Protective attributes and behaviors related to food provisioning for food security among U.S. low-income, Mexican-born mothers of young children: a qualitative study

Abstract

Background:

U.S. Mexican-born Hispanic/Latino households are at a high risk of experiencing food insecurity and its poor dietary and health consequences but may have attributes that can be leveraged to promote food security and healthy dietary quality. To gain more in-depth understanding and capacity-oriented data to inform programming, we sought to elucidate potential food provisioning-related factors protecting low-income U.S. Mexican-born households with young children from food insecurity.

Methods:

We conducted a community-based qualitative study, guided by Life Course Perspective and Ecological Systems Theory, in two New York State counties. Low-income Mexican-born mothers (n = 27) of young children (≤5 years) with ≤10 years in the U.S. completed two semi-structured interviews, including a participant-driven photo elicitation interview, and responded to the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module. We conducted thematic content analyses to identify emergent themes.

Results:

We identified four themes related to important attributes and behaviors of participants, which appeared to protect their households from food insecurity: resourcefulness and creativity with food provisioning, valuing new knowledge and skill-building opportunities, reflectiveness on poverty and food insecurity experiences, and the ability to establish beneficial food-provisioning routines, with the latter appearing to differentiate food-secure and food-insecure households. These attributes and behaviors facilitated management of economic resources while also meeting cultural ideals and family preferences.

Conclusions:

Low-income Mexican-born households appear to have human and cultural capital (i.e., assets) that may serve to be protective. Improved policies and programming are necessary to leverage these capacities to promote food security and healthier dietary intake.

1. Introduction

Household food insecurity (FI), or the lack of access to sufficient food to support an active, healthy lifestyle for all members of a household at all times (Rabbitt et al., 2024) disproportionally affects U.S. Hispanic/Latino households (21.9 %) compared to U.S. non-Hispanic white households (9.9 %) (Rabbitt et al., 2024). FI prevalence among Mexican heritage Hispanic/Latino households is even higher, with some regional and statewide studies reporting 45–55 % prevalence of FI (Rabbitt et al., 2016; Sharkey et al., 2011; Smith et al., 2016). Local studies of U.S. households with Hispanic/Latina mothers, primarily from Mexico, found that fewer years in the U.S. (Chilton et al., 2009), limited English proficiency (Quandt et al., 2004; Weigel et al., 2007), and lower educational attainment (Quandt et al., 2004; Weigel et al., 2007) were associated with greater risk of household FI. Remittances sent to family members in other places (Sano et al., 2010) may also limit household resources for purchasing food. On a larger scale, globalization has rendered the food security situation for U.S. Mexican immigrant individuals and their families by more freely transporting goods, including food, across geopolitical borders but to the detriment of their livelihoods (Carney, 2015). Their resulting migration to the U.S. in search of greater economic opportunity does not guarantee food security, as they often continue to encounter structural constraints related to social and immigration policies (Carney, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these existing poor social conditions, including low wages and employment uncertainty, which further increases FI risk for Mexican-born households (Chen & Thomson, 2021).

This high prevalence of FI, combined with 27.3 % of U.S. Hispanic/Latino children (vs. 9.1 % of white children) living in poverty (Chen & Thomson, 2021), situate Hispanic/Latino children at considerable risk of FI and its consequences. Household FI has been linked to poor child physical health (Casey et al., 2005), academic performance (Jyoti et al., 2005), psychosocial developmental (Casey et al., 2005; Jyoti et al., 2005), and dietary intake (Eicher-Miller & Zhao, 2018). Research showed U.S. Mexican heritage Hispanic/Latino children from food-insecure, versus food-secure, households consumed more fat, saturated fat, sweets, and fried snacks (Rosas et al., 2009), and greater FI was related to less variety of food (L. L. Kaiser et al., 2002, 2003), fewer fruits and vegetables (L. L. Kaiser et al., 2003), and lower intake of milk (L. L. Kaiser et al., 2002). Moreover, among U.S. Hispanic/Latino children (8-16y) with foreign-born versus U.S.-born parents, lower household and child food security was associated with higher triglycerides, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Maldonado et al., 2022).

While the dietary and health consequences of FI are understood, the solutions are more complex. In 2017, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics emphasized the need for adequately-funded and accessible safety-net programs that promote economic stability for households, particularly during unforeseen transitional periods, and that integrate nutrition education and effective multi-level interventions (Holben & Marshall, 2017). U.S. households employ a variety of coping strategies to help alleviate FI, including participating in federal food and nutrition programs (e.g., Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)), visiting food pantries, and using coupons (Mammen et al., 2009). SNAP has been shown to ameliorate FI (Nord, 2012), including among Hispanic/Latino households (McClain, Tucker, et al., 2019). Among low-income households, greater financial management skills have been associated with reduced FI (Gundersen & Garasky, 2012), and nutrition education has been shown to improve food resource management skills (Auld et al., 2015; Dollahite et al., 2014). SNAP benefits combined with nutrition education that emphasizes food resource management may best serve to assist families, including Hispanic/Latino families, in stretching their paycheck and SNAP benefits month-to-month (L. Kaiser et al., 2015a). Yet, local, state, and federal immigration policies and actions can have a “chilling effect” for immigrant Hispanic/Latino households, whereby eligible individuals and households do not apply for SNAP or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) due to fear of endangering the legal status of their family members or themselves (Chaparro et al., 2023; Kravitz et al., 2024; Vargas & Pirog, 2016). Thus, many immigrant Hispanic/Latino households strive to maintain food security without critical safety-net resources.

