RESEARCH ZONE

Food For Thought

As part of our Digital Consumer Portrait research series, InsightExpress recently asked consumers about behaviors related to food buying and preparation. Our goal was to understand how often meals are made at home, and how digital media is used to help prepare these meals.

It turns out that dinner is the meal most often made at home, with 50 percent of respondents reporting that they cook a homemade meal between five and seven times a week. Breakfast is not far behind, with 41 percent stating that they prepare a morning meal at home between five and seven times a week. Not surprisingly, lunch came in last with only 33 percent of individuals making this meal at home between five and seven times a week.

Anticipating that cookbooks would still be the main source of recipe and meal inspiration, we asked respondents to show us where they turned for recipes. The most common resources were cookbooks (69 percent), family (64 percent), magazines (55 percent), and online recipe sites (51 percent).

We learned that when a new recipe is needed, people most often look through cookbooks (54 percent), but search engines are close behind (51 percent). The makers of favorite ingredients can also provide mealtime ideas. In fact, 35 percent of people said they have gone to a brand’s site to get recipes.

The mobile ethnography  portion of our study revealed that few people organize their cookbooks, making the search for the perfect meal a daunting task. It was also fascinating to see that almost every respondent who provided a photo had a Better Homes & Gardens and/or Betty Crocker cookbook. Maybe when it comes to good food the more things change, the more they stay the same.

As we all know, some recipes are better than others. But what exactly are people looking for as they click through a Web site or flip through a cookbook? Our research found the two most important characteristics of a good recipe are its ability to be prepared quickly (57 percent) and offer something new (50 percent). Fast and fresh, in a nutshell.

Dessert usually rounds out the meal, but will power seems to be winning out these days. Almost half (46 percent) of respondents said they never have dessert after lunch. A similar number (44 percent) say that they have dessert after dinner one to two times a week. Their dentists should be proud!

About the research

In Q3 2009, a total of 1,555 surveys were conducted among a sample representative of the US online population. InsightExpress has conducted the Digital Consumer Portrait, a quarterly study of 1,200 – 1,600 US consumers, since July 2007.

Learn More

For further details about this research or mobile ethnography, please contact Joy Liuzzo, Senior Director of Marketing & Mobile Research, at jliuzzo@insightexpress.com.