Infographic of the Week: Time Spent on Food

Food+Tech, Infographics, Open Government — By on November 18, 2011 11:01 am

This week’s Infographic of the Week is not a fancy rendering of factoids, but a collection of graphs and charts essential for those interested in the restaurant, shopping and meal preparation habits of those in the U.S.

According to the USDA report How Much Time Do Americans Spend on Food, we in the U.S. spend an average of 2.5 hours a day eating and drinking, half of which is done while doing something else, like watching tv, driving or working.

But the report digs much deeper.  Here is some of the data we found most interesting for Food+Tech Connect readers:

  • 23 percent of those with higher incomes (185 percent of poverty) eat out at a restaurant on an average day.
  •  A mere 4 percent of the population eats out at someone else’s home on any given day
  • 40 percent of the population eats between the hours of noon-1 and 6-7 p.m.
  • Only 7.5 percent of the population reports eating while traveling to work or to shop.

  • 14 to 18 percent of the population grocery shop every day and those over 65 are the most likely age group to do so, as are those with higher incomes and those living in cities.
  • The average American spends 33 minutes a day on food preparation (women spend 47 minutes, while men spend 18), including clean up, and only 54 percent do so every day.
  • 73 percent of women say they are the ones who usually do the grocery shopping in their household and prepare the meals.

 

About Beth Hoffman:
Beth Hoffman has reported on food and agriculture for ten years, airing on NPR, The World, Latino USA, Living on Earth, KUER and KALW , and studied the food system in depth as a fellow and co-lecturer in the Africa Reporting Project at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Hoffman competed a year long documentary project cooking with immigrant women in their homes, has traveled to India, Uganda and Ethiopia to report on rice production and chicken farming, and did a multipart series for KUER on the artistic, cultural and environmental connections we have to food. In addition to spending many hours on-farm in Utah, California and abroad, Hoffman also married into an Iowa farm family and is currently working with her husband to slowly convert the land into a sustainable orchard and hog farm. She currently lives in Albany, California. Hoffman’s previous work can be found on her website at bethaudio.com.
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  • http://twitter.com/michaelatkinson michaelatkinson

    So, this is interesting information, but it isn’t really surprising. I’m wondering how to turn these data into insights that I can leverage for some purpose. Perhaps as an operator of a restaurant; knowing that people dine mostly at lunch and dinner is helpful…if I own a breakfast only place. So, I may want to open a grazing food truck and just roam the streets the rest of the time…snacking and coffee seem to be a theme. 

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