Recognizing cultural distinctions in coping strategies is, therefore, paramount for building effective approaches to reduce FI among immigrant Hispanic/Latino households (Kamdar et al., 2019). Broadly, previous qualitative work has explored provisioning of basic needs, like food, to children through the lens of “intensive mothering,” whereby the culture of motherhood and gendered caregiving demands parenting in a “child-centered, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labor-intensive, and financially expensive” (Hays, 1996) way, irrespective of unequal access to resources by social class (Hill et al., 2024; Randles, 2021; Wright et al., 2015) which may exacerbate inequalities (Randles, 2021). Yet, some literature suggests that non-white and resource-limited mothers may draw upon distinct strategies from their ethnicity, culture, and context to feed their children in response to or despite of “intensive mothering” culture (Hill et al., 2024; Wright et al., 2015); low-income Black mothers exchanged emotional and tangible support with one another, including intergenerationally (Hill et al., 2024), and working-class mothers, compared to middle-class mothers, in Australia were more pragmatic in the ways they fed their children and were less likely to make social comparisons in their parenting practices (Wright et al., 2015). Research among U.S. Hispanic/Latino families has shown that parenting approaches integrate traditional family- or adult-centered approaches alongside some U.S. mainstream child-centered approaches (Bermúdez et al., 2014; Durand, 2011). Notably, a recent study using American Time Use Surveys data found that, independent of socioeconomic status, Latina mothers spend less childcare time and more co-present time (i.e., part of family routines and activities) with their children, compared to White mothers (Nomaguchi et al., 2024), suggesting that time spent with children is integrated into daily family tasks, including those related to food. The literature on U.S. Mexican heritage Hispanic/Latino households reports various coping strategies for food security based on social networks and creative food acquisition and preparation methods (Dean et al., 2010, 2011, 2012; Kamdar et al., 2019; Quandt et al., 2004; Sharkey et al., 2009, 2011). Mexican-born households in colonias along the Texas-Mexico border depended on family members, friends, neighbors, and churches for food when they ran out, and engaged in a variety of creative Mexican-specific and time-intensive strategies for food acquisition, storage, preparation, and feeding to stretch limited resources (Dean et al., 2012). Mexican-born farmworkers in North Carolina also noted seeking assistance from family members, food pantries, and social services when running out of food, as well as planning for food shortages by gardening, purchasing canned and dried staple goods, and saving money for winter (Quandt et al., 2006). Further, Hispanic/Latino or female participants in a food and nutrition resource management class series for SNAP participants demonstrated greater improvements in resource management skills than non-Hispanic/Latino or male participants (L. Kaiser et al., 2015a), suggesting attributes within limited-resource Hispanic/Latino households that can be leveraged to promote food security. However, capacity (asset)-oriented data on FI among Mexican-born Hispanic/Latino families are lacking. Thus, we aimed to identify potential factors, particularly food provisioning-related factors, protecting Mexican-born families against FI, which can provide targeted data for programming. This paper reports findings from the secondary aim of a study conducted among a sample of low-income, recently immigrated Mexican-born mothers of young children (≤5 years). The primary aim of the study documented how life course experiences shaped the ways participant mothers provisioned food for their families, including the social context in Mexico (food insecurity experiences, agrarian lifestyle, and traditional foods), their transition to motherhood, and, for a few, family health events as turning points (McClain et al., 2019). The present study builds upon these findings to situate their current food provisioning behaviors in the context of maintaining a food-secure household.

2. Methods

We conducted a qualitative study among Mexican-born mothers of young children living in the U.S. The Life Course Perspective (Devine, 2005) and Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) guided our conceptualization of influences to food security and related food provisioning strategies. The University Institutional Review Board approved this study after expedited review.

2.1. Sampling and recruitment

The study site included two adjoining counties in the Hudson Valley of New York State (NYS), approximately 90 miles north of New York City and comprised of a combination of rural, urban, peri-urban, and sub-urban areas. Between 2013 and 2015 the primary investigator (ACM) connected with county-level organizations working with Mexican-born families to facilitate recruitment, including Cooperative Extension, Head Start, and organizations focused on children and families and migrant and immigrant households. ACM, a native English speaker but bilingual, distributed flyers through these organizations and tabled at community health centers and health or social events hosted by these organizations. ACM and a Mexican-born, bilingual Research Aide called any woman expressing interest in the study (in person or by phone) to provide details about the study, answer questions, screen, and schedule an interview, if eligible. Women were eligible if they were residing in one of these counties and 1) born in Mexico, 2) living ≤10 years in the U.S., 3) having at least one child ≤5 years old, and 4) living at <200 % of the federal poverty line. The sampling frame also considered variation in other characteristics (e.g., urban vs. rural, employment status). The study focus on Mexican-born participants reflected a nonmetropolitan new destination immigrant population (Massey, 2008) and the second largest Hispanic/Latino heritage, behind Puerto Rican (American Community Survey, 2013), in the two Hudson Valley counties at the time of the research.

2.2. Semi-structured interviews

Qualitative data collection included face-to-face interviews complemented by participant-driven photo elicitation (Clark-Ibáñez, 2004; Gold, 1991; Harper, 2002; Shaffer, 1979). ACM conducted all interviews often with assistance from the Research Aide, a Mexican-born native Spanish speaker; they asked participants to complete an initial visit and two interviews within a two-to-three-month period at participants’ preferred locations (e.g., participant’s home, community center) and in their preferred language (English or Spanish). Participants received an honorarium after completing each interview ($10 for the initial visit, $15 for interview 1, and $25 for interview 2).

The initial visit lasted approximately 1 h to collect written informed consent and sociodemographic information and provide instructions for taking photographs using a disposable camera. Participants had one to two weeks to take photographs of “anything important to how [they] feed [their] family and children.” To ensure understanding of the activity, the research team asked participants to describe examples of photographs they would like to take. The research team asked participants to refrain from photographing faces, to maintain the anonymity of the participants and their families, and gave participants a written copy of the instructions and scheduled a time to pick up the camera for photograph development.

Interview 1 was the participant-driven photo elicitation (PDPE) interview, completed one to two weeks after the initial meeting and lasting about 90 min. PDPE uses photographs to guide interviews, enhancing traditional face-to-face interview methods by eliciting deeper, more extensive information (Harper, 2002) through reflection and meaningful triggers, while also facilitating an inductive data collection approach (Clark-Ibáñez, 2004). PDPE is appropriate for research in immigrant communities (Gold, 1991), as images facilitate improved communication and understanding despite cultural differences (Harper, 2002). The research team asked participants to choose four to five photographs for discussion and engaged participants in talking about their photographs using the SHOWeD method, a mnemonic for the following general questions: 1) What do you SEE here? 2) What’s HAPPENING here? 3) How does this relate to OUR lives? 4) WHY does this issue exist? 5) What can we DO about it? (Johnson et al., 2011; Shaffer, 1979). The research team asked all five questions for each photograph, supplementing with study-specific probes guided by Life Course Perspective and Ecological Systems Theory, and then gave participants their set of photographs, keeping the four to five discussed for study records.

Interview 2 occurred within one month of interview 1. In the time between interviews, ACM reviewed the interview transcript to prepare for interview 2, but the participant was not asked to complete any activities. During interview 2, the research team completed a member check followed by the semi-structured interview, which built upon the PDPE interview and sought to gain additional insights and perspectives on life course influences on how participants fed their children. Finally, they administered the 18-item USDA Household Food Security Survey Module in participants’ preferred language (Bickel et al., 2000). The interview lasted approximately 90 min. Key questions and example probes from Interviews 1 and 2 are provided in Table 1.

Table 1.

