prestigious Panther and serving on the Women's Leadership Conference Steering Committee since Fall 2023.

The Panther Pantry is active year-round and welcomes student volunteers, especially those who can work during times such as Thanksgiving break, finals week and winter break. It will be open during its regular hours Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and will start their seasonal hours on Wednesday and Friday from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.