I often wonder what our great grandparents would think if they could see our pantries these days. The boxes and packages of convenience food would probably blow their minds. Up until the 80s, convenience foods weren’t prevalent in diets and certainly weren’t staples. Today just the opposite is true. Convenience foods {junk food, packaged food, overly processed foods, chemically rich foods and fast foods are what most consider convenience foods} have replaced healthy, fresh, whole foods in many American diets. I think our ancestors are rolling over in their graves as they watch our health decline because of it. I’m sure they want to shout at us to pull out their old recipe boxes and get to cooking!
While I’m not an expert on the matter, I think there’s some truth to the fact that breakfast cereal was were this fad began. The industry noticed kids gobbling up the bright, sugary, processed loops and stars, while parents were embracing the time they saved in the morning. So companies expanded their offerings, using the science of chemical flavoring and new technologies for processing and preserving foods to create yummy high fat and high sugar foods that sold like crazy. They were no longer worried about nutrition because it seemed the country didn’t care. We loved the taste and we loved the convenience. I mean pizza places don’t really even sell pizza; if you pay attention to many of their ads, they sell the convenience. They sell the delivery.
A group of doctors with the Department of Family Medicine did a pretty extensive study about convenience food. I was kind of shocked at the results, since it was a bit opposite of what I always thought. Surprisingly, dinner didn’t get on the table any faster in homes that favored convenience foods. Meals took an average of 52 minutes in total time to prepare. The difference in the total amount of time saved was marginal between convenience and healthy diets. In fact, families saved only when it came to the amount of hands-on time spent preparing dishes — and the savings were relatively modest. Families with an extensive reliance on convenience foods saved an average of 10 minutes over families with more limited reliance on such products.
And the savings or lack thereof also shocked me. They actually found that a convenience dietary model produced an average annual food cost of $10,298, nearly twice that of the healthy food model. Calculated cost-per-calorie values for the healthy and convenience diets were shocking, too: the average cost per calorie of the healthy diet was estimated to be 25% less than that of a convenience diet.
Of course, what their study also revealed was what I already knew: A LOT of food that’s packaged and prepared for our convenience is not only more expensive than something you cook yourself, but also most likely less healthy. A convenience diet comprises 52% more calories than the healthy diet. And that’s the crux of the problem. Convenience food is making us fat. And at an alarming rate! Based on the latest federal data, almost 65% of American adults are overweight, with 30% considered obese. Compare that to the 15% obesity rate from the 70s and it’s shocking. The obesity rate has doubled in 50 years!
With prepackaged foods leading the fastest-growing section in grocery sales {increasing almost 60% over the last few years}, it’s clear this trend isn’t slowing down. And even though the convenience food trend has dabbled into healthy territory {bagged salads, pre-cut apples, etc.}, I’m not sure it’s worth it {have you seen the price of sliced apples compared to buying an apples and slicing it yourself? Crazy talk!}. What do you think? Are you a convenience food junky? Have you seen a decline in your health because of it? Does it actually save you time? Money? Share your convenience food experience in the comments!
Rock on,
~Maivs
Jennifer says
You left one important point. Food usually tastes better homemade or made from scratch than processed or packaged. Other than cereal, canned veggies/fruit and the occasional “cream of” soups in my pantry, it looks like my grandmother’s pantry.
sheila says
I USED to cook more from scratch, but now with a fulltime job and young children, I find myself filling my pantry with more convienience food. I only have so many houra in the day.
I have a hard time believing it only saves 10 minutes per meal, though. A frozen pizza or lasangua takes a lot less time than making from scratch. Although at this point, an extra 10 minutes is worth it.
And how far are they going with the term “from scratch”? Are they talking about making spaghetti sauce from tomatoes? What about noodles from eggs & flour? Homemade bread?
Lauren says
I can relate to this and was surprised by the 10 minute statistic as well. I wonder if they’re just comparing cooking times and not differentiating between active and passive cooking time (i.e., cooking something on the stove vs a pizza baking in the oven).
