Table 1 Food security scale questionnaire: various scales

Recall period

12 months

12 months

30 days

12 months

Worried food would run out/not have enough food

✓

×

✓

✓

Food bought just didn’t last/household ran out of food

✓

✓

×

✓

Couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals/healthy/nutritious food

✓

✓

×

×

Cut the size or skip meals

✓

✓

×

×

Did you ever eat less than you felt you should

✓

✓

×

×

Hungry but didn’t eat

✓

✓

×

×

Lose weight because there wasn’t enough money for food

✓

×

×

×

Not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food?

✓

×

×

×

Relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed child/the children

✓

×

×

×

Couldn’t feed child/the children a balanced meal

✓

×

×

×

Child/children not eating enough

✓

×

×

×

Cut size of child’s meals

✓

×

×

×

Child/children ever skip meals

✓

×

×

×

Child/children ever hungry

✓

×

×

×

Child/any children not eat for a whole day

✓

×

×

×

Not able to eat preferred foods

×

×

✓

×

Eat limited variety of foods/few kinds of foods

×

×

✓

✓

Eat some foods you really did not want to eat

×

×

✓

×

Eat a smaller [meal] than you felt you needed

×

×

✓

×

Eat [fewer meals in a day]/ate less

×

×

✓

✓

No food to eat of any kind in your household because of lack of resources to get food?

×

×

✓

×

Sleep at night hungry

×

×

✓

×

Whole day and night without eating anything/went without eating for a whole day

×

×

✓

✓

Skip a meal

×

×

×

✓

Hungry but did not eat

×

×

×

✓

Any of the children younger than 5 years old: did not eat healthy and nutritious foods

×

×

×

✓

Any children younger than 5 years old was not given enough food

×

×

×

✓