Paper

Running Head: WHAT'S FOR DINNER 1

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WHAT'S FOR DINNER

Paper: What for Dinner

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June 19, 2019

More than 13 million families in America noted who were unable to get their food and they felt insecure about asking for food to anyone and according to the finance department, around 5 million of those families spend their time as hungry in which results, the children suffered too much, and they suffered a number of health issues. Different families have a different structure of earning and spending on foods that have an impact on their growing health. This paper is going to discuss the background information of a selected family portfolio including low-income family an average family, their monthly budgets, menus lists, factors influencing their food budgets, and the hardships that families have to face in managing their families.

Family Profile: Single mother of 3 School-Age Children with Ages between 7-12 years.

Section 1: Background Information

A single mother having three children from the age range of 7 to 12 years and she brought up their children in the low-income circumstances where she have to manage her daily activities including her children's basic needs, household activities, rent, grocery, and their education in the total income of less than 200 percent on a weekly basis (Alysse ElHage, 2017). The mother is working in a grocery store as a product arrangement, and she works for 5 hours per day and for 4 days a week in which she earned $8 per hour that make her weekly income around $160 and additionally, she gets fewer food coupons for purchasing grocery on selected items. Her elder child was 12 years son studied in grade 7th, the second child was a daughter with 10 years of ager and studies in grade 5th, and the last child was the son of 7 years who studies in grade 2nd, and she used to manage the transportation for herself and for their children’s school. Additionally, she did not get any discount facility from her workplace that helps her in budgeting.

On the other hand, a single mother having three school going children with the ages from 7 to 12 years studied in 2nd, 5th, and 7th grades and she brought up them in average family where the mother earned above 200 percent on a weekly basis and they lived in high society where she works in a grocery store as an accountant, and she works for 6 hours per day and 6 days a week and earned $10 per hour that makes a handsome income. She also has to manage her monthly expenses, including rent, children's education, transportation, grocery, and other miscellaneous uses. They get a number of shopping coupons. Both families are having almost the same expenses, but the difference is the living societies as the average family lives in a society with $500 rent and the low-income family lives with $320 rent.

Section 2: Menu Meals for Low-Income Profile Family

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	4 persons (mother & 3 kids): Bananas, yogurt, bread, and jam	Mother took lunch at the job: bean salad	Whole family: Rice, kabab, and milk,	Chips
Tuesday	Whole Family: Boiled eggs and smoothie	Mother took: Potato salad, and an Apple	Whole Family: Cream salad, milk	Apple
Wednesday	Family: Bread with scrambled egg and mango juice	Mother: Juice and bean salad	Family: Rice, red meat, and salad	Banana
Thursday	Family: Apple, cereals, and milk	Mother: kabab, potato salad	Family: Mashed potatoes and bean salad	Ice-cream
Friday	Family: Apple juice, pancakes	Mother: kabab and juice	Family: Rice, salad, and milk	Sandwiches
Saturday	Family: Yogurt, omelet, and bread	Family (Weekend): steam chicken, bean salad and juice	Family: Milk, cream salad postage	Mills fruit snake
Sunday	Family: Cereals	Family: Potato salad, kabab, bread	Family: Rice, white meat, salad	Juice

Menu Meals for Average Family

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	4 persons (mother & 3 kids): Pancakes, yogurt, milk	Mother took lunch at the job: Sandwiches, juice	Whole Family: chicken salad and milk	Apple
Tuesday	Whole Family: Bread scrambled egg and milk	Mother took: chickpeas salad and mashed potatoes	Whole Family: Rice, steamed potatoes and milk	Juice
Wednesday	Family: cereals, boiled egg, juice	Mother: kabab and milk	Family: cream salad, steamed chicken	Chips
Thursday	Family: Pancakes, milk, and butter	Mother: Potato salad, apple juice	Family: red meat and grilled salad	Sandwiches
Friday	Family: Apple juice scrambled egg	Mother: salad and juice	Family: Rice, salad, and milk	Mills fruit snake
Saturday	Family: Yogurt, bread, and cheese	Family (Weekend): steam potatoes, rice, and kabab	Family: Milk, cream salad postage	Ice-cream
Sunday	Family: cereals and smoothie	Family: Grilled chicken and bread	Family: Rice, salad, and milk	Chips

Shopping list for Low-Income Family

Stores	Purchasing	Capons
Walmart	Kitchen items,	Save $1.00 cheese-it Save $1.00 big cereals Save 50 cent on Yogurt
Whole Food Market	Household grocery	Save $1.00 Windex Save $1.00 Resolve Save $1.00 scrubbing Bubble

Shopping list for Average Family

Stores	Purchasing	Capons
Walmart	Kitchen items,	Save $1.00 cheese-it Save $1.00 big cereals Save 50 cent on Yogurt Save $1.25 Magnum Ice-cream
Whole Food Market	Household grocery	Save $1.00 Windex Save $1.00 scrubbing Bubble Save $4.00 Zyrtec Save $20.00 Philips sonic Save $2.00 Kiwi Save $3.00 Cetaphil

Section 3:

The developed two menus are quite different from each other according to low-income and average families as both mothers want to provide healthy food to their children and they tried to make two proper meals a day including breakfast and dinner. At the time of lunch, they took their snake lunch with them. Especially low-income mother took light items in her lunch to save things for her children’s meal as she gets fewer grocery coupons in which she managed the monthly grocery and kitchen items. On the weekends, she makes something different for her children that they enjoyed chicken steam as she compensates this menu with other weekdays menus. In the snakes, she uses mostly fruits even one item daily to make their children healthy by providing fruits, and she gives them ice-cream in snake when she makes day menu light. The dinner meal has variation every day in which she served almost mix dishes to make their children attractive, and she uses to add the milk in most meals to provide healthy food and diet to their children.

