ABSTRACT A total of 40 households with pre-scholars belonging to East Jakarta District were surveyed for their intra household food distribution practices using food weighing and 24 h recall method for three consecutive days. It generally aimed to examine the contribution of intra-household food distribution practices to the nutritional status of the households' members. Two groups of 20 households represented the study households, one group with low household income (less than Rp 37,500 or US $ 17/capita/month), the other with higher household income (more or equal to Rp 66,000 or US $ 301capitalmoth). Results revealed that fathers and children of higher income group were better nourished than fathers and children of low-income group, but no difference between the mothers. The energy distributions were more or less equal in both low and higher income group. In low-income group the parents got more protein adequacy (the mothers got 108.7 % and the fathers got 108.4 %) than the children (83.9%). In higher income group, all household members got adequate protein (the fathers got 131.4%; the mothers got 110.4 % and the children got 124.8%). Low-income households assured themselves of sufficient intake of rice; oil; sugar and snacks whereas the higher income households consumed higher intake of milk; meat; egg; fruits & vegetables. Findings seemed to indicate that there were differences in the food distribution patterns between low and higher income group and these patterns closely associated with the nutritional status of household members.