Lisa Millar says
I often find when cooking from scratch I can make larger quantities, so making a nice big casserole (for example) can last a few meals – or some even frozen for later use. I find making a stew/casserole or even just some kind of meat and veg/salads reasonably fast, but making something like pizza or lasagne is a lot more time consuming.
Spaghetti on the other hand you can make a lovely big bolognaise sauce and have leftovers – saving you the food prep on a couple of other nights.
I know its not as quick as opening a jar, but frying up some onion/garlic, adding ground beef, tomato paste, tomatoes (fresh or tinned), herbs, worcester sauce, bacon pieces doesn’t take that long -(Maybe scratch cooking on the weekend and not the mad weekdays…) I love leftover spaghetti sauce 🙂
I don’t have kids but when I ran a business I took a lot less time to cook from scratch… not only was time a factor but when you are tired its a lot to do with the motivation factor at the end of the day!
(and no – unless you are REALLY keen, there is no way I would stand around making the noodles/pasta from scratch lol)
KC says
Could you add a link to the actual study you’re referencing in the post? I’m curious about a number of things, including how cost-per-calorie was generated (by food eaten or by food purchased – because convenience foods often have more shelf stability, especially compared to fresh produce and meats), what they defined as convenience foods (anything in cans? things from a deli? frozen dinners? Bisquick? pre-ground coffee? store-bought bread?), and how they measured time spent on dinner (because of course a frozen lasagna popped into the oven is going to take a while to bake – but you can be doing other things while it’s heating up). I’d also be interested to know whether they parsed the data by income level, urban vs. rural, the presence or absence of a “homemaker”, and various other factors that affect food prep times.
If you read books from the 1800s and early 1900s, homemakers who do part of their own cooking (remember also that having servants used to be far more normal) are often very excited about new convenience foods, but the number of foods that come entirely pre-prepped (by which I mean “you only need to warm it if it needs warming”) in cans/boxes/etc. has extended a lot since then (because in the 1800s, it was basically crackers and sweet biscuits, which have been shelf-stable for centuries if not longer, then ready-to-eat breakfast cereal products and canned fruits, vegetables, and soups/stews; if you count convenience foods as adding water and heating, there are more, though). But look! We don’t have to make our own gelatin from boiling pig parts anymore! A revelation (and the ushering in of an era of terrifying-sounding molded salads of all kinds)! I’m not sure whether we’d call packaged gelatin a convenience food at this point – little tubs of pre-made jello are even *more* convenient – but at that point it made a huge difference, such that this luxury food that had been out of reach of any but the upper crust was now within range of the middle class (and below). There has also been an enormous shift in what kinds of things we’re eating at all economic levels as well (you might enjoy Ten Dollars Enough, a late-1800s instructional narrative about how to eat like the upper class on a middle-class salary with only one low-wage servant).
I’m very much in favor of more nutritious food, but there are trade-offs that make a lot of things really unfeasible for a lot of people – store-bought bread that lasts for *ages* but isn’t quite as nutritious vs. home-made bread that’s probably more nutritious but stales/molds rapidly and takes time (that not everyone has) to make. So, while I agree that obesity is a problem, and high-sugar, high-fat, high-salt foods are likely a component (hormone levels are also implicated in the scientific literature, I believe?), I’m not sure all that can be blamed on convenience foods, nor do I think all convenience foods are a waste of nutrition and money.
Mavis Butterfield says
It was an article from NBC… I try to find it again.
Marcia says
It would be interesting to see how they define convenience and processed/ packaged, because that varies a lot.
Canned tomatoes? Canned beans? Canned tuna?
Frozen pizza, frozen corn, frozen green beans?
Jarred salsa, jarred mayo, ketchup?
Bagged salads, pre-cut broccoli, baby carrots?
Bread, pasta?
I’ve been into healthy eating for a lot of years (no choice if I want to maintain my weight). I’ve also been into frugality for many years. And simplicity. And to be honest, they all war with each other.
