Davis, Nakisha, Jill Gallin, Dawn Schuck, and Pamela Valera. 2009.

304 Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work
each month to have enough money to buy groceries. They discussed how they sought food
pantries and soup kitchens in their neighborhood to survive. As the participants engaged in
the process of documenting their lives, they discovered that their individual experiences of
food insecurity did not differ from each other, but how they managed the process of events
varied by the severity of their food insecurity.
The degree of food insecurity depended on their living conditions. Several women with
children who were living in shelters talked about the struggles of not having enough food
for their children. These women learned to cut back on food or relied on food pantries and
soup kitchens to provide consistent meals. For others, gaining access to healthy foods was
an ordeal, and healthy foods were often difficult to afford in their neighborhood. Overall,
the women reported that they had to make frequent changes in the quality and quantity of
their diets because of their limited food stamp budgets.
Access to good-quality affordable food was a related theme. The participants viewed the
high price of fresh fruits and vegetables as a constant roadblock to healthy lifestyles. For
example, several participants talked about the desire to buy fruits and vegetables
but reflected on the challenges of having to choose between other basic needs, as in the
following comments:
I want to buy healthy foods, but I got to pay the rent, pay the bills, and pay the baby-sitter. My
one job is not going to do that. How do I live? (African American woman with three teenage
children)
As women, we need sanitary napkins, soap, and deodorant. And we can’t afford to buy it if we
got to spend money on expensive foods like this. (Afro-Caribbean woman with one child)
The participants struggled with the ability to buy healthy foods to feed themselves and
their children. The awareness of the high cost of fruits and vegetables in their local
supermarkets surprised some participants. Referring to a photograph (see Figure 1), one
participant spoke about the high cost of tomatoes. She stated, ‘‘I was shocked, eight
tomatoes for $3.99—that’s outrageous for tomatoes.’’
Several participants felt frustrated by the limited options in their local supermarkets:
Bad. Angry sometimes? This stuff. I have to cook with it, just to get the nutrients stuff that
I need to better me. But, oh man! That’s a lot of money. I just look at [it] and leave it alone.
I need them, but I can’t buy them. (Afro-Caribbean woman with one child)
I have two small children that I am trying to feed properly. It’s easy to open up a can of ravioli
and give that to my kids. Is it healthy for them? Does it have all the vitamins and things to help
them develop? No, it does not. My daughter she’s a vegetable fanatic, thank God, but some
days I can’t buy her those strawberries because they’re $4.99. Before I had kids, I wasn’t one
of those who likes to eat strawberries; that wasn’t my thing. If I had a taste for strawberries,
I would get myself some strawberry preserves in a jar and get over myself. But, I don’t want
to give my children all of that processed artificial sugar. She wants to eat a carton of
strawberries, by all means eat them, but not at $4.99. ‘‘We can’t do it today, sweetie. Not
today.’’ (African American woman with two children)
The participants also stated that they must buy food that clearly does not have any
nutritional value. They noted that they ‘‘just want to be able to cook a decent meal for their
children.’’ Referring to a photograph (see Figure 2), another participant said, ‘‘I wanted to
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