Key qualitative questions from two semi-structured interview guides in a study of U.S. low-income Mexican-born mothers of young children

Interview	Key question	Example probe
Interview 1	What do you see in this photo? What is happening in this photo? How does what’s happening in this photo relate to you and your family’s life? What are the reasons that this matter (problem, worry, or strength) exists? How has this matter strengthened you? What can we do about this matter? What photos would you have liked to take but did not?	Can you describe the photo, please? What are the reasons you took this photo? How does what’s happening in this photo relate to your life here in the U.S.? What is the impact of your home life (or relationships, or community) on this matter? What can you (or people you know or the community) do about this matter in your life?
Interview 2	Please describe your food and eating when you lived in Mexico. Tell me about the times in Mexico when you and your family did not have enough food (or healthy and balanced foods) or had problems obtaining enough food (or healthy and balanced foods). Think about the times before you had children that you did not have enough food to eat. It can be either before leaving Mexico or after arriving in the U.S. Can you tell me about your home and way of life in the U.S.? Tell me about how you obtain food in the U.S. for your family. Tell me about preparation of food and meals in the U.S. for your family. Please describe what it means to you to give your children enough food (or healthy and balanced meals) to eat here in the U.S. Think about your experiences with food and eating in Mexico compared to your experiences in the U.S. Describe what is similar and different. Can you tell me about traditional Mexican food and dishes that you and your family typically eat in the U.S.? Can you tell me about other foods that you and your family typically eat in the U.S.? If you had no restrictions on feeding your family, what would be the ideal way you would like to feed your family members every day?	How did you and your family obtain food to eat? What are the reasons you did not have enough (or healthy and balanced) food to eat or had problems obtaining enough (or healthy and balanced) food to eat? How did you get through these times? How is your home (or way of life) different compared to Mexico? What foods do you obtain from sources (family, friends, food pantries, gardens, work) other than SNAP or WIC? Tell me about important skills that you need to prepare foods. Can you give an example of specific times when you and your family felt like they didn’t have enough food (or healthy and balanced meals) to eat? What do you have in the U.S. for your children that you did not have in Mexico? How do you obtain these foods that you use to prepare these Mexican dishes? What makes these foods and meals so important for you and your family? What would help you achieve this ideal way of feeding your family?

2.3. Data analyses

Out of 36 mothers screened, two did not complete the initial visit or interviews, six completed only the initial visit, one completed the initial visit and first interview, and 27 completed the initial visit and two interviews. Interview transcripts from these 27 participants provided data for qualitative thematic analysis complemented by field notes and photographs providing contextual information. Two of the participants had been living in the U.S. for more than 10 years but were included in the analyses to provide additional comparisons. Qualitative analyses involved several steps: 1) the research team and a professional service transcribed and translated the audio-recorded interviews; 2) a bilingual undergraduate research assistant and ACM checked transcripts for accuracy; 3) ACM reviewed transcripts in early stages of data collection to inform selection of participants, modification of interview guides (e.g., wording changes, question order), and codebook development; 4) ACM iteratively applied codes from the codebook to each transcript to identify emergent themes; 5) ACM compared and contrasted these themes linked to food provisioning-related factors by participant household food security status; 6) ACM facilitated peer-debriefing sessions with the senior investigator’s (JSD) research team, including members not affiliated with the project, to provide critical feedback, limit investigator biases, and strengthen credibility of the findings; 7) and another researcher (MM) coded a random sample (n = 6) of participant interview transcript sets using the finalized codebook to ensure intercoder reliability. During and after coding, ACM and MM met regularly to discuss and draw consensus on any discrepancies in coding schemes or interpretations and consider any needed refinement to the themes. Data were managed and analyzed in ATLAS.ti 7.5.

3. Results

3.1. Sample characteristics

Participant mothers had a median age of 30y (range: 22-41y). Most were from Southern states in Mexico (n = 19), had less than a high school educational attainment (n = 17), were currently married or living with a partner (n = 24), and were either not in the labor market (n = 11) or working part-time (n = 8). Of those working full (n = 4) or part-time, the most common type of employment was cleaning/housekeeping (n = 4), followed by healthcare (n = 2), retail (n = 2), farm/agriculture (n = 2), teacher/instructor (n = 1), and factory (n = 1) work. Participant mothers reported having between one and five children and a monthly household income between 0 and 2399 U.S. dollars. Most households lived in urban/peri-urban areas (n = 20) and were receiving WIC (n = 22). Only about half of mothers (n = 14) reported child participation in SNAP. Almost half of households were food-insecure (n = 11), with 10 households categorized with food-insecure children. Notably, the two counties in which participants resided had several active programs and organizations promoting health and nutrition, including for Hispanic/Latino populations. Both counties had nutrition programming provided through Cooperative Extension and immigration and nutrition support through Catholic Charities. Dutchess County had an infant and child health program, which included home visits and nutrition education. Orange County had immigrant-focused organizations that often also addressed food and nutrition issues.

3.2. Emergent themes

We identified four emergent themes related to mothers’ attributes linked to food provisioning, which appeared to protect their households from FI: 1) resourcefulness and creativity with food provisioning; 2) valuing new knowledge and skill-building opportunities; 3) reflectiveness on poverty and FI experiences; and 4) the ability to establish beneficial food-provisioning routines. Their food provisioning behaviors allowed them to meet their and their families’ expectations while stretching the household food budget. Table 2 includes selected quotes representing these themes. Each theme is described in more detail below.

Table 2.

Selected quotations representing emergent themes^a among U.S. low-income Mexican-born mothers of young children (n = 27)

