Consumers, time strapped as they are, still want to make fresh meals at home. In fact, U.S. consumers have a renewed interest in cooking freshly prepared meals, according to a recent survey by the NPD Group, which also found that those same consumers don’t want to spend more time at the stove.
It is a conundrum that NPD says influences how people set up their home kitchens (and what they buy at retail). While convenience has always been a chief consideration in American kitchens, “the definition of convenience is constantly in flux,” according to the NPD report, Inside America’s Kitchen.
The trend toward freshly prepared foods—the so-called “clean” eating movement—is having an impact on how kitchens are set up, and what shoppers are looking for in their kitchen equipment. The move towards clean eating means that pantries are being stocked differently and kitchen appliances, cookware, technology and kitchen tools are evolving “to make fresh food prep and cooking more convenient and foolproof,” the report says.
In short, Americans want fresh meals and they want the kitchen tools that help them save time making those meals.
“Although cooking freshly prepared foods requires more time, the time savings for many of us are built into how we source the foods or which kitchen tools we use,” says Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst.
The survey, based on an audit of 2,900 U.S. households, examines kitchen trends and provides insights on what they mean for the food and home industries. Researchers found that Americans are ditching canned- and ready-to-eat food items in favor of stocking fresh ingredients in their pantries and larders.
NPD says kitchen appliances that make consumers’ lives easier at home (think coffee pod machines and dishwashers), along with appliances that let them put their own spin on a meal (juicers and vacuum sealers), as well as products that make the entire meal (sous vide machines and electric pressure cookers), are the sort of products shoppers seek for easier food prep.
“Since the definition of convenience is closely related to consumers’ desire to save time when cooking and preparing fresh foods, food and housewares marketers need to monitor where consumption patterns shift in order to deliver the convenience consumers demand,” Seifer says.