When my 2nd kid was around 2, I was still struggling to lose the “I had a baby at 42 and gained 50 pounds during the pregnancy” weight. I got serious with a program and the weight came off. For good. Finally. But to be honest, the amount of work involved in losing weight (planning meals, weighing and measuring, counting calories or whatever) is not small. I simply was not able to do that AND keep it frugal AND work a full time job.
So frugality went out the window for simplicity and health. I bought flash frozen chicken tenders, pre-cut broccoli, pre-cut fruit. I didn’t buy pre-bagged salads, because those don’t agree with me (some preservative on them, ugh). My grocery budget that year? $10,200 for a family of four.
The following year, I flexed the frugal muscles again and got it down to $5600. The next year was $6900. Looking to be similar this year, but it’s getting harder and the kids are eating more.
For sure, right now it’s a combo. I’m much more likely to throw a frozen pizza in the oven once every 2 weeks instead of making it myself. We eat storebought bread instead of homemade for sandwiches. I don’t make my own tortillas (I mean, who has time for that if you’ve got 2 kids and a FT job??)
But I pretty much wash and prep all my own fruits and veggies for the week, with maybe a pound of frozen in the mix.
In any event if you look on the USDA Cost of food at home, a year of “thrifty plan” for my family of four is $7371.60. Which is around where we will be. “Low cost” is $9463.20. (Liberal is over $14k,)
Cheri says
I work a lot, so I do buy some convenience foods and pizza about once a week; however, my budget is tight and I’m picky about ingredients and sources, so it’s usually just Trader Joe’s where I buy convenience foods. I’m not talking about snacks here but dinner foods.
Beth says
I usually have a night where I do a frozen pizza. And we have a ham and cheese sandwich on store bought bread sometimes too…are those considered convenience? The summer is all about grilling outside and that is what we do for most meals. I will say I do have a couple boxes of cereal available for quick breakfasts. Oh, and I do buy store bought pasta and until my tomatoes are ripe, store bought pasta sauce. Not sure if those count, either…
Rachel Merkley Averett says
I would say frozen pizza, jarred spaghetti sauce, and even the bread and the cereal are comvience food. I use all of those. I am obese, about 50 pounds overweight . But I would say. Homemade pizza with tomato sauce seasoned, picking the best option for bread and cereal or opting for oatmeal (not instant) have been some options we have tried. But it is hard!
Angela D. says
I believe my family has seen a decline in health because of our diet. For the first 10-15 years of our marriage, my husband and I consumed a high fat-sugar-sodium diet, mostly because we weren’t reading labels and didn’t know the health risks. We’ve made a concentrated effort to improve our diet, largely due to my husband having a heart stent placed at age 45. We both struggle to lose weight and are just above acceptable levels for fasting glucose testing.
Living the American Dream is tough sometimes!
Wyoming Gal says
I was a child in the 1960’s when both my parents worked full time. We ate plenty of partly prepared food – such as spaghetti made with canned sauce and prepared noodles or tuna casserole made with cream of mushroom concentrated soup. We did very occasionally eat frozen pot pies, but not those nasty TV dinners, which were pretty horrible in the 60’s. We did not order in Chinese or Mexican or pizza, because it wasn’t that available in our Midwestern suburb but mostly because it was too expensive. Having pizza or fast food hamburgers was a rare treat that happened on a few times a year.
In the mid-70’s I was a young wife and mother, working full time with a long commute in a large metropolitan area. We used lots of convenience food like frozen waffles, breakfast cereal, canned soup, bisquick, frozen chicken patties, etc. We still baked from scratch and made fresh vegetable and fruit salads. We did use a fair amount of lunch meat for sandwiches, something I would not do now. We ate out very little except when traveling because of the cost. (We did camp on most of our travels and took a lot of our food with us.) There certainly wasn’t as much media attention to the amount of sodium and sugar in this diet. However, natural foods were a “thing” then, just not as mainstream as now.
