Food Management Practices Of Employed And Nonemployed Homemaker Families

Author : Winona Havranek Carlson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.E/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Management Practices Used in Family Meal Service written by Winona Havranek Carlson and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the management of family meals has been a major task in most homes throughout the United States and because of its importance to family members, this study was undertaken to examine the management practices used by homemakers in preparing and serving meals. A questionnaire, developed by the researcher with the assistance of the Home Management Department staff was sent to 300 homemakers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon randomly selected from telephone directories. A total of 136 questionnaires were returned, 105 of which were coded and analyzed. Thirty-one questionnaires were omitted from the study either because they were incomplete or received too late to tabulate. All homemakers reported they lived with their husbands except one who was a widow. Homemakers ranged in age from 20 to over 60 years; however 81 were under 50 years of age. Seventy-six families in the sample had children living at home and the average number of children in these families was 2.5. Eighty percent of the homemakers and their husbands had completed 12 years of school. Twelve percent of the homemakers and 20 percent of the husbands had completed four years of college, and over 40 percent of the homemakers and their husbands had received some post high school education. Thirty-four percent of the homemakers were employed full time and seven percent had part-time employment. Full-time homemakers composed 58 percent of the group. Eighty-eight percent of the employed homemakers did not have preschool age children at home. Thirty percent of the husbands were employed as skilled laborers, 17 percent as professionals, and 14 percent in farming and related occupations. Ten percent of the husbands were either retired or attending college. Findings from this study show that about 90 percent of the families eat the evening meal together, about 60 percent eat breakfast together, and less than 30 percent eat the noon meal together during the week. Families ate more meals together on Sunday than any other day of the week. Families had a set hour for mealtimes during the week, but the weekend mealtimes tended to be flexible. When meals were eaten away from home, 37 percent of the families dined at restaurants and 25 percent dined with relatives. Husbands and older children often carried sack lunches and ate in cafeterias. All families members indicated eating with friends. Most homemakers felt it was important for family members to eat meals together. The main reasons given by homemakers for eating meals together were convenience, companionship, and communication. Few families viewed television regularly during mealtime, Most meals were served in the kitchen; however 57 percent of the homemakers had more than one room where meals could be served. Seventy percent of the homemakers entertained guests at least once a month, Most homemakers entertained four to six guests for a meal at one time; however about one-fourth of the homemakers entertained 15 to 30 guests on holidays and family get-togethers. Homemakers were responsible for about 90 percent of the meal preparation and estimated spending an average of 11 hours and 56 minutes per week on food preparation. More time was spent preparing the evening meal than any other meal, and more time was spent on meal preparation on the weekend than during the week. About 70 percent of the homemakers used country-style service in which food was placed in serving bowls and passed around the table for the evening meal and 40 percent used plate service for the morning meal. Plate service was not used for evening and guest meals, The results indicate that most homemakers in this study do not use any type of table covering regularly. Paper napkins are used regularly by homemakers on both weekdays and weekends. Homemakers did the major food shopping for the family, usually on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. Over half of the homemakers reported shopping once a week. Other homemakers shopped several times during the week, every two weeks, or monthly. Most homemakers enjoyed preparing meals. While many homemakers did not like help preparing meals, they wanted help with table setting and clean up.