Food Coping Strategies Used by Food Pantry Clients at Different Levels of Household Food Security Status

Patterns of Food Coping Strategies Among Food Pantry Clients

“…Several coping strategies in this pattern were practiced more frequently by households experiencing child hunger, such as eating the same foods over and over and serving small portions at a time to children. 6 Interviews of women in upstate New York who experienced hunger in their households perceived "going hungry" as eating the same thing all week long, serving smaller and smaller portions each day, and skipping meals. 25 One key factor pattern of external coping strategies was obtaining money for food by selling or pawning personal items (Table 5).…”

“…5 In this study, there was no significant difference in household food security status by disability of client respondents. 6 Other issues influencing the impact of disability on the household were not studied, such as other household members' activities and household employment patterns that contribute to food or money for food.…”

“…24,26 It is possible that families in the present study were choosing to get charitable food from the food pantry rather than charitable food as meals, because 64% of respondents reported never receiving a meal at a free meal site. 6 Also, pantry food represents food that can be prepared and served at home, thus preserving some autonomy, unlike a situation with receiving charitable meals.…”

“…A conceptual framework of coping strategies, the Food Resource Management Model, 9 was developed from the literature and preliminary data from a 9-county Washington State study of food pantry clients. 10 Survey questions were formulated to reflect this model.…”

“…2 Use of both the food pantry and TANF by food insufficient households may occur for several reasons: (1) some households participating in TANF may be food insecure and seek additional help from the private sector 3,4; (2) in Washington State, TANF leavers are not necessarily self-sufficient financially and have reported using food pantries 5 ; and (3) food pantries may limit service to TANF participants only. 6 Thus, it is expected that food pantry clients as a group would have experience with TANF and the Food Stamp Program. There is no published research that examines how participation in these federal programs-which provide cash assistance that can be used for getting more food-interrelates with other household food strategies clients use to cope with food insecurity.…”