Now I cook largely from scratch and bake most of my baked goods – but this is largely because with an empty nest and a less demanding, though still full time job – I have lots more time to prepare meals. I do eat a lot less meat and that is because I am much more aware of the health benefits. I wish I could say I am as slim as the 1970’s version of me.
Katherine says
It’s not only our health that has suffered. Think about where all the packaging for this food goes..in the landfills.
Linda M says
Before I retired, I still cooked or my husband cooked….with our own garden produce, hthome preserved, etc. However, once in a while I would opt for a drive thru to bring home. By the time I diverted to that, sat in line, etc. I would arrive home frustrated and have spent almost as much time as if I had prepared something healthy.
With that said, I also wonder what is considered processed and what is not. In retirement, I am planning and serving 3 meals a day most days. I have short cuts I take. So, I am not sure what all I am doing that is considered processed. I guess I will just reply that we try to cook mostly from scratch and eat balanced meals.
Mel says
I suppose it depends on how you define terms, but I don’t think convenience and health are mutually exclusive, and it’s taken me a long time to strike that balance. We eat a lot of convenience foods, but I put a huge amount of work into making them both convenient and healthy. The main avenue for this is freezer cooking, and I’ve gotten really good at it. We don’t need to go out for burritos if I make burrito kits from scratch and freeze them. No pizza delivers where we live, so I freeze our own crust, sauce, and cheese, or we can have homemade soup from the freezer in 10 minutes. We also make and freeze our own chicken tenders, Indian food, and Chinese “takeout.” Our setup does require some time investment up front, but I have summers off from work to load our freezer with healthy convenience food, so we get all that time back in the fall when I’m busy at work again.
Mavis Butterfield says
Having a few go to meals in the freezer is a huge help and I wish there were more people who realized the benefits of doing them.
Mel says
A few meals…or a few months of meals! It really has changed our eating for the better. I think one of the biggest benefits is that the prep is intensive, but leisurely–so I can take the time to make it healthier. For example, I can chop extra veggies for a soup or casserole than I would regular weeknight, or I can use brown rice instead of white. We also reap the benefits twice because I portion everything such that we can pack our lunches from the leftovers.
Cheri says
Another poster brought up a very good point, which is that it isn’t the cost or healthiness of convenience foods that is the only problem; it’s also the waste. Convenience/packaged foods cause a huge amount of waste. I think that as a society we need to be working to eliminate this waste, even as we seek to meet our needs for price and health. The only way to work on that is to return to scratch meals as much as we can.
Mavis Butterfield says
I agree about the waste issue. All those packages are totally unnecessary.
Lisa Millar says
I really agree with the packaging thing… seems like we are going out of our way to invent more ways to package than less!!
I just spent some time in the US and was a little goggle-eyed at the amount of packaging I was seeing, which actually surpassed what I see here in Australia – which I thought was getting bad enough!
When I started cooking more from scratch and having my own produce… wow… household waste was cut down by incredible amounts.
Every bit helps?? 🙂
Julie F. says
Most of the time, I can pull dinner together in 30 minutes or less. I mean, lasagna is going to take longer but a good 90% of my repertoire comes together as fast as many convenience meals. Sure, you may lave less to chop but I don’t find the time is much less…so that didn’t surprise me.
I was never a great cook, so we relied heavily on convenience foods early in my marriage. My hubby (who loves to cook) gladly took over and the crappity crap was greatly reduced. Then I became a stay home mom and decided it was not fair that he work all day and then come home and make dinner before he could relax, so I took over once again.
I went back to my old ways, but gradually became a better cook (my crockpot saved me alive for a while there and I watched cooking shows like my life depended on it) and the convenience foods reduced. The hubs still cooks a few times a week (he misses it when he goes too long without time in the kitchen) but I’m now a pretty good cook and make a lot from scratch.
Like someone posted above…I can stock my freezer with homemade “convenience” meals pretty easily and I can control the sodium and avoid all additives and preservatives. They food tastes better and (weirdly, perhaps) actually makes us feel fuller than the heavily processed stuff.