Theme
“I use my ingenuity”	Quotation
Resourceful, creative approaches	Well, mostly the necessity of what are we going to eat- that makes me be creative and to save a little, that is if we need money to complete [a meal] we want. And that’s what helps me, because, if I have beans and dough, then I won’t buy additional things. Simply I will make the bean[s] and some tlacoyos and the food is ready, yes. [#0014, 7 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] “I’ll say [to my kids], “We already have food at home or there’s food in the house. I’m not going to spend more money out if we have food at home.” And that’s what I do. [#0017.10 years in U.S., 2 children; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Food leftovers	I don’t want leftovers; I try to cook just the portion that we need … because it is cheaper, because sometimes if I cook too much and it isn’t eaten, I have to throw it away. So, I try to cook just what I know we’re going to eat. This way [an]other day I can cook different food. [#0032, 9 years in U.S., 3 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area] I boil the chicken and there are some dishes where you don’t need to add the chicken from the beginning. And, as its boiled, I can later cook it with different food and the dish isn’t the same one. For example, if I bought some breasts to cook them only on the grill it’s usually some left and I can flake and prepare chili tacos and that’s different. It’s the same chicken but it’s different. And with the vegetables I just boil them … but I get some left and I can use them for a vegetable soup. So, I can be looking for the way they don’t get bored of eating the same food.” [#0023, 8 years in U.S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Preparing for seasonal changes in employment and food costs	Yes, because my husband works … and I work … so it’s enough for both of us and like for the winter, we save for rent and stuff. We can afford to save a little for winter and it’s enough for everything. [#0024, 17 years in U.S., 3 children; from Jalisco, Mexico; currently residing in rural area] “… when you go to the stores that they sell bags, the small packets [of dried chiles and seasonings] and sometimes like I say you get them when you have [money] … when you have money you buy what is necessary. And you keep it stored, and we take all that stuff out when it’s time to use it, when we need them because when we have to do something we take out all those ingredients.” [#0030, 10 years in U.S., 1 child; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area]
“In all things in life, one is never done learning.”
Valuing new knowledge and skills in food provisioning	“The information of what vegetables have, that I know what has more nutrients, [has helped me achieve using them more in meal preparation] so the more vegetables I use, then … even the same vegetables, everything works sometimes even for a disease that we don’t know.” [#0013, 8 years in U.S., 1 child; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] I didn’t know many things [when I first arrived in the U.S.] … as a [young] woman you don’t cook. You go out to the field and your mom cooks, and you come to start cooking, for the children. [It’s] better, much better … in cooking more, in knowing more things … and not say, “Oh, I don’t know how to do it. I can’t cook.” That’s how you learn more, through [experience], through other people, you learn how to make your salads, your different meals, because we all cook different.” [#0018, 9 years in U.S., 4 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Seeking new information and ideas for food provisioning	… because I sometimes I [don’t] know how to cook. I have a chicken, I’m having this … but I don’t know how to make it, so [I call my mom and she] gives me ideas, she tells me ideas. [#0006, 10 years in U.S., 1 child; from Veracruz, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] Well, because I didn’t know how to cook. So, like here you have greater access to technology, to the Internet. So, if on YouTube there is a video, you can find an infinity of [recipes]. So … there I learned to look for how to make some recipes. [#0023, 8 years in U.S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Preferred ways to learn new knowledge and skills	… it would be interesting to receive [information] physically, to see how they do it, or to be there at the time that it’s being made. [#0021, 8 ½ years in U.S., 2 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in rural area] … there are times that the videos are really long and very – they’re not for my objective. … to begin, they [should] take out the advertising because before seeing the videos, they put publicity for toilet paper, for many things, but that is what they leave so that they have money … but it would be good to take out a bit of the publicity … [#0023, 8 years in U.S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] “I liked [the cooking class] because there were women from Puerto Rico, from Dominican Republic and so I was able to learn from them, and they learned from us, the Mexican women.” [#0035, 5 ½ years, 2 children (1 in Mexico); from Zacatecas, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area]
“You learn from what you live”
Reflection on hardships	Because she depended on her husband … when we came [from Mexico] … to live in Phoenix. … my mother wasn’t able to buy everything she wanted … due to problems about [my stepfather] … he worked but … when they have that alcohol problem then it’s more difficult … so, when I separated from my mother and I came here to New York, then it was a little bit easier for me, easier when you live by yourself and you can do whatever you want, I think, to be the – instead of being there depending on the – let’s say on a stepfather and a mother. [#0009, 9 years in U.S., 5 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in rural area] … it makes me sad because I say, well, families over there are bigger and I think, how do they manage? Because we didn’t have too much to eat and there were others that … had less than we did and they had more babies, more children, and now I get to thinking I think, how did those people do it to be able to have enough money? [#0014, 7 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Managing food resources	Well, at least we can’t complain. Because we do, we do have food. I think that’s the best thing–even if it’s just a little, but we always have … but we can’t complain either because, even if it’s just with a little bit of work … we can get by during the winter.” [#0026, 9 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in rural area] What I have gotten used to, I have adapted in regards to prices, costs, and that. Now, more or less, I know what to buy, that there are various basic things, except if my husband wants to cook or if he wants another thing … And more or less I see the, the shopping cart and I say, it is going to be $100 or it is going to be about $200, Why? More or less I check the prices exactly, and we pay $30, $80. [#0010, 2 years in U.S., 1 child; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] So now I realize it’s – it’s better to take your time to make purchases and just buy what you need. … And enough … not more or less. [#0023, 8 years in U.S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
“I try to save as much [money] as I can.”
Short-term planning	The meat I bought in the supermarket, or sometimes I do try to see where they’re the cheapest … when there’s an offer that [the meat] is on sale, I bring them from there. [#0007, 4 years in U.S., 2 children; from Nuevo Léon, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] Sometimes, because I need to check the refrigerator and what I need at home. Sometimes I put it on paper and sometimes I just memorize it. And when I get to the store, I know what I’ll look for. I need to know because if I don’t check what I have at home I sometimes end [up] getting what I already had. [#0023, 8 years in U. S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] Well, I try, for example when it is hot season. [To prevent fruit from rotting], I try to buy fruit that is not very ripe. For example, when I see that it is very ripe, I chop it and I keep it in the refrigerator. [#0003, 8 years in the U.S., 1 child; from Jalisco, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area] I receive … WIC, so I’m never short of food. Each week I make a list of things I have to buy and what are the things I have to do. [#0002, 10 years in the U.S., 3 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] Sometimes what I do is I try to save as much as I can. I look for deals, coupons. [laugh] I try to buy what is necessary more than anything because sometimes I buy too much. Then it goes to waste and what you save, I never save, because, for example, they put an ad, an example, if you buy three. One onion, it’ll cost you a peso. If you buy three it’ll cost you $2.00. But you’re aware that you cook with one onion for the week, for what do you want three? You’ll end up throwing two out and you end up losing the dollar you had saved. That’s what I try to balance out. I don’t go as much and buy on those sales, no … because then you don’t use it at all [#0017, 10 years in U.S., 2 children; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]
Long-term planning	… well there at the [CSA program], I pay six dollars and I take a lot more vegetables than in the food store, and in this way I spend a little less … in the store I go and I pick up a pound, and over there I go and I pick up sometimes up to two, three pounds, and I get a lot of vegetable as well for six dollars, that in the store I would buy for about fifteen, twenty dollars … it’s good because in this season that there are vegetables, we feel good spending less, and we don’t go as often to the store for vegetables. [#0016, 9 years in U.S., 2 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] … we store food for the future so that then we don’t have to go out to buy because we don’t have any. [#0019, 8 years in U.S., 3 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] We are economically well you could say, but during winter, income goes down and you have to find the way to pass the season. Still sometimes, we have money saved, but if we spend it without planning, in the middle of winter, we have nothing remaining. [#0023, 8 years in U.S., 3 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area] … whenever I want to prepare carrots I just cut them [laughter] … and whenever I want cucumber I cut them fresh from the plant and I have them at hand, I have them very near in my house, I don’t have to go to the supermarket to buy them … that is good too. It saves time, it saves money, and it’s good nutrition … I know we can sow, we save, and we have fruits … vegetables. [#0037, 7–1/2 years in the U.S., 1 child; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in rural area]

^aFour emergent themes were identified related to mothers’ attributes linked to food provisioning behaviors for food security.