In the average family meals, the mother also uses different and healthy food items for her children as the difference in both family’s menus is about their monthly budgeting and she gets number of grocery coupons as compared to low-income family’s mother and she shopped her kitchen items usually with those coupons that help her to make her budget and she shopped another household grocery with those coupons. That is the reason; she cooked white and red meat for her kids twice a week. The differences between both menus depend on their savings that both mothers have done by their monthly income and uses of discounted coupons for shopping.

The low-income family and average family faced difficulty with managing their transportation, luxury lifestyle, and extra food storage in their groceries and especially the low-income family as the mother manage her children’s school transport that is cost of $30 on a daily basis of all of them and that is necessary to make these transport dues on a daily basis that did not make hurdles for her children as well as the pocket money to her children that they spend in their break timings. She did not plan any hoteling for lavish food for entertaining her children that disturbed her budget and the same as the extra food purchasing in her grocery disturbed as well as the low-income family gets fewer grocery coupons as compared to other families, that makes difficult to purchase extra things in their groceries.

However, the average families have more than grocery coupons as compared to a low-income family, but still, they faced difficulties with managing their monthly expenses under budget and they did not afford any kind of extra purchasing in their monthly grossing as well as the storage of food form their monthly budget. Average family cost on her children’s transport $20 per day as they have less distance of the school from their residences as compared to a low-income family and she gave pocket money to her kids that is necessary for them. Mothers also use their transport expenses to go on their jobs that have a total monthly cost of $100 of both families as they both have the same distance of their workplace from residential areas. The variations in budgeting make trouble for mothers to manage their budgets in particular income as well as to fulfilling other utensils of their children.

Section 4: Influencing Factors

There are fewer factors that have an influence on the food bill of both low-income families and average families. Researches explored the low-income family's needs sufficient money and time to prepare healthy food for their families that are affected by household individuals, gender, education, employment, and ethnicity as well and all these factors equally contribute to their monthly income and expenses (Caswell, & Yaktine, 2013).

The environmental factors play an important role in food billing that the children and families followed their surroundings in usual matters and in low-income families, the environmental factor highlighted too much as the children compare their lives with other families and somehow mother as well to provide a better life to their children (Wilkerson, Goldberg, & Allison, 2015).

Gender is another important factor in managing food bills under their monthly budgets such as the male and female have approximately similar challenges to manage their utilities and other necessaries as they both have their different needs to spend their lives either they studying in school, college, and doing job to support their families they have to face their social life by spending some money to maintain those social links as well (Friday, 2013).

Family structure is an important ingredient in the development of a family, either the family belongs to low-income background or average family background. According to Desmond, Billing, & Tournas (2010), the family structure provides the strengths to grow and to face the difficulties in their daily lives and provide the courage to support and manage their family’s individuals. The low-income family and average families grow as they experienced their family structures from their childhood to growing and responsible times that have an impact on their monthly budgeting and other expenses to manage their families.

Section 5: Impact of Current Study

The current study has an impact on the reader about the monthly budgeting, income setting, and spending a limited amount on their foods and grocery billing. The important thing is that you have to purchase the useful items either they from the kitchen or other households, you have to spend money with an estimation. As the reader noticed and learned that every family could manage their expenses as per their need and they if they expend more, they would be in trouble to manage other expenses. As the budget following is an effective art that every family has to implement to run his family that will help to manage their lives. As researches depicted that around 38 million of families in United States facing trouble to manage their foods for their families and 49 million of population expended too much and wasted their money of food that distracted the balance between families for their basic need of food because getting healthy food and lifestyle is a basic right or human being that help them to grow in their society as well.

References Alysse ElHage. (2017, September 14). Five Facts About Families and Poverty. Retrieved from studies: https://ifstudies.org/blog/five-facts-about-families-and-poverty Caswell JA, & Yaktine, AL. (2013). Committee on Examination of the Adequacy of Food Resources and SNAP Allotments; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee on National Statistics; Institute of Medicine; National Research. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). Desmond, A. N., Billing, S. S., & Tournas, G. R. (2010). Assets, challenges, and the potential of technology for nutrition education in rural communities. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 410-416. Friday, O. A. (2013). EFFECT OF BUDGETING ON FAMILY LIVING, A CASE FOR LOW-INCOME EARNERS OF KONTAGORA PEOPLE. International Open Journal of Economics , 42-53. Wilkerson , C., Goldberg , & Allison , A. K. (2015). Factors influencing healthy lifestyle changes: a qualitative look at low-income families engaged in treatment for overweight children. Journal of National Institute of Health , 170-176.