Coping with budget restraint in a Scandinavian welfare state: how shopping, cooking, storing and eating practices change across different socioeconomic segments

TY - ABST

T1 - Coping with budget restraint in a Scandinavian welfare state

T2 - International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

AU - Nielsen, Annemette Ljungdalh

AU - Holm, Lotte

AU - Lund, Thomas Bøker

PY - 2015/6/3

Y1 - 2015/6/3

N2 - The purpose of this study was to investigate how different types of households react to experiences of food budget restraint in Denmark. The study applied a mixed method design, based on survey data and on qualitative interviews. The qualitative data source consisted of interviews with 30 individuals from Danish households with different socio-economic characteristics, who had carried through changes in their everyday food handling practices due to economic restraint. The quantitative data consists of a survey among 1650 members of a household consumer panel provided by the market research institute GfK ConsumerTracking Scandinavia. Using both data sources the study explored how shopping, storing, cooking and eating practices changed as a consequence of experienced restraints on the food budget. The quantitative results revealed how differences in terms of application of various types of strategies are related to different levels of food budget restrictions. Strategies applied to storing and cooking food in more efficient manners were widely practiced across all groups. Strategies which affected eating experiences, such as compromising the tastiness of food and giving up social ties involved in eating, first seemed to appear when food budget restriction increased. The qualitative study revealed important factors that link strategies to either positive or negative experiences. Interviewees who made a positive experiences out of cooking with more filling ingredients, reducing eating out, and using left overs, expressed some kind of extra resources in comparison to the interviewees with negative experiences in the shape of e.g. more secure life circumstances, cooking skills, and a supporting social network. The qualitative study also indicated that certain similar coping strategies such as eating seasonal fruits and vegetables, storing and using leftovers, and cooking from filling ingredients could result in either a higher or a lower intake of fruits and vegetables in adults and children. The study concludes that food budget restraint and the consequences of it are relevant to discuss even in a Scandinavian welfare state context and that certain ‘tipping points’ ought to be observed between the possibility for positive or negative consequences of food budget cuts in Danish households.

AB - The purpose of this study was to investigate how different types of households react to experiences of food budget restraint in Denmark. The study applied a mixed method design, based on survey data and on qualitative interviews. The qualitative data source consisted of interviews with 30 individuals from Danish households with different socio-economic characteristics, who had carried through changes in their everyday food handling practices due to economic restraint. The quantitative data consists of a survey among 1650 members of a household consumer panel provided by the market research institute GfK ConsumerTracking Scandinavia. Using both data sources the study explored how shopping, storing, cooking and eating practices changed as a consequence of experienced restraints on the food budget. The quantitative results revealed how differences in terms of application of various types of strategies are related to different levels of food budget restrictions. Strategies applied to storing and cooking food in more efficient manners were widely practiced across all groups. Strategies which affected eating experiences, such as compromising the tastiness of food and giving up social ties involved in eating, first seemed to appear when food budget restriction increased. The qualitative study revealed important factors that link strategies to either positive or negative experiences. Interviewees who made a positive experiences out of cooking with more filling ingredients, reducing eating out, and using left overs, expressed some kind of extra resources in comparison to the interviewees with negative experiences in the shape of e.g. more secure life circumstances, cooking skills, and a supporting social network. The qualitative study also indicated that certain similar coping strategies such as eating seasonal fruits and vegetables, storing and using leftovers, and cooking from filling ingredients could result in either a higher or a lower intake of fruits and vegetables in adults and children. The study concludes that food budget restraint and the consequences of it are relevant to discuss even in a Scandinavian welfare state context and that certain ‘tipping points’ ought to be observed between the possibility for positive or negative consequences of food budget cuts in Danish households.

M3 - Conference abstract in proceedings

SP - 80

BT - Advancing Behavior Change Science

Y2 - 3 June 2015 through 6 June 2015

ER -