Vittles on a budget - 52% of primary household food preparers are on strict food budget, US Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

American Demographics, Jan, 1998 by Matthew Klein

Freezer departments full of high-ticket frozen dinners and coolers of designer beers may suggest otherwise, but most Americans consider themselves budget hawks when they hit supermarket aisles. Fifty-two percent of primary food preparers say they run their household on a strict food budget, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

Pinching pennies at the market is driven largely by necessity. Three-fourths of households that have a strict budget have annual incomes of less than $40,000, and nearly three-fourths have three or more people living in them. Two-thirds of those with a strict food budget have less than a college education.

Restrictions on food spending frequently translate into worries about proper nutrition, especially for households in lower income brackets. Forty-eight percent of cooks on strict food budgets in households making less than $20,000 frequently worry about whether their meals are nourishing. The percentage is nearly the same for households with an annual income between $20,000 and $39,000, at 47 percent, and 34 percent for households with incomes of $40,000.

Just because a family is on a strict food budget does not mean that it takes advantage of every cost-cutting technique. Twenty percent of people on a budget make complete shopping lists, compared with 32 percent of those not on a budget. And 10 percent of shoppers watching their expenses almost always use coupons, compared with 14 per cent of more liberal spenders. This may be due to the fact that these and other cost-saving measures could actually increase the tab for a family that shops primarily for staple foods, by spurring purchases of items they otherwise wouldn't buy.

For more information, see Family Economics and Nutrition Review (Vol. 10, No. 2); telephone (202) 606-4816.