Food Secure In 30 Minutes or Less: The Relationship Between Time Use and Food Security

This paper examines the relationship between household food security status, SNAP participation, and time used in food preparation and acquisition. Using the American Time Use Survey linked with the Current Population Survey's Food Security Supplement, we find that food insecurity and SNAP participation are positive predictors of number of minutes single adult households use in food preparation. Meanwhile, SNAP participation is a negative predictor of food acquisition. Although these results do not imply a causal relationship, they do reveal reflect that food insecure households and households that participate in the SNAP program use time differently than food secure and non-participating households.