Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T21:13:00.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Taste of ‘the End of the Month’, and How to Avoid It: Coping with Restrained Food Budgets in a Scandinavian Welfare State Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2015

Annemette Nielsen ,
Thomas Bøker Lund  and
Lotte Holm
Annemette Nielsen
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen E-mail: anmn@ifro.ku.dk
Thomas Bøker Lund
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen E-mail: tblu@ifro.ku.dk
Lotte Holm
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen E-mail: loho@ifro.ku.dk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Based on a mixed methods approach, this article describes the prevalence of different levels of food budget restraints in a sample of 1,650 Danish households, and explores different types of coping strategies to deal with such restraints. Strategies concerned cooking, eating and buying food. A deeper knowledge of coping strategies was obtained by analysing qualitative data from interviews with thirty families who have experienced food budget restraints. Results revealed that more than 40 per cent reported some level of restraint on their food budget, while about 20 per cent experienced more substantial food budget restraints or food insecurity. Single parent households were at significantly greater risk of experiencing restraint than others. An investigation of coping strategies showed that some strategies, for example, using leftovers and cooking seasonal products, were common across all levels of budget restraint, while strategies affecting social life and taste preferences negatively were mostly applied when restraint was more severe. The qualitative analysis explored how the various strategies involved the potential for both positive and negative experiences for the individual, depending on the wider context surrounding the need to reduce household food budgets. Results from this study may be important for developing adequate measures to influence food purchases and eating practices in specific groups in situations of widespread economic turbulence in welfare societies.

Keywords

Food budget restraintfood insecuritycopingmixed methodsScandinavian welfare societies
Type
Themed Section on Hunger, Food and Social Policy in Austerity
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 429 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bickel, G., Nord, M., Price, P., Hamilton, W. and Cook, J. (2000) Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000, Alexandria, VA: Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service.Google Scholar
CASA and Socialpolitisk Forening (2013) Social Årsrapport – Ulighed [Social Annual Report – Inequality], Copenhagen: Socialpolitisk Forening.Google Scholar
Creswell, J. W. and Plano Clark, V. L. (2011) ‘Choosing a mixed methods design’, in Creswell, J. W. and Clark, V. L. Plano, Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 53–106.Google Scholar
Darmon, N. and Drewnowski, A. (2008) ‘Does social class predict diet quality?’, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87, 5, 1107–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dowler, E. (1997) ‘Budgeting for food on a low income in the UK: the case of lone-parent families’, Food Policy, 22, 5, 405–17.Google Scholar
Dowler, E. (2008) ‘Poverty, food and nutrition’, in Strelitz, J. and Lister, R. (eds.), Why Money Matters: Family Income, Poverty and Children's Lives, London: Save the Children, pp. 34–43.Google Scholar
Folkman, S., Lazarus, R. S., Dunkel-Schetter, C., DeLongis, A. and Gruen, R. J. (1986) ‘Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 5, 992–1003.Google Scholar
Hamelin, A.-M., Beaudry, M. and Habicht, J.-P. (2002) ‘Characterization of household food insecurity in Québec: food and feelings’, Social Science and Medicine, 54, 1, 119–32.Google Scholar
Hansen, E. J. (2010) ‘Træk af fattigdomsforskningens og fattigdommens nyere historie i Danmark’ [Features of poverty research and the recent history of poverty in Denmark], Samfundsøkonomen, 2010, 5, 4–8.Google Scholar
Harsløf, I. and Ulmestig, R. (2013) ‘Introduction’, in Harsløf, I. and Ulmestig, R. (eds.), Changing Social Risks and Social Policy: Responses in the Nordic Welfare States, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Headey, D., Malaiyandi, S. and Fan, S. (2010) ‘Navigating the perfect storm: reflections on the food, energy, and financial crises’, Agricultural Economics, 41, s1, 217–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, N. (2004) ‘Using templates in the thematic analysis of text’, in Cassell, C. and Symon, G. (eds.), Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Lang, T. (2005) ‘Food control or food democracy? Re-engaging nutrition with society and the Environment’, Public Health Nutrition, 8, 6A, 730–7.Google Scholar
Nord, M., Coleman-Jensen, A., Andrews, M. and Carlson, S. (2010) Measuring Food Security in the United States, Household Food Insecurity in the United States, 2009, Economic Research Report 108, Washington: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Nordic Social-Statistical Committee (NOSOSCO) (2004) Single Parents in the Nordic Countries, Copenhagen: NOSOSCO.Google Scholar
OECD (2009) What Are Equivalence Scales?, Paris: OECD, http://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/OECD-Note-EquivalenceScales.pdf [accessed 17.11.2014].Google Scholar
Oldewage-Theron, W. H., Dicks, E. G. and Napier, C. E. (2006) ‘Poverty, household food insecurity and nutrition: coping strategies in an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa’, Public Health, 120, 9, 795–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, P. J. (2011) Immigration and Welfare State Cash Benefits – The Danish Case, Study Paper No. 33, Sølvgade: Rockwool Foundation Research Unit and University Press of Southern Denmark.Google Scholar
Radimer, K. (2002) ‘Measurement of household food security in the USA and other industrialized Countries’, Public Health Nutrition, 5, 6A, 859–64.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1982) Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Statistics Denmark (2014) ‘Mange har pengeproblemer’ [Many people have financial problems], News from Statistics Denmark, no. 431, 26 August, www.dst.dk/nytudg/18713.Google Scholar
Sørensen, H. (2009) Hvordan forstås fattigdom i Velfærds Danmark? [How is poverty perceived in welfare state Denmark?], Copenhagen: CASA.Google Scholar