Title: How Much Time Do Americans Spend Eating? | USDA
Headings: How Much Time Do Americans Spend Eating?
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How Much Time Do Americans Spend Eating?
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morella DeRosa
Abe Schreier
Mark Douglas
Abe Schreier
Karen Hamrick
Karen Hamrick
Karen Hamrick

Content: Karen Hamrick
Dec 02, 2011
@morella DeRosa and @Mark Douglas—Thanks for your questions. The data for secondary eating and secondary drinking beverages was only collected over 2006-08. ( The Eating & Health Module of the American Time Use Survey.) However from the American Time Use Survey data we can look at primary eating and drinking. Since the survey started in 2003, time spent in primary eating/drinking has been essentially constant, which is expected as time use patterns are unlikely to change year-to-year. 2010 did, however, show a small increase (1 minute) of average time spent in primary eating/drinking, which may or may not be meaningful—when the 2011 data are available we will see if that increase is a real change in behavior. The data do show an increase in time spent in food preparation and cleanup, from an average of 31.2 minutes over 2003-08, to 32.4 minutes in 2009, and 33.6 minutes in 2010. So while time spent in eating/drinking is essentially unchanged, food preparation time has increased possibly indicating that Americans are preparing more meals at home. More statistics using the 2003-10 American Time Use Survey data are here: http://stats.bls.gov/tus/#tables To answer your question on healthy vs unhealthy food choices and price vs quality/quantity, USDA-ERS has ongoing research on these topics.