Table 2 Table mapping the codes, sub themes and overarching SPT headings making up the synthesis

Costly public transport [40, 46, 48].

Lacking affordable transport

Materials

Lack of transport inhibiting supermarket access [40, 45, 46, 48, 65].

Lack of transport inhibiting food bank access [45, 46, 49, 50, 52].

Insecure housing [38, 39, 49, 50, 67].

Being limited by housing

Materials

Unaffordable housing [47, 48, 50, 78].

Facilities limiting food [38, 39, 42, 47, 49, 50, 66, 67, 76].

Low incomes putting pressure on diets [35,36,37, 39,40,41,42,43,44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 65, 67, 74, 78].

Low and or unpredictable income driving compromised diets

Materials

Impact of low wages and employment practices [36, 43, 44, 48, 49, 52, 65, 78].

Negative impact of low benefits payments [36, 37, 40, 48, 53, 67, 78].

Benefit delays causing hardship [36, 40, 46,47,48, 50, 52, 53].

Negative impact of welfare reforms [36, 37, 45, 46, 48,49,50, 52, 53, 74, 78].

Variable access to shops and supermarkets [39, 46, 65, 69].

Having variable access to local shops

Materials

Local shops meeting needs [40, 55, 59, 69].

Limited local shops negatively affect diet [62, 65].

Local shops too expensive [40, 42, 45, 46, 48].

Difficulty accessing supermarkets [39, 42, 45, 46, 48, 62, 65].

Adequate supermarket access [37, 40, 46, 59, 70].

Supermarket access enabling budget maximising strategies [37, 40, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 75].

Downside to supermarket shopping [37, 75].

Having abundant, accessible takeaways [40,41,42, 54, 55, 58, 65, 69].

Takeaway abundance driving use when alternatives limited [65].

Food competing with bills [35, 40, 43, 46,47,48, 50, 52, 78].

Family or household feeding practices - The importance of making sure everyone is fed.

Meaning

Prioritising children [35, 36, 39, 40, 44, 46,47,48,49, 52, 65, 74, 78, 79].

Valuing filling carbohydrates [35, 37, 39, 45, 46, 52, 76].

Eating low-cost convenience and processed foods [35, 37, 39, 42, 46, 59, 64, 65, 67, 70].

Children’s’ ready acceptance of convenience and processed foods [40, 61, 68, 69].

Ready acceptance drives use when too risky to chance waste [46].

Children’s limited food experiences [39, 42, 46, 64].

Shame and stigma of food bank use [35,36,37, 39, 43,44,45,46,47,48, 50, 52, 53, 78].

Food in relation to autonomy, independence and community.

Meaning

Recipients having no choice over food bank food [35,36,37, 39, 43, 46, 49, 50, 67].

Food bank providing inappropriate foods [39, 46, 49, 50].

Getting food from family [36, 40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47, 70, 78].

No family or family unable to help [36, 45,46,47, 52, 78].

Possible negative consequences of family support [45, 47].

A family culture continuum from individualistic to communal [36, 40, 42,43,44,45,46,47, 52, 78].

The social and community value of takeaways [39, 41, 54,55,56].

Wanting to be healthy [37, 39, 43, 46, 48, 50, 61, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 74, 75, 77].

Healthiness and freshness of food.

Meaning

Eating fruit and vegetables [35, 37, 39, 40, 43, 46, 48, 50, 52, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64,65,66,67,68, 70].

Cost limiting fruit and veg consumption [35, 37, 37, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 58, 59, 62, 64, 66, 67, 70].

Cost affecting form of fruit and veg [37, 59, 70].

Fresh fruit and veg increases wastage risk [37].

A background of poor mental and physical health [35, 37, 46, 49, 50].

Having poor mental and physical health.

Competencies

Cycle of poor health and poor diet [35, 37, 46, 47, 49].

Negative health consequences of inappropriate food bank foods [35, 37, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52].

Resourceful use of shopping strategies [35,36,37, 39, 40, 43,44,45,46,47,48, 50, 52, 75, 78].

Using strategies to maximise intake while minimising expenditure.

Competencies

Rationing food [35, 38, 40, 46, 47, 50, 52, 65, 78].

Getting food through community organisations [35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53, 65, 67, 76].

Community organisations’ cooking and gardening opportunities [36, 39, 42, 49, 65].

Learning.

Competencies

Learning from family and friends [39, 57, 59, 61,62,63,64,65,66, 69,70,71,72,73,74].

Family learning not deterministic [65, 66].

Experience of food processing off-putting [59].

Wider (macro) influences.

Linking experience to broader macro processes

Social value of meat trumping sustainability issues [77].

Community organisations having little choice of food bank food provided [35, 36, 50, 76].