My kids prefer homemade naan pizzas over frozen ones and the homemade copycat hamburger helper recipes over the boxed stuff. So, I don’t see us going back! We do buy Jane’s chicken fingers and a few other convenience things, but we’re happy with the balance we have struck.
I would like to say that I do think it would be a little tougher for me if I worked outside the home.
Thanks Mavis!!
Susie says
We have a big family so it’s cheaper to cook at home. The other day I decided I didn’t want to cook so I went and picked up pizza. It took so long I was crabby I didn’t just throw an egg bake in the oven. Faster and eat cheaper. Basic foods are pretty quick to make – I am glad I enjoy cooking because its one thing that never ends!
Mel says
I know that feeling. I often tell my husband that I love choosing to eat out, but I hate needing to do it. It’s one thing if that’s the plan and we’re enjoying it, but it’s quite another if I just want dinner on the table–then I resent the time and money involved in takeout and can’t enjoy it.
Lace Faerie says
Egg bake? That sounds interesting! Susie, I hope you’ll share your recipe.
I use a lot of organic eggs in our meals. Eggs are an inexpensive source of protein. We eat frittatas, quiche made from leftovers, deviled eggs are always a hit, never had leftovers! Also, I make a scrambled egg dish with cottage cheese, cheddar cheese and some sort of meat, like diced ham, bacon or even seafood. Delish!!
Brian says
This is a great post Mavis. Convenience is becoming the norm. I know I am 80 pounds over weight for convenience sake. Not to mention the financial burden that comes along with it. My favorite new Pinterest addiction (aside from cheese platters) is vintage or retro recipes. Granny was great!
Mavis Butterfield says
You’re right, Granny was great. I have a tin of my grandmothers old recipes and I love it. 🙂
Sue says
We need to wake and pay attention in this country. Did you know a lot of the junk that we have allowed the food industry to put in our food has been banned in a lot of other countries. I read labels and will not buy unless it’s organic and now you have to be careful with that because they are getting sneaky with labeling under other names. No GMOs in my house. We have a garden that we freeze and can vegetable from seeds that have not been genetic produced. Children today have all kind of problems eating junk foods. Food additives and food dyes are all taking a big tole on our little ones. It doesn’t take a lot to get educated about this, just do it for the health for our families.
Pamela says
I think we could do a whole lot better not judging what other people do and eat!!
I do a mix of convenience and home made food. For example I just had a “egg English muffin” sandwich. No, not from that place that sells the original. But one I made a batch of, and froze individually, for times I want something quick. Is this a convenience food? Because it was sure convenient not to have to find something to cook after work!
Torry says
DH and I are both good cooks and enjoy cooking. Our children grew up eating homemade mac and cheese, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, eggplant parmesan, roasted chicken, Spanish rice, casseroles, and lots of vegetables. I will say that family loves coming “home” for dinner. I also enjoy making a salad or biscuits or cornbread to go with the main meal. I learned to do most of the next dinner prep as soon as tonight’s meal was cleaned up. That makes it easier to get dinner on the table every night.
I also do things like roast two chicken at once. Then we have enough leftovers for a chicken casserole, chicken tacos, chicken sandwiches, etc. Dinner out is a treat for me; DH would prefer to stay home to eat.
Jumbe says
My kid had a nut allergy from age one to four. I quickly learned that processed foods pretty much always say “produced in a facility that also processes nuts” So I had to learn to cook fast. Two toddlers aren’t going to wait for homemade lasagna. But if you slap some oil and salt on some chicken thighs and toss them in the oven, then grab a hunk of lettuce you are done. Or slice an apple and throw some cinnamon on it add some cheese slap an egg in a pan. Real food can be fast.
