The taste of ‘the end of the month’, and how to avoid it: coping with restrained food budgets in a Scandinavian welfare state context

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Based on a mixed methods approach, this article describes the prevalence of differentlevels of food budget restraints in a sample of 1,650 Danish households, and exploresdifferent types of coping strategies to deal with such restraints. Strategies concernedcooking, eating and buying food. A deeper knowledge of coping strategies was obtainedby analysing qualitative data from interviews with thirty families who have experiencedfood budget restraints. Results revealed that more than 40 per cent reported some levelof restraint on their food budget, while about 20 per cent experienced more substantialfood budget restraints or food insecurity. Single parent households were at significantlygreater risk of experiencing restraint than others. An investigation of coping strategiesshowed that some strategies, for example, using leftovers and cooking seasonal products,were common across all levels of budget restraint, while strategies affecting social lifeand taste preferences negatively were mostly applied when restraint was more severe.The qualitative analysis explored how the various strategies involved the potential forboth positive and negative experiences for the individual, depending on the wider contextsurrounding the need to reduce household food budgets. Results from this study maybe important for developing adequate measures to influence food purchases and eatingpractices in specific groups in situations of widespread economic turbulence in welfaresocieties.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftSocial Policy and Society
Vol/bind14
Udgave nummer3
Sider (fra-til)429-442
Antal sider14
ISSN1474-7464
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2015

ID: 131697081