3.2.1. “I use my ingenuity”

Mothers’ resourceful and creative approaches to provisioning food for the household served to stretch the household food budget by minimizing food waste, preventing or using leftovers, and stocking up during periods of higher income, while appealing to the preferences of children and spouses and preventing boredom. Strategies to minimize food waste included transforming perishable items into other forms, using food available in the household before buying more, buying produce with better appearance that would last longer, and sharing excess food with friends and family.

Participant #0021, who grew up in a city in Mexico but lived in a rural area in the U.S., capitalized on her current agricultural environment to feed her family. Her husband worked at a small farm which gave them access to fresh organic chicken and potatoes, except in the winter. They also had a peach tree in their front yard, and she described loving peaches and appreciating this resource, as peaches were expensive to buy.

… when it’s the season when the tree produces peaches, we eat so many peaches that it gets to a point when we don’t want to hear about peaches. So … when it’s too many peaches and … there is no way to eat it, but we still have some, I start giving some to my friends or I cook it and I keep it and it lasts longer … I keep them in jars, like peaches in syrup, and you can keep them for a month in the refrigerator, and we can eat them. Even after the season is over, we have saved peaches. [#0021, 8 ½ years in U.S., 2 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in rural area; Fig. 1]

Fig. 1.

Photo^a representing the emergent theme, “I use my ingenuity”. ^aParticipant #0021 (8 ½ years in the U.S., 2 children) took this photo to portray the peach tree outside their home full of peaches. Any peaches that her and her family did not eat fresh she cooked or canned to make them last longer, or she gave them away to friends. “I use my ingenuity” was one emergent theme from a qualitative study on food provisioning for food security among U.S. low-income Mexican-born mothers of children.

In fact, their access to chicken and peaches meant they often had more than they could consume, can, or freeze, so she gave away chicken and peaches, an action which she expressed made her feel good because she was sharing with others. Participant #0021 also explained that during apple season her husband would obtain apples from people he knew with apple trees and, like the peaches, she would make apple sauce before uneaten apples went bad.

Mothers either liked or disliked food leftovers, a potential source of food waste, and responded accordingly. Mothers expressing dislike for leftovers viewed them as food waste and strived to prepare only enough food for one meal. Mothers viewing leftovers as an opportunity managed to maximize time and resources by using versatile ingredients (e.g., chicken, tortillas) cooked ahead of time, in different ways throughout the week. Providing varied meals to prevent spouses and children from getting bored necessitated creativity in food provisioning.

Limited income from seasonal employment and the expense of fresh produce during winter affected some mothers. In response, during warm months with higher income, they often set money aside for winter, stocked up on non-perishable food “basics” (e.g., rice and beans), or froze fresh, affordable, seasonal produce for later use.

For example, participant #0026 lived in a rural area and worked in the agricultural sector, affording her space for gardening and exposure to new ways of provisioning food but simultaneously resulting in little to no work in the winter and being far from stores for more frequent food shopping.

“… we cultivate in the summer … [the photo] is to see how we [freeze] this and, therefore, no longer need to buy in the winter, because right now it is very expensive.” [#0026, 9 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in rural area; Fig. 2]

Fig. 2.

Photo^a representing the emergent themes, “I use my ingenuity” and “I try to save as much [money] as I can”. ^aParticipant #0026 (9 years in the U.S., 2 children) took this photo to show her freezer full of tomatoes and chilies, which were sourced fresh from the home garden that she and her husband cultivated in summer. She used this frozen produce to feed her family during the winter when produce was more expensive, and employment and income was less consistent. “I use my ingenuity” and “I try to save as much [money] as I can” were two emergent themes from a qualitative study on food provisioning for food security among U.S. low-income Mexican-born mothers of children.

Participant #0026 reported she learned about planting, growing, and freezing vegetables from people in her rural U.S. community, not while growing up in Mexico. She and her husband would plant and grow produce, like chilies and tomatoes, in a home garden in the summer and freeze unused produce in a chest freezer for use in winter, particularly in soups. In fact, their children also helped them work in the garden in the summer, watering, weeding, and turning the dirt. Having the frozen vegetables on hand also helped offset other costs, like gas and household supplies, in winter when employment was limited.

While economic necessity drove resourceful and creative management of household food provisioning for most mothers, ‘success’ in doing so also seemed to result in pride for this accomplishment, especially in their role as primary food provider. As one mother stated, “… it increases one’s self-esteem if people like what I make.” Providing food that they felt good about and that their families enjoyed strengthened their self-efficacy and appeared to relate to their desire to further develop food provisioning knowledge and skills.

3.2.2. “In all things in life, one is never done learning”

In the context of their migration from Mexico to the U.S., most mothers strongly valued increased opportunities to gain knowledge in the U.S. compared to Mexico and, consequently, reported intentionally seeking out new knowledge and skills. Family, friends, media, and food and nutrition assistance programs were the primary sources of knowledge and skills. Mothers valued new knowledge because putting it into action was more feasible with a better economic situation and increased food availability in the U.S. compared to Mexico. Becoming a mother, satisfying family preferences, and learning about the nutrient and health qualities of foods promoted knowledge- and skill-seeking behaviors.

For some participants, like #0020, they were not responsible for food provisioning in Mexico as adolescents; only after arriving in the U.S. as young adults they became responsible for putting “knowledge into practice.” Participant #0020 reported learning from practical experience, as well as observing specific techniques and recipe variations used by other people, including her mother and mother-in-law, and television shows. Becoming a “good chef” and teaching her children to cook seemed to enhance the value of gaining new knowledge and skills.

“… some people prepare foods this way and others in another way. And maybe the flavor is the same, but you yourself are the one who is slowly taking note … [I continue to learn a mix] … of everything, because … it is always going to be rice, but not the same every day, and you will not get bored … yes, the truth, yes, in all things in life, one is never done learning … even the best doctor has to always be studying, studying.” [#0020, 7 years in U.S., 3 children; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]

Many mothers discussed receiving nutrition information in the U.S., particularly through federal and local food and nutrition programs in which they had participated. Yet, they emphasized that they yearned for more opportunities to learn, not just about nutrition but also about preparing nutritious meals and snacks and stretching resources. This desire led them to seek out new information and ideas in many ways, including TV, Internet, workshops, and social networks.

When participant #0031 first arrived in the U.S. with her husband to work, they did not have children and were able to spend more money on food. She also had not managed a family budget in Mexico because she lived with her parents. Thus, having children shifted the situation, particularly because her husband was the only one working. She began learning more about budgeting and saving money, including in classes offered at her children’s school, which appeared to facilitate her seeking out additional learning opportunities about food provisioning and nutrition.

