Title: USDA ERS - Americans Spend an Average of 37 Minutes a Day Preparing and Serving Food and Cleaning Up
Headings: Americans Spend an Average of 37 Minutes a Day Preparing and Serving Food and Cleaning Up
Americans Spend an Average of 37 Minutes a Day Preparing and Serving Food and Cleaning Up
Participants in Food Assistance Programs Spend More Time in Meal Prep
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Three-Quarters of American Women Report Being Their Household’s Usual Meal Preparer
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Fast Food Purchases Save an Average of 30 Minutes of Meal Prep Time

Content: On the time diary day, the meal preparation time for usual meal preparers who purchased fast food was 27 minutes, versus 58 minutes for those who did not purchase fast food—a time savings of 31 minutes. For all groups, those who purchased fast food on the time diary day spent less time in meal prep than those who did not purchase fast food. The time savings of fast food was more pronounced for those who were employed (45 versus 21 minutes) and those in households with children (74 versus 39 minutes). For these usual meal preparers, meal prep time when fast food was purchased was about half the time spent by the usual meal preparers in similar households that did not purchase fast food. Embed this chart
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On average, a household’s usual meal preparer saves about 30 minutes of meal preparation time a day by purchasing prepared food. Over the course of the year, this is the equivalent of 7.7 days not spent in meal preparation, a considerable time savings for outsourcing meal production. However, this time savings does not include any travel time to purchase fast food. And time is not the only factor to consider. The cost and the nutritional value of meals prepared at home versus outsourced meals prepared by grocery store deli departments or away-from-home eating places are other considerations, along with the satisfaction that some individuals derive from either food preparation or eating out. This article is drawn from...
Americans' Eating Patterns and Time Spent on Food: