Present research was conducted to measure household food insecurity (HFI) status of urban slum-dwellers, the coping strategies adopted by them to prevent HFI and their association. Sample of 446 households was selected from four slums of Delhi . Information was collected using interview-schedule in Hindi. Adult women were the respondents. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was done using SPSS (version-16). In the study, 51% households were food-insecure, out of which 28% low food-secure (LFS) and 23.5% were very-low food-secure (VLFS). Households used multiple coping strategies to mitigate the effects of food insecurity. Coping strategy was considered as dependent variable and food security was independent variable. Households from LFS group were 4.47 times more likely  to rely on less expensive food than people from food secure (FS) group. Purchasing food on credit was 5 times  with VLFS households  LFS and VLFS were found to eat at religious places more than FS households  Finally, positive correlation was found between number of coping strategies used and household food insecurity  It may be concluded that the study provides valuable information for understanding the experiences and capturing core-behaviors faced by food-insecure households. Findings will help in developing an effective community-based program such as procuring food in bulk, promoting kitchen/community gardens and creating self-help groups for developing low cost nutritious foods.

food insecurity, coping strategies, urban slums, hunger.