How much time do you spend slaving over a hot stove compared with inching through the fast-food drive-through lane for an extra value meal?
While not exactly answering that question, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research study seeks to determine how much time we spend with food and food-related activities.
Called “Food-Related Time Use: Changes and Demographic Differences” the study is authored by Tobenna Anekwe and Eliana Zeballos and considers how are time use relating to food has changed in the past decade.
From the report:
Patterns in food-related time use during 2014 to 2017 and among demographic subgroups reveal significant changes from the 2004 to 2007 period, including the following for an average day in 2014-17:
- Americans spent 64 minutes on eating and drinking as a “primary,” or main, activity in 2014-17, down 4.5% from 67 minutes in 2004-07;
- In 2014-17, Americans overall spent 27.5 minutes on food preparation (51.4 minutes among those who actually performed the activity), 7.7 minutes on food-related cleanup (34.1 minutes among those who performed the activity), and 6.3 minutes on grocery shopping (46.0 minutes among those who performed the activity). Time spent on all of these food related activities (prep, cleanup, and grocery shopping) increased since 2004-07.
According to the study, a few notable trends in food-related time use from 2004-07 to 2014-17:
- Americans spent 17.5% more time preparing food. Almost every subgroup spent more time preparing food in 2014-17: women, men, Americans aged 15 to 17, 25 to 64, and 65 and older, all household types examined in this study, all races/ethnicities, and all levels of educational attainment. Only Americans aged 18 to 24 years spent less time in food prep;
- Americans spent 36.4% more time purchasing non-grocery food (such as from a fast-food restaurant or pizza place);
- The share of Americans who purchased non-grocery food increased by 19.5% and their time spent making those purchases increased by 9%; and
- By contrast, over the same period, the share of Americans who grocery shopped decreased by 1.4%, but their time spent grocery shopping increased by 6.5%.
TK: For retailers, it has to be concerning that Americans are spending more time making foodservice purchases less time going grocery shopping. Check out many more data points in the full study.
