Barriers to Preparing and Cooking Vegetables Are Associated with Decreased Home Availability of Vegetables in Low-Income Households

Abstract

Knowing which barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables at home are linked with the home availability of vegetables and how food-security status impacts this relationship will facilitate the tailoring of future public health interventions. Baseline data were used from an elementary-school-based intervention. Data on household food-security status, availability of vegetables at home, and barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables were collected from 1942 parents. Differences between food-secure and food-insecure households were examined for barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to estimate the associations between barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables and food-security status on the home availability of vegetables. Food insecurity was reported in 27% of households. Food-insecure households were significantly more likely to report barriers to buying and preparing/cooking vegetables. The barriers to purchasing/cooking vegetables score was associated with a decrease in the home availability of vegetables score (β = −0.77; 95% CI: −0.88, −0.65; p < 0.001). Compared to food-secure households, food-insecure households were 15% less likely to have home vegetable availability (β = −1.18; 95% CI: −1.45, −0.92; p < 0.001). Although home availability of vegetables does not guarantee consumption, this study identified specific barriers that were associated with availability that can be targeted in future interventions seeking to improve vegetable consumption in the homes of low-income families.