Maximizing Food Budgets and Diet Quality: An Education Program for Parents and Caregivers of Head Start Children with the Northern Virginia Family Service

Given the rising costs of food and groceries from 2023 to 2024, knowledge on food resource management strategies is crucial, especially for low-income families. Northern Virginia Family Service (NVFS) offers essential resources aimed at fostering stability and self-sufficiency among low-income families through various critical services. This project aims to investigate behavioral intentions related to food purchasing among NVFS parents and caregivers, identifying effective educational resources to encourage healthier food choices while optimizing budgets. An educational session was conducted with five NVFS families in Arlington, Virginia. The session covered topics in food resource management and implementing SNAP recommendations, such as shopping essentials, money-saving strategies, shopping by food group, and nutrition label interpretation. Following the session, participants completed a survey using a Likert scale to gauge their readiness to modify food shopping habits. Results indicated a strong inclination among participants to prioritize certain cost-saving strategies but showed less intent to prioritize other cost-saving strategies and less intent to prioritize nutritional quality. Future educational efforts should build on these cost-saving strategies and emphasize nutritional awareness during grocery shopping to promote the health and well-being of NVFS families and individuals.