Project overview

Kitchen in a Box builds smart kitchens for schools, helping children receive nutritious school meals. Kitchen in a Box aims to promote access to safe infrastructure to prepare and deliver school meals and create better learning environments for children.

The Challenge

In El Salvador, 80 percent of schools do not have a canteen or lunch room, and only 14 percent have a temporary space assigned for the preparation of school meals. This accounts for more than 700 schools and 154,000 students nationwide. Furthermore, school meals are often prepared using makeshift wood-burning stoves, which pose a substantial risk of contamination, foodborne diseases and malnutrition to children, adolescents and the cooking staff. Current conditions do not allow schools or the government to optimize their school meal programmes to contribute to the physical well-being and learning capacity of students.

School garden
WFP El Salvador

 

The Solution

Kitchen in a Box builds smart kitchens for schools with a holistic approach. It offers durable and low-cost infrastructure, equips kitchens with context-specific technology and storage, and builds capacity in the community for safe and hygienic food preparation and nutrition.

Additionally, it integrates planet-friendly components such as renewable energy and school gardens. The school garden produces food for school meals, serves as a learning space to promote local food production and uses drip irrigation systems to save water.

Kitchen in a Box aims to promote access to safe infrastructure for the preparation and delivery of nutritious school meals, contributing to a better learning environment for children.

With the technical support of WFP Engineering, Kitchen in a Box transforms recycled containers into kitchens and equips them with all the necessary materials for cooking and storing food to offer school meals. 

 

“Now we have griddles, but electric ones. The food cooking time will be much faster because of the pressure cookers. The cooks have a different way of cooking food that won’t take as long anymore. The school garden will diversify the children's nutrition by providing them with different vegetables.”

Magdalena Lemus, Directora del Centro Escolar Altavista
Impact

WFP, alongside the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology from El Salvador, has re-invigorated the school feeding programme with Kitchen in a Box by rolling out in seven schools, reaching 4,184 students. Kitchen in a Box ensures food is prepared in better conditions. The team also provided training for the school community to ensure the food is safer and more nutritious.

Two children smiling to camera with their meal provided by Kitchen-In-A-Box.
WFP El Salvador

 

“KIAB allows for school feeding with an environmentally friendly approach and adaptation to climate change in El Salvador’s Dry Corridor, where every drop of water is important.”
Riaz Lodhi, WFP El Salvador Country Director
What's next for Kitchen in a Box?

Kitchen in a Box can potentially impact over 700 schools at the national level by providing secure and sustainable infrastructure, enabling schools to deliver nutritious meals and an appropriate learning environment.

Last updated: 20/04/2026