This study assessed the potential use of mobile phone data as a proxy for food security and poverty indicators in an East African country. Mobile phone data extracted from airtime credit purchases and activity was compared to a nationwide household survey conducted by the UN World Food Programme at the same time period. Results showed high correlations between airtime credit purchases and survey responses about consumption of several food items commonly purchased in markets. Models based on anonymised mobile phone data were also able to accurately estimate multidimensional poverty indicators. This preliminary research suggested proxies derived from mobile phone data could provide valuable real-time information to fill data gaps between surveys and where timely data is not accessible.