Last updated on June 13th, 2024
Peapod’s second annual meal planning forecast found that both Millennials and families are behind the expected rise in home cooking this year. Home cooking, these groups believe, offers several kinds of value, including cost savings, health and more family time.
According to the national survey, conducted on behalf of Peapod by ORC International, 73 percent of adults currently make dinner at home at least four nights a week and nearly one-third (31 percent) are planning to cook dinner at home more often in the new year.
And 50 percent of Millennials say they intend to make dinner at home more frequently in 2018.
Teens—also called Post-Millennials or Generation Z—appear to be following in those foodie footsteps as four in five (79 percent) say they want their parents to cook more in 2018.
Cooking more at home, as noted, is part of respondents’ desire to save money (72 percent) and to eat healthier (52 percent).
These were also the top factors in 2017, underscoring the fact that many Americans see the financial value in shopping for groceries and planning ahead for meals as well as selecting ingredients tailored to their nutritional preferences.
An interesting shift for 2018 is that more Americans report cooking at home helps them spend quality time together as a family (43 percent); that’s up 11 percentage points from last year. This is especially true for parents, as 60 percent report cooking to spend quality time together. When parents are searching for dinner ideas, finding a meal the whole family will like/agree upon ranks second in importance (85 percent), surpassed only by “tastes good” (94 percent).
Perhaps most surprisingly, kids are big supporters of more home-cooked meals. Four in five teenagers surveyed (79 percent) want their parents to cook more at home in 2018, and more than half of teens want to help their parents with the cooking process more often. Teens report having fun while cooking (59 percent); they also see mealtime as a way to spend time together as a family (55 percent).
Along with family bonding, getting kids involved with cooking teaches them important skills and grows an appreciation for healthy food and nutrition; one in three teens (32 percent) who want to help their parents with cooking more express a desire to help their family eat healthier meals.
When asked what would make it easier to cook at home, Americans report the most valued shortcuts as ready-to-serve or cook mixes (41 percent), an example of which would be meal kits, followed closely by pre-chopped produce (38 percent). Pre-measured ingredients (34 percent) and grocery delivery (25 percent) are also perceived as adding value.
Parents are significantly more inclined than non-parents to value ready-to-serve or cook mixes (49 vs. 38 percent, respectively), pre-measured ingredients (43 vs. 30 percent) and grocery delivery (30 vs. 23 percent).
With respect to grocery delivery, Millennials are more than twice as likely as Boomers to perceive this shortcut as valuable to them.
ORC International conducted the online survey among 1,024 adults comprising 512 men and 512 women 18 years of age and older on Nov. 27-29, 2017. The results reported for parents are based on parents or guardians of children under the age of 18 living in their home. An online survey of 508 teens (ages 13-17) was conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 2017.
Peapod, an Ahold Delhaize USA company, is an online grocer with over 40 million orders delivered to date. Peapod is available in 24 metro markets across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia.
