Directions for a home-cooked meal:
1. Take pre-cooked chicken out of wrapper, arrange on plate.
2. Empty bag of salad into bowl, top with bottled dressing.
3. Add water to instant potato mix, stir and serve.
A meal like this is becoming more popular in kitchens across the country. As the days get busier, fewer people have the luxury of sitting down to a meal prepared from scratch.
To meet the needs of time-strapped consumers, grocery stores are stocking up on convenience food.
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The Food and Consumer Products Manufacturers of Canada, along with the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors and Canadian Living magazine, recently released the results of a survey that monitored the meal preparation and spending habits of Canadian consumers. The study revealed that 51 percent of consumers say they spend more money than ever on prepared foods.
The results did not come as a surprise to Robin Garrett, vice-president of the manufacturer association’s member services department.
“Consumers today are simply time crunched,” she said.
The survey found that 41 percent of the consumers surveyed consider themselves time restrained, compared to only 22 percent in a similar study two years ago. Food is usually last on the busy person’s agenda.
Nearly half of consumers decide what to make for supper after lunch, and a quarter of them do not know what they’ll put on the table as they leave work for the day.
The results found that younger people generally thought they were busier, but all age groups served the same portions of previously prepared foods. Community size and number of people working in the family also had no effect on the acceptance of convenience meals.
Ready-to-serve meals such as packaged frozen meats and vegetables are not new to grocery store shelves, but new varieties of convenience foods are emerging.
Grocery stores are catering to busy lifestyles by selling prepared roasts and chickens, which are cooked and ready for the table. Meal kits such as stir-fry mixes to which the chef adds only meat, are becoming more popular, and consumers are snapping up pre-washed bagged salads.
“There’s been a huge explosion in the prepared foods sections of grocery stores,” Garrett said.
Many consumers consider a meal that makes use of convenience foods to be home cooked, depending on the products used. The survey revealed that 66 percent of consumers consider a meal their own if the only pre-made products were sauces and dressings, while 60 percent still thought the meal was from scratch if a bagged salad was added. The survey found 18 percent still counted it a homemade meal even if the meat came cooked from the store.
“That’s still one in 10 Canadians who think bringing home a chicken is making dinner,” Garrett said.
Taste, price and nutrition still play a role in grocery selection. While many pre-made foods are more expensive than their homemade counterparts, some items requiring large quantities of specialized or fresh ingredients are cheaper when taken off the shelf.
People concerned about nutrition have a tendency to choose foods that require some cooking.
“Some people like it better when they have to assemble something, like a salad or stir-fry. They can add ingredients to suit their tastes or to make foods more nutritious,” Garrett said. “People are not interested in trading taste and nutrition for convenience.”
