Table 2.

Emergent themes and sample quotes related to the meaning of FI and the way it impacts lived experiences and coping strategies and food decisions.

Theme	Subtheme	Sample Quote
Meaning of FI for students	Feeling of uncertainty and lack of control	“I feel like food insecurity to me is not knowing when you would truly have a meal again beyond just a bite or two if you even get that. And the struggle of figuring out if you’d have the money or the means and everything that goes into achieving getting the food. Like, that process, the struggle of doing that. If you’re struggling, I feel like that’s insecurity enough for me” (female undergraduate student)
	Short term sacrifice for long term gain	“If it came up, I would be willing to sacrifice food security to continue education, you know, for the degree at the end to make things better. So I can see a lot of students who might not be able to afford food, but are unwilling to sacrifice their academics to find better employment” (male undergraduate student)
Impact of FI on lived experiences	Compromised mental and physical health	“When I am eating the things I should to help me feel good, I can tell the difference because I slept better and felt more energized. I had better energy to do some of the workload of the research. But now I feel like I have less energy and am tired. And I feel like a big part of that is what I’m eating” (female undergraduate student)
	Feelings of isolation from limited social interactions	“I’m not as social as I could be if I had money to go out to eat with friends and to hang out that way. And even like having people over to eat or cooking for them, that also becomes like a scarcity thing, where like I’m sort of like hoarding my food because I can’t afford to host” (female graduate student)
Impact of FI on coping strategies and food decisions	Skipping meals as a matter of necessity	“I’m just trying to make my meals stretch. So, like twice a day, instead of like three times, I will skip lunch or something. Just so that I can stretch the food I have longer because I know how much I have with my budget and how long it’s going to stretch to and I need it to stretch until I get paid again. (female undergraduate student)
	Fear of running out of food influences food purchasing and preparation behaviors	“And though I’ll order like one thing, I’ll normally like eat half of it and save it the other half for the next day. So I’m even like rationing this like one meal that I’ll get from them, so that it will be actually two meals” (gender queer graduate student)