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American Eating Habits Are Changing Faster than Fast Food Can Keep Up (bloomberg.com)
Home cooking would be making a comeback if it ever really went away. From a report: Restaurants are getting dinged by the convenience of Netflix, the advent of pre-made meals, the spread of online grocery delivery, plus crushing student debt and a focus on healthy eating. Eighty-two percent of American meals are prepared at home -- more than were cooked 10 years ago, according to researcher NPD Group. The latest peak in restaurant-going was in 2000, when the average American dined out 216 times a year. That figure fell to 185 for the year ended in February, NPD said.
Don't be fooled by reports of rising U.S. restaurant sales at big chains like McDonald's. Increases have been driven by price hikes, not more customers. Traffic for the industry was down 1.1 percent in July, the 29th straight month of declines, according to MillerPulse data. "It's counterintuitive because you see a lot of things in the press about restaurant sales increasing," said David Portalatin, a food-industry adviser at NPD. "America does still cook at home." The shift is weighing on the fast-food industry. Eateries already are struggling with higher labor and rent costs that they're passing along to customers, which in turn makes home cooking more economical. McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Shake Shack and Wendy's have all raised prices in the past year.
Don't be fooled by reports of rising U.S. restaurant sales at big chains like McDonald's. Increases have been driven by price hikes, not more customers. Traffic for the industry was down 1.1 percent in July, the 29th straight month of declines, according to MillerPulse data. "It's counterintuitive because you see a lot of things in the press about restaurant sales increasing," said David Portalatin, a food-industry adviser at NPD. "America does still cook at home." The shift is weighing on the fast-food industry. Eateries already are struggling with higher labor and rent costs that they're passing along to customers, which in turn makes home cooking more economical. McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Shake Shack and Wendy's have all raised prices in the past year.
because they are poor.
Even when working 2 jobs.
Somethings gotta give...
We usually make food at our house, and have for years.
But over time it's gotten easier and easier to just say something like "I feel like some dish that has apples and rice" and boom, within seconds have some recipes to choose from.
It makes making food at home a lot easier when you don't need to do any work to dig up a recipe and can easily just bring together a few things you have on hand into a full meal.
Also the other aspect I would think helps is that produce in grocery stores is better than it used to be, with more variety as well. There's honestly a lot of stuff I make at home I'd way rather eat than most restaurant food.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Back during the Great Recession, I recall a survey that asked people what they'd cut back on in order to make ends meet. Right at the top of the list, people said they'd eat out less at restaurants. People are feeling the squeeze economically, so fewer people are eating out.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Eating out is suppose to be a special occasion thing, or for convince when you are not near a kitchen.
However for the most part we just cook our own meals. Guess what for a basic meal it isn't that hard and you can cook for a family for about as much as one serving at a fast food restaurant.
Heck when I was laid off back in 2008 I got a whole chicken for about $5.00 baked it. Then after we had our dinner, I shaved off the extras for sandwiches, and boiled it down with the bones to have chicken soup for a couple days. Yes by the end of the week I was sick of chicken, but it was a good idea that I had money to pay the mortgage and car payments. Granted I was lucky enough to get an other job in a couple of weeks, however I needed to save up.
For those pesky millennials who are still trying to save up for this middle class life style, cooking at home vs wasting money on prepared food is a good plan.
Even if you are not a chief of even a good cook you can normally make yourself a decent meal. Unlike the boomer time and before, we now can google how to cook nearly anything now.
This is how our grandparents/great grandparents lived, very few went to a restaurant every day for their meals. It was a special thing, for every once in a while. The Boomer generation who didn't want to force women to cook, and were too manly for the men to do the cooking, had a generation who ate out more. And now in their 70's suffering from diabetes and demanding their Social Security Checks or are still working, because where did all their money go.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I now work white trash jobs. Yes, plural.
All of my co-workers buy fast food because they are jumping from job to job and work too hard and too long to have enough time to cook for themselves. Yes, too hard. They work harder than any CEO who gets an eight figure salary and bonuses.
Why am I stuck in those jobs? Because I was a good employee. I drank my employer's Kool-Aid, devoted myself to my company's "technology" and focused on my employer.
When my employer decided that what we did can be done cheaper overseas, I lost my job. However, since my skills were very very specific to my employer - because I was so loyal - they weren't transferable: or so I'm told.
I should have drank the Microsoft Kool-Aid years ago. I'd be OK now. Or better yet, never went into technology. I should have went into finance. Yeah sure, '08 -'10 sucked - but they're humming along again!
Kids: your employer will cast you to the side on a heartbeat. Don't ever - EVER - think you're essential.
Why is there an article about fast food on a site for nerds? Are you kidding?
I would bet that there are more readers of Slashdot who eat fast food than there are readers of Slashdot who compile their own Linux kernels.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Tiny? About 1/3 of adult Americans have college degrees, but here's the kicker: about 60% of adult Americans have attended college, but a large fraction of them never finish. If you include technical schools that don't grant degrees but which students take out loans to attend, the number goes up further.
Americans owe over 1.3 trillion dollars in student loan debt -- more than they owe in credit card debt by a good margin. That's why cracking down on unscrupulous or misleading educational institutions is important. Education -- both college and trade -- is a huge industry with a big impact on the economy.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The trend in New Zealand is weekly delivered food and recipes.
I've seen that approach for a while in the U.S., in various forms.
But it seems to stay niche. in part because you are at the mercy of what they decide you should eat, along with you not being the one picking out produce.
The last aspect is what really has killed it for me every time, there's always something about the stuff that is delivered that I would have never picked that item at the store - like overly wilted lettuce, or especially bananas that are way, way to overripe for me.
It's really 1000x better to go into a store and see what looks good, so it totally puts the balance away from delivery being convenient or useful if you can't rely on what is being delivered to be usable or good.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No wonder so many people get trapped in a cycle of poverty.
You think eating out is what traps people in poverty? You might want to learn about poverty traps and their causes. There are lots of causes of poverty. Eating out is not a meaningful cause.
That's more than every other day! And the latest figure is still more than every other day.
If you look at the number of restaurants out there (and the obesity statistics) this should not surprise anyone. People like to look down their nose publicly at McDonalds and the like but the simple fact is that vast numbers of people eat at these places routinely regardless of what they actually say. You think they stay in business because people are eating at home? People LIKE to eat out, they like fast food, and honestly a lot of the food tastes better than what many people can cook themselves.
WTF people, the fastest way to save money is to not eat out; doesn't everyone know that??
Several points on that. Basically your thesis isn't necessarily supported by the facts.
1) There is plenty of evidence to suggest that eating healthy tends to be more expensive than eating badly, at least in the short term. Even if you do manage to save money (which can be done) it's going to come at the cost of an investment of time and energy.
2) There is also evidence to suggest that eating out can be cheaper than eating at home for many.
3) Eating at home requires having the time to prepare the food. Speaking as someone with a young child and a working wife this time can be hard to come by for many people even if you would prefer it.
4) Eating at home does not necessarily equal eating healthier nor does it necessarily equal costing less. It CAN but it often doesn't.
5) Many people don't know how to shop economically in grocery stores and grocery stores have no incentive to help.
6) Food culture is as subject to fads as anything else. One should expect to see variation over time in where and how people eat their food.