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Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels

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Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels CONSUMER PURCHASES STUDY Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels Five Regions Farm Series Miscellaneous Publication No. 405 U. S. Department of Agriculture In cooperation with the Work Projects Administration CONSUMER PURCHASES STUDY Farm Series Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels Five Regions By Hazel K. Stiebeling, senior food economist Day Monroe, principal economist Callie M. Coons, formerly senior economist Esther F. Phipard, associate food economist Faith Clark, junior economist Family Economics Division, Bureau of Home Economics MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION NO. 405 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE The Bureau of Home Economics in cooperation with the Work Projects Administration 1941 For sale b y the Superintendent of Documents , Washington, D. C. - - Price 35 cents FOREWORD This volume presents information on the food of farm families at different income levels in the 66 counties surveyed by the Bureau of Home Economics as part of the consumer purchases study. Another report deals with the food of village and city families, and other publications present facts on family income, patterns of family con- sumption as a whole, and expenditures for other major budget cate- gories, such as clothing, automobile, and medical care (see p. 377). The study of consumer purchases was undertaken to provide com- prehensive data on the income and consumption of American families. It was conducted by the Bureau of Home Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, with the cooperation of the National Resources Planning Board, the Work Projects Administra- tion, and the Central Statistical Board. Plans for the study were formulated by the National Resources Planning Board and the two operating bureaus, with the advice of the two other cooperating agen- cies. The project was financed by the Work Projects Administration. The study was administered under the guidance of a steering committee composed of Stuart A. Rice, chairman, representing the Work Projects Administration (now with the Central Statistical Board); Louise Stanley, Bureau of Home Economics; Isador Lubin, Bureau of Labor Statistics; Gardiner C. Means, National Resources Planning Board; and Morris A. Copeland, Central Statistical Board. Details of administration were formulated and procedures were coor- dinated by a technical subcommittee on which each of the five agencies had representation. Membership was as follows: Hildegarde Knee- land, National Resources Planning Board, chairman; Day Monroe, Bureau of Home Economics; Faith M. Williams, Bureau of Labor Statistics; Milton Forster, Work Projects Administration; and Sam- uel J. Dennis and W. M. Hoad, Central Statistical Board. Various other Government agencies, in particular the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, furnished helpful advice. The assistance of Clarence Purves and Nathan Koffsky deserves special mention in regard to plans for obtaining and tabulating information on farm income. The following members of the staff of the Economics Division of the Bureau of Home Economics collaborated with the authors in the preparation of this report: Dorothy S. Brady, Thelma Porter, Sadye Adelson, Kathryn Cronister, Margaret Perry, Karl Benson, Don Heiser, Marie Waite, Gertrude York Christy, and Margery Gray. Acknowledgment is made of the excellent work of the field super- visory staff during the period of field collection. Much credit for the reliability of the data is due to the editing staff and the conscientious field agents who obtained the schedules, as well as to the families that cooperated in providing the information requested. Acknowledgment is made also of the help given by State and district officials of the Work Projects Administration, by representatives of the State colleges and universities and of the extension service in agriculture and home eco- nomics, and by the local organizations and officials of the communities in which the survey was conducted. LOUISE STANLEY, Chief. n CONTENTS Page Page Introduction___________________________________ Iv SECTION 2. Food of white farm operators' SECTION 1. Summary: families-Continued. Food of white farm operators' 1 Nutritive value of diets-Continued. Food of white sharecroppers' families in the Nutritive value in relation to money value of Southeast------------- -------------------- 4 food-Continued. Food of Negro farm families in the Southeast- 5 Thiamin (vitamin Bi) -------------------- 72 SECTION 2. Food of white farm operators' Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)________________ 76 families: Riboflavin--. ________________ 78 Money value of food in a 12-month period: Classification of diets by grade ------------- 82 Money value of food in the Pennsylvania- Grade of diet in relation to money value of Ohio farm section_______________________ 7 food ------------------------------------ 83 Money value of food in relation to income Grade of diet in relation to family type and and family type ---------------------- 7 income---------- ------------ 86 Variations in money value of food within SECTION 3. Food of white sharecroppers' fami- family type-income cells______________ 15 lies in the Southeast------------------------ 91 Relationships between money value of Money value of food of white sharecroppers' farm-furnished food and food expendi- families- ------------------------ 91 tures 15 Dietary patterns of white sharecroppers' fami- Money value of food in other farm sections-- 18 lies as shown by 7-day schedules ------------ 92 Expenditures for purchased food---------- 19 Nutritive value of diets ofwhite sharecroppers' Income in relation to expenditures for families: food---------------------------------- 19 Nutritive value as related to money value of Family type in relation to expenditures food-------------------------------------- 94 for food------------------------------ 21 Classification of diets by grade______________ 96 Expenditures for food away from home-- 22 SECTION 4. Food of Negro farm families in the Board at school ----------------------- 22 Southeast: Other food away from home ---------- 23 Money value of food of Negro farm operators' Money value of home-produced food ------ 23 and sharecroppers' families_________________ 97 Income in relation to the money value of Dietary patterns of Negro farm families as home-produced food__________________ 26 shown by7-day schedules__________________ 98 Family type in relation to the money Nutritive value of diets of Negro farm families: value of home-produced food--------- 27 Nutritive value as related to money value of Money value of food received as gift or pay- 27 food------------------------------------- 100 Money value of all food: Classification of diets by grade______________ 106 Income in relation to the money value of Appendixes: food- - 28 Appendix A. Table titles and legends for Family type in relation to the money figures------------------------------------- 108 value offood -------------------------- 29 Appendix B. Tables ------------------------- 115 Dietary patterns as shown by 7-day schedules- 31 Appendix C. Methodology: Proportion of the money value of food repre- Procedures used in collection and tabulation senting major food classes_________________ 31 of the data ----------------------------- 347 Quantities consumed of important food Communities included in the study------ 347 groups------------ --- 32 Population groups included in the farm Seasonal trends in the consumption of sample, and collection procedures------ 348 major food groups______________________ 34 Data from the consumption sample (ex- Consumption of major food groups as re- penditure schedules): lated to income and family type -------- 35 Representative character of the con- Interregional comparison of quantities con- sumption sample --------------------- 351 sumed of major food groups 38 Combinations of family-type and income Foods of class A (groups including many classes ------------------------------- 352 of the protective foods)_____________ 39 The consumption sample in relation to the total population__________________ 353 MilkEggs --------------------------------- 4039 Food consumption data ------------------ 354 Vegetables other than potatoes ------- 40 Combinations of farm sections into Fruit-------------------------------- 41 analysis units----------------------- 355 Home canning of vegetables and fruit- 42 Income intervals_______________________ 357 Foods of class B (other foods of plant Combinations of family-type groups---- 357 origin)----------------------------- 45 Representative character of groups fur- Grain products ----------------------- 45 nishing supplementary food schedules- 359 Sugars -- --------------------------- 46 Comparisons of data afforded by the two Potatoes, sweetpotatoes-------------- 46 types of supplementary schedules---- 359 Foods of class C (other foods chiefly of Distribution of families by level of animal origin) ---------------------- 47 money value of food ------------------ 366 Fats--------------------------------- 47 Reliability of data --------------- -------- 367 Meat, poultry, fish ------------------ 47 The variable report period: Intersectional comparison of home-produc- The 12-month schedules________________ 369 tion programs _____________ 49 The 7-day supplementary food schedules- 370 Nutritive value of diets: Measurement of household size in dietary Nutritive value in relation to money value of analyses--------------------------- 371 food------------------------------------ 52 Week-equivalent
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