“[I learned about the coupons] by myself … there is a show on TV, so I got interested in it and I started to look for information …” [#0031, 7 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area]

When asked how they would prefer to receive new food provisioning knowledge and skills, mothers favored hands-on demonstrations and group-based programs, although they were not opposed to continuing to access information through media sources. Hands-on demonstrations seemed to offer opportunities to gain skills, while group-based programs introduced them to new social networks in which new ideas could be shared.

At the core of most mothers’ appreciation for and search of new food provisioning knowledge and skills, were their prior experiences with poverty and FI primarily in Mexico. New knowledge and skills served a bigger purpose: to feed their children better than what they had during childhood in Mexico.

3.2.3. “You learn from what you live”

For most participant mothers, reflecting on their life experiences served as a guide for provisioning food. First, mothers’ reflection on hardships, whether in Mexico or in the U.S., appeared to be a way to maintain perspective and identify priorities, perhaps to cope with current economic hardships. Feeding the family in the U.S. meant working hard for what was attainable and, notably, having fewer children.

“Well, sometimes I think that it is okay, that sometimes you suffer in order to be someone more after … how would I say it? If you suffer from the greatest [problems], you think and appreciate everything that happens to you; you value more, [you] learn to value things … because you learn from that. You learn from what you live … and I say, ‘If I lacked, if I lacked, well, that [my daughters] not lack what I lacked’ … sometimes I say, ‘If the money doesn’t go far enough for me, but that it be for them’ …” [#0025, 9 years in U.S., 2 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in rural area]

For participant #0025, her childhood in Mexico growing up in a large family in poverty with little food to eat and a father who drank shaped her perspective to prioritize fulfilling her daughters’ basic needs and providing opportunities, like education, she did not have as a child. While her husband wanted to return to Mexico one day, she expressed a strong desire to stay in the U.S. Notably, she and her husband did not want more than two children because of these childhood experiences in poverty.

Second, in response to experienced hardships, mothers provisioned food for their families in ways that balanced several values: minimizing food waste, providing healthy foods for their children, and having sufficient food to eat. Mothers were conscientious about appropriately managing food resources, given their prior FI experiences, which elicited continual effort to minimize food waste and accept that certain times, particularly winter, called for simpler, less balanced meals.

For example, participant #0017 reflected on her childhood experiences in Mexico with limited food variety as incentive to provide her children with balanced homecooked Mexican meals and fresh fruits and vegetables. She recounted always having at least a bowl of beans to eat in Mexico, often accompanied by salsa, cheese, and tortillas, but seeing her school classmates with more food made her feel bad.

“I used to say [to my mom] ‘Why do they eat good and I don’t?’ My mom would say ‘do you need something?’ ‘Yes, I need fruit. They eat fruit.’ Because the majority of the kids would bring their apple to school … [laugh]. Now I have an apple in my house [laugh]. But yes … it helps because you value things [laugh] … I relate it a lot [to my life now] because I don’t like when [my children] waste. And I really like to buy them something [only] when they really want it.” [#0017, 10 years in the U.S., 2 children; from Mexico City, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]

Now as a mother, participant #0017 was devoted to preparing meals at home because it was more economical and healthier. Her husband was often underemployed during the winter months at which time she relied more on rice and beans for meals.

For many mothers, provisioning food in the U.S. was distinct from Mexico because they were able to plan and prepare beyond day-to-day, as they had higher wages and more abundant, stable employment. However, food provisioning in the U.S. required new skills they had to learn and refine over time. Life in poverty continued to challenge some, while others managed to find some success and build confidence in their food provisioning abilities.

3.2.4. “I try to save as much [money] as I can”

Planning in itself was a protective attribute, but it was also an integration of the other attributes mentioned: creativity/resourcefulness, desire to learn new knowledge and skills, and reflectiveness on past hardships. Both short-term (e.g., weekly shopping and food preparation) and long-term (e.g., preparing for seasonal income fluctuations) planning strategies were instrumental in saving money. Yet, distinct from mothers heading food-insecure households, those heading food-secure households demonstrated savvy food provisioning skills and elaborate food provisioning routines all centered on planning. Food provisioning for most mothers in food-secure households was proactive, to adequately manage economic resources; they were always considering how to save money in the present and for the future. In planning for meals or shopping trips, mothers often first looked at what they had available in the house to determine what they needed, to prevent overbuying or duplicating ingredients. Some mothers also used sales, coupons, and/or ingredient prices to motivate purchases and facilitate ideas about meals they could prepare. Some mentioned that a spouse or friend watched the children so they could shop. Many mothers mentioned making a shopping list, while two mothers indicated they had their list memorized. Most mothers shopped at a variety of locations (e.g., Wal-Mart, local/regional supermarkets, Mexican/Hispanic stores) every eight to fifteen days to maintain fresh food in the household and save money.

Participant #0032 also saw the value in purchasing fresh produce from farmers’ market in the summer, when it was in season and less expensive than supermarkets. In the winter, her strategy shifted to buying the most affordable produce options, which was also true of other staple foods.

“… to know … what to buy when everything is expensive, to see what kind of vegetables are cheaper and know what to cook with that which is a bit cheaper. If I had thought to make tacos this week, but tortillas or oil or meat are very expensive, I change them for another more economical thing. It depends on … things that are cheaper in the store.” [#0032, 9 years in U.S., 3 children; from Puebla, Mexico; currently residing in peri-urban area]

Long-term planning was typically for winter months when fresh produce was more expensive, and incomes decreased with seasonal employment. Mothers planned for seasonality by saving money and stocking up on non-perishable food basics when they had a steady income. Some mothers also took advantage of lower cost, in-season produce by participating in sliding scale community supported agriculture (CSA) programs (Fig. 3), purchasing from local farmers’ markets, accessing U-pick farms, and/or bringing home free produce/meat from farm employment or from relatives. These savings during warmer months appeared to provide a reserve for the winter. Likewise, a few mothers reported accessing food pantries during the winter to help them remain food secure.

Fig. 3.

Photo^a representing the emergent theme, “I try to save as much [money] as I can”. ^aParticipant #0016 (9 years in the U.S., 2 children) took this photo to demonstrate the bins of fresh fruits and vegetables at the location where she picked up her fresh produce from a sliding-scale Community Supported Agriculture program. She participated in this program when produce was in-season and less expensive, permitting her to save money for winter months. “I try to save as much [money] as I can” was one emergent theme from a qualitative study on food provisioning for food security among U.S. low-income Mexican-born mothers of children.

For example, participant #0019 grew tomato and chili plants at her apartment, which saved her money during the summer months. Her husband’s employment at a farm also afforded them access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs. If employment opportunities and, thus income, were limited in winter, she had a stock of shelf stable ingredients she could use to prepare meals.