Sandra says
Although I have used some convenience foods and will continue to do so, the majority of our meals and snacks are fresh prepared. I am retired now and have the time to make leisurely meals, but still use the crockpot for days when we are too busy or away from home for many hours. Convenience foods that I keep on hand include canned chili and beans, frozen and canned vegetables, baking mix, ramen and other pastas, canned tuna, canned soup, crackers, and condiments. Usually I buy fresh salad ingredients, fruits, and vegetables, but I like to keep some canned and frozen for back up. I did find that going out to eat after work was no fun. It was always where shall we go? I don’t know. Where do you want to go? I don’t care, whatever you want….blah, blah, etc. etc. Then you load everyone in the car and drive to the restaurant and wait to be seated and then wait to order and wait for food to be served. Really no fun when you are tired and it is really expensive. I realized that I could put together a meal for a fraction of the price and enjoy my kitchen time as a wind down after work. When we do go out for a meal it is special and we really enjoy it. It is not just eating, it is a dining experience.
Em says
We have 5 kids, I work full-time and hubby is on the road most of the month for work.
He eats out every meal basically so he enjoys home-cooked meals when he returns.
My 2 teenage boys are 6′ tall – when we do order pizza it takes 3-4 Costco pizzas just to fill everyone up for a little bit!
We do use jarred spaghetti sauce, and hubby LOVES the blue boxes of Mac & cheese, but my kids didn’t even know ‘hamburger helper’ was a store-bought thing until I started taking them grocery shopping.
I have made my own cream soups, and ground wheat berries for bread, etc but I prefer balance. I’m not going to make homemade noodles for beef stroganoff! I’m glad there are ‘convenience food’ options out there!
With my husband’s diet, his health certainly suffers more than the rest of us: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, overweight.
He snacks well, if it all during the day, but has such long work days he often ends up at the buffet (starving) at 8-9 at night, consuming 2-3,000 calories and then heading to bed.
Jenny Young says
Most of my meals take 15 to 45 minutes to prepare start to finish. I rarely make meals that take longer.
For convenience I buy – pre-cut raw, individually frozen meats, some precut fresh veggies, deli meats & cheeses, frozen steam-fresh veggies, ect. For us fast food is far from convenient. I can have a great tasting meal ready to eat much faster than the time it takes to go buy one & bring it home. I live about 5 miles from town. It takes 12 to 15 minutes one way so 25 to 30 minutes just for drive time without waiting to have my order filled.
gina says
I’m not gonna lie, my kid will only eat Kraft mac n cheese, she thinks homemade is “gross” (silly child!) and the hubs likes frozen Jack’s pizzas (barf!) Other than that, I’m probably a 50/50 convenience cook. I chop all of our veggies, cook all cuts of meat, make my own sauces. On the other hand, some nights I gotta admit- the box of Lucky Charms taunts me from afar and I buckle! I also have to hide chocolate in my underwear drawer to keep the kids out of it! TMI but true!!!
Sheri says
Like a lot of others here , I feel the term “convenience’ per this study needs clarification. I do feel that we ( or I should say manufacturers) are getting better about having canned/frozen/dried food that are still healthier than many..just take tomato soup for example .. I can grow my maters, cook em run em through the strainer etc etc then make soup ..or I can go to the store and buy the canned paste/sauce with little to no additives depending which brand I buy and make it..or buy the soup ..again by reading labels I can go healthy ( organic which would be better than my home grown maters..a brand that tries to use as little REAL sugar and chemicals as possible ( we know tomato soup needs some sweetener) or I could buy that well know little red and white can where the second..yes SECOND ingredient is HFCS ( last time I looked which was probably 4-5 years ago). You now have to have two parents working full time in a lot of cases so the woman (or man) isnt home all day to ‘process’ the food. It used to take a good part of the day to cook three meals too! Also ‘processed’ food has allowed nutrition to be better ..we can have frozen or canned vegetables and fruit year round ( again not everyone has time or a garden) It is up to us as the consumer to question WHY something need THAT much sugar or salt to make it taste better or buy brands that are better
I realize if we had no other choices..we would have to MAKE the time.. but we would also probably be living in a totally different world economy if you think about it. Not saying it wouldnt be a better life either