Appendix 2.

Themes and selected relevant quotes related to food preparation behaviours and related factors of Mexican-American mothers (n 21) living in southern California, USA, 2013

Theme	Selected quotes
Cultural and traditional influence	‘You always have to have beans and tortillas.’
	‘I’ll wipe some [lard] on my Comal with a napkin to trick them that like look you still got a little slab and it still gives it the taste.’
	‘[Describing preparing sopa/soup] You start off with a little diced onion and tomato in the pan and you get the Mexican brand bouillon.’
	‘I make easy stuff, too, like casseroles.’
	‘Boneless chicken, salmon, occasionally macaroni and cheese.’
Social and familial influencers	‘Mom always pulled me into the kitchen, so, I'm comfortable in the kitchen.’
	‘I learned it from [my mom] and you know, it’s not the way I cook … she uses a lot of salt and my cooking probably is a lot more bland.’
	‘I try to cooking only with turkey, chicken, and fish … When I go to a fiesta, or a Quinceañera, or a wedding, I'm going to have red meat, so I am going to have red meat regardless, so that's why I’m like I’m just going to stick to the turkey, the chicken and the fish.’
Food preparation self-efficacy	‘It’s really hard to sort of match my mother-in-law, I always know it’s not going to taste like her, and once I got over that, I'm more willing to make mistakes, and now I’m getting more confident, but I had to sort of, fail, and … I can tweak it and then I feel confident, so I think I’m more confident now.’
	‘I can’t cook, especially coming off when your mom cooks really well and your mother-in-law cooks really well, you're like I'm not even going to try, I had no confidence … I sort of had to break free and gain confidence … it is hard when you have that cooking dynasty of your parents and everything.’
Attitudes towards health and healthy eating	Foods eaten influence health
	‘My husband is prone to being diabetic and other diseases, so I try to cook healthier because of him.’
	‘I think if you make it, I still think it’s better than if you go out.’
	Perceived burden associated with food preparation
	‘I’m guilty of still having lard in my refrigerator, I still do … it’s just that I’m used to but when I buy lard, I feel bad, but one little box will last me like a good 8 months.’
	‘I get a lot of backlash, too, because I try to eat super healthy and being like, Mexican, they eat really bad, my mom still cooks with lard, no we're not fine, we're all diseased, we didn’t grow up well, I get a backlash for that.’
	‘I don’t eat Mexican food outside of my mom’s kitchen, she doesn’t care about fat content, she’s an overweight, typical Mexican woman, and she went to the doctor and he told her [that] her life expectancy is reduced because she is overweight … I think because we grew up that way, I'm going to feed my kids right.’
Meal planning and shopping	‘It’s easy, there’s healthy foods everywhere you just have to choose to buy them instead of junk or, I think for me it’s easy to buy if you know what’s healthy.’
	‘Whether they are going to eat it, whether or not I am going to cook it, and how long it’s going to last in my fridge [determine what types of groceries bought].’
Time and busy schedules as barriers	‘We try to eat dinner together but with our schedule a lot of times it’s just the two kids with one parents b/c we have so many things going on but we do try to eat dinner together.’
	‘Weeknights are out of the question, homework has to be done … it’s a big family, Mexican families are big, there’s always things to do.’
	‘Other than the time, you know how to prepare, it takes time and it’s hard to find the time, so you go to what you already know how to make.’
	‘You go to what’s fast and what’s there.’
	‘You just put everything together [to make lasagne] and its sort of healthy because I use wheat pasta and I use ground turkey but I don’t make my sauce out of scratch I don’t have time for that and then put it in the oven.’