“And we always try to have a little bit of everything. Dry products like rice that last longer, we try to keep it in case we need it so that we don’t have to go out to buy it.” [#0019, 8 years in U.S., 3 children; from Oaxaca, Mexico; currently residing in urban area]

While these mothers managed to maintain a food-secure household through a variety of strategies, other mothers were more vulnerable. Certain situations seemed to destabilize the lives and abilities of these mothers to provision food adequately and with confidence: having a spouse deported, living in a rural area with poor food access, recent transition to a new city with higher rent, maternal or seasonal unemployment, and sending remittances to family in Mexico. Mothers that did not plan their shopping and/or food preparation tended to stock up upon receipt of SNAP funds and WIC checks, and otherwise shop more than once a week or from meal-to-meal. Whether these strategies were in reaction to a lack of skills or extreme situations or were the cause of FI was unclear. However, these mothers still displayed attributes of creativity/resourcefulness, desire to learn new knowledge and skills, and reflectiveness on FI experiences.

4. Discussion

Our findings reveal important attributes and behaviors of low-income, Mexican-born mothers, primarily from Southern Mexico, living in the Northeast U.S., which appear to be protecting their households and children from FI. Specifically, we found that resourcefulness and creativity with food provisioning, valuing new knowledge and skill-building opportunities, reflectiveness on poverty and FI experiences, and the ability to establish beneficial food-provisioning routines were important attributes and behaviors to manage economic resources while also meeting cultural ideals and family preferences. Mothers manifested these attributes and behaviors through prioritizing food preparation at home for their families, instead of purchasing food outside the home, which contrasts other studies of Mexican-born immigrants in the U.S. reporting more frequent intake of restaurant, fast food, and take-away food (Dean et al., 2010; Phan & Stodolska, 2021). Considering the recent rise in poverty rates among U.S. Hispanic/Latino children (Chen & Thomson, 2021), our findings highlight potential human and cultural capital protecting Mexican-born households with children from FI.

The ‘food literacy’(Vidgen & Gallegos, 2014) of the low-income mothers in our study appeared to be highly influential to the food security of their households. Food literacy refers to “a collection of inter-related knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to plan, manage, select, prepare, and eat food to meet needs and determine intake” (p. 54) and is a supportive structure that is strengthened over time (Vidgen & Gallegos, 2014). Food literacy was particularly evident in separating food-insecure from food-secure households which were more skilled at short- and long-term planning, something not explicitly reported elsewhere among Mexican-born households. Similar to other studies with Mexican heritage women, mothers in our study prioritized shopping for low-cost foods (Ayala GX et al., 2001; Phan & Stodolska, 2021), especially those on sale or seasonal (Evans et al., 2011; Phan & Stodolska, 2021), and accessed a variety of stores, including local supermarkets, grocery stores (e.g. Mexican stores), and supercenters, like Wal-Mart (Ayala GX et al., 2001). Like Mexican women in a study in California (Ayala GX et al., 2001), several mothers did not shop with a list, but bought the same items at each shopping trip, a skill that developed over time after using a shopping list initially. Establishing a successful food provisioning system seemed to protect their households and children from FI, regardless of income, and warrants attention to the human (e.g., food preparation skills), financial (e.g., participation in SNAP), and cultural (e.g., traditional Mexican foods) capital available to U.S. Mexican-born households.

To our knowledge, no previous studies have documented food provisioning strategies of Mexican-born households in the Northeast, nor highlighted the important attributes of this Hispanic/Latino heritage which can potentially contribute to targeted and culturally tailored approaches to reducing FI. Several other studies considered the food provisioning strategies in U.S. Mexican households, but only along the Texas-Mexico border (Dean et al., 2010, 2011; Sharkey et al., 2009, 2011) and in North Carolina (Quandt et al., 2004) and U.S. Midwest (Phan & Stodolska, 2021; Villegas et al., 2018), which have distinct food environments compared to the Northeast. Namely, food prices are often higher in the U.S. Northeast compared to the U.S. Midwest and South regions, including for healthy foods like vegetables and whole grains (Sweitzer et al., 2024), and high food costs are presumably exacerbated during the longer winters in the Northeast. The counties in which the study took place also have a higher proportion of Puerto Rican, versus Mexican, heritage Hispanic/Latino households (American Community Survey, 2013), which likely shapes the types of Hispanic/Latino cultural foods available in the retail food environment. Whereas, Mexican households comprise the majority of Hispanic/Latino households in Texas, North Carolina, and Illinois (American Community Survey, 2023). Because Mexican immigrants in New Jersey previously expressed how high levels of social stress, particularly fear of deportation, contributed to unhealthy eating and FI (D’Alonzo et al., 2020), our findings contribute important capacity-oriented insights into food provisioning strategies used by Mexican-born households. Creativity and resourcefulness in food preparation were previously identified as important attributes of Mexican women in Texas (Dean et al., 2010; Johnson et al., 2011), but the relation to food security was not explored. Likewise, several studies reported Latina mothers, mostly Mexican, expressing a keen interest in gaining knowledge (e.g., new recipes, nutritious eating), engaging in community-based and hands-on programming (Evans et al., 2011), and demonstrating capacity to increase food provisioning knowledge and skills (L. Kaiser et al., 2015b), but our findings provide more detailed understanding of possible culturally appropriate strategies. Additionally, recognizing mothers’ reflectiveness on their own FI and poverty experiences uniquely contributes to the food provisioning literature by revealing specific protective food provisioning behaviors for food security connected to food choice values among U.S. Mexican immigrant mothers. According to the Food Choice Process Model, food choice values are the deliberations (e.g., taste, cost, health, relationships) individuals make regarding food choice (Sobal & Bisogni, 2009). These values develop and change over the life course and are contextual, often to permit conscious weighing of values for food choice decision-making depending on the situation (Sobal & Bisogni, 2009). Previous research exploring life course influences related to food values have either not been specific to Mexican individuals (Dubowitz et al., 2007) or were focused on migrant Mexican populations (Bojorquez et al., 2018). Moreover, recent research showed gratitude, an aspect of religion and spirituality, was associated with lower hypertension prevalence among Hispanic/Latina women (Kent et al., 2023), which may help explain our findings on reflectiveness and be an indicator of resilience. Considering that Mexican-born mothers previously reported greater levels of past FI compared to U.S.-born Latino mothers (Kuyper et al., 2006), and that such experiences are related to more controlling food-related parenting practices (Kuyper et al., 2009) and how they provision food for their children in the U.S. ((McClain et al., 2019), future research should consider capturing this important life course influence as it relates not only to current food security status but also to daily food provisioning and food choice.

