"As home cooks lack the energy for time-intensive meals, focus on shortcuts that offer flexibility and variety through multi-functionality. Leverage community to spark home cooks' enjoyment of cooking."
Hope Banks Petrikowski, Analyst – Food & Drink
Cooking fatigue is increasingly shaping home cooks’ behaviour. 42% feel too exhausted to put much effort into cooking or preparing meals most days, driving up usage of prepared meals. Scratch cooking continues to hold up, reflecting scratch cooks’ strong motivation to cook to achieve high-quality meals. In contrast, semi-scratch cooking is declining, likely as part-ready components don’t meet the quality bar consumers now expect.
At the same time, rising weight management intentions are encouraging home cooks to prioritise health in their meals, fuelling interest in smaller portion sizes and a growing emphasis on nutrient diversity. While these healthy eating intentions collide with home cooks’ low energy levels, ingredient swaps and recipe modifications are commonplace, as home cooks seek to boost the health benefits without having to sway far from their usual recipe rotation. In turn, consumer demand for nutrient-boosted and modular cooking companions is on the rise.
Meanwhile, high levels of loneliness among younger consumers offer brands the opportunity to rekindle or instil a greater joy of cooking by fostering community and connection – whether through guides to recreating viral recipes on social media, encouraging communal cooking or offering aesthetically pleasing dish toppers to elevate home cooks’ dinner parties.
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