For participants in our study that experienced or were at risk of FI, these episodes were seasonal and typically tied to employment fluctuations. Several other qualitative studies also reported that unstable employment facilitated periods of FI for U.S. foreign-born Hispanic/Latino households (Quandt et al., 2004; Sano et al., 2010). Even households in our study that had not experienced FI in the past year were aware that it was a possibility and responded by carefully managing household income to prepare for a potential job loss, purchasing and preparing more economical foods, and maximizing opportunity by using available space for gardening. Quandt et al. (2004) posited that mothers’ capabilities to manage household resources through a variety of budgeting, saving, and economizing strategies may be related to their formal educational attainment (Quandt et al., 2004). Previous studies have demonstrated that lower maternal educational attainment is significantly associated with lower household food security (L. L. Kaiser et al., 2003; Weigel et al., 2007). While our qualitative study prevented us from demonstrating a statistical relationship between mothers’ formal educational attainment and food security status, our findings suggest that mothers’ abilities to manage household resources may not necessarily be related to formal educational attainment but, rather, to pertinent life course experiences and corresponding personal values and attributes. Mothers’ approaches to food provisioning in difficult economic times relied heavily on experiential learning both in Mexico and over time. Although less evident from our data, intrinsic aspects of the community in which our Mexican-born participants resided may have also shaped their approaches to food provisioning. For example, rural Mexican-born and Mexican American mothers living in California, Michigan, and Oregon reported differing use of community food banks based on perceived friendliness of their communities and trustworthiness of their neighbors. Mothers with perceived friendlier communities consistently reported gaining greater financial and food provisioning skills, including managing household finances, using coupons, and accessing food pantries (Sano et al., 2010).

While many Mexican-born mothers in our study appeared to successfully manage their households’ food security status, the sustain-ability of these food provisioning behaviors over time are uncertain. Time constraints (Phan & Stodolska, 2021; Strong et al., 2016), lack of energy (Strong et al., 2016), busy schedules (Phan & Stodolska, 2021), and unsupportive or unhelpful family influences (Strong et al., 2016) are barriers to food provisioning in the U.S. context for Mexican and Mexican-born women. Mammen et al. (2009) previously demonstrated quantitatively that rural food-secure, versus food-insecure, households in 13 states employed a variety of time-intensive human capital techniques (e.g., freezing, canning, gardening, preparing big soups or stews) to prevent FI, but questioned the potential adequacy of U.S. federal assistance programs if these families chose to rely mostly on these narrow personal systems (Mammen et al., 2009). Use of time-intensive human capital techniques among participants in our study may also reflect participants’ past lifestyles in their sending communities in the Southern states in Mexico, which are more agrarian with higher rates of poverty and higher concentrations of indigenous peoples (Government of México, 2024d, 2024e), compared to most Mexican states that border the U.S. (Government of México, 2024a, 2024b, 2024c, 2024f). We previously reported the life course influence of exposure to agrarian lifestyles in Mexico as important to how participant mothers provisioned food their children and families (McClain et al., 2019). Additionally, the gendered aspects of food provisioning in U.S. Mexican households have been documented, and may perpetuate the stress of navigating the U.S. food environment (Dean et al., 2010, 2012). These U.S. structural and societal restrictions may prevent Mexican-born mothers from employing existing capacities, underscoring the need for policies (e.g., flexible work schedules, higher wages) that reduce these constraints and for approaches that shift traditional gender roles to promote more equitable division of household food provisioning responsibilities (Guendelman et al., 2001; Martínez-Vargas et al., 2022). Because successfully managing the household food security status may be empowering for Mexican-born mothers (Quandt et al., 2004), supportive policies and approaches have the potential to facilitate desired food choice autonomy.

Our study has several notable strengths. First, our qualitative approach provided deeper insight into how food provisioning in Mexican-born households is influential to their food security status, elucidating potential protective (capacity-based) factors. Recruiting participants through trusted community stakeholders and conducting PDPE and multiple interviews facilitated trust and rapport with participants to obtain in-depth, emic narratives of their lived experiences. The multiple interviews permitted the first author to develop a deeper relationship with participants beyond what can be accomplished in a single interview interaction, enabling participants to feel more comfortable sharing their personal stories and about their daily lives. The multiple interviews also provided the first author with opportunities to ask for clarification or for more details from participants on specific topics that arose during previous interview discussions. The theoretical approach guiding data collection also allowed for identification and understanding of multi-level influences, leading to findings that can be integrated into local and national efforts to reduce FI among Mexican-born households. Last, peer-debriefing sessions, member checks, and a second coder strengthened the reliability and validity of the findings.

Several limitations are also worth noting. Our qualitative data were derived from a convenience sample in NYS, limiting generalizability to the MidHudson Valley. However, the emergent attributes and behaviors of mothers confirmed similar findings in studies conducted in other states, but not necessarily focused on food security. Mothers that volunteered to participate may have been more motivated due to their own interest in nutrition. Yet, this suggests Mexican-born mothers may be a potentially motivated audience for nutrition education. Likewise, some mothers working full-time may not have participated due to time constraints. All full-time employed participants were from rural areas of one county where a unique stakeholder relationship developed in a community center serving immigrant farmworker families, and this person assisted in recruitment. Like many studies with immigrant populations, some eligible mothers may have refrained from volunteering to participate because of documentation status and associated fear of being reported. To minimize this situation, we focused our recruitment efforts through trusted community stakeholders and assured eligible mothers that we would not ask about documentation status. Several mothers volunteered this information, affirming our assumptions that our sample contained a range of immigration situations.

5. Conclusions

Our findings add culturally relevant, capacity-oriented data to the existing literature on FI experiences and management strategies among Mexican-born Hispanic/Latino families. While U.S. Mexican-born households are at a high risk of FI, they also have human and cultural capital that may serve to be protective, particularly if it can be leveraged or strengthened (L. Kaiser et al., 2015b). Likewise, low-income Mexican-born mothers’ prioritization of home-cooked meals may not only be important for preventing FI but, when feasible, may also be a culturally appropriate way to improve dietary intake. Thus, for Mexican-born households at risk of FI, implementing integrated social, healthcare, and immigration policies that more effectively support working mothers and their families (Ettinger de Cuba et al., 2025), promoting the greater involvement of fathers in unpaid domestic food provisioning duties, and increasing access to and participation in federal food and nutrition assistance programs that combine financial assistance with food resource management skill-building, particularly emphasizing planning, may serve to provide additional human and financial capital that will allow mothers to have more autonomy in the U.S. food environment.

Data statement

De-identified data can be made available by the authors upon request. Data are not currently available in a data repository due to risk of violating the privacy of an at-risk immigrant population. Submission to a data repository was not outlined as a part of the informed consent, only use of de-identified data by researchers and summary reports disseminated publicly.