Reuters reports that a study by the NPD Group on eating patterns has found that Americans are microwaving meals more than ever. From 1990 to 2007 about 20% of meals were made with a microwave. The percentage of microwaved meals jumped to 30% last year.
Americans have been eating at home more often since the beginning of the decade, but in 2008 their microwaves did much of the work, according to NPD Group's 24th annual report on eating patterns in America.
"Microwaving has been flat for two decades, but it increased last year as Americans found a way to eat at home and not cook," said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at NPD Group.
About 20 percent of all meals prepared in U.S. homes from 1990 to 2007 involved using a microwave. Last year, such usage rose ten percent, the market research company found.
The increase usage should ultimatelty lead a rise in microwave purchases as more microwaves will break down if more of them are being used.
Photo: Panasonic NN-H965BF Luxury Full-Size 2.2-Cubic-Foot 1,250-Watt Microwave Oven, Black from Amazon.com
Jennifer Clair from Home Cooking New York demonstrates some basic knife skills for beginning cooks. She demonstrates the correct way to hold a chef's knife, and how to slice an onion and some garlic. Take a look:
Home Cooking New York offers in-home cooking classes, children's parties and private cooking parties. Jennifer is the founder of the company.
Wal-Mart Says Shoppers Buying Small Appliances, Cookware
Wal-Mart reported a 5.1% increase in sales at its stores open a year or more during February. Wal-Mart's Eduardo Castro-Wright says shopping trips are increasing again now that gasoline is cheaper. He also said shoppers are buying more groceries, small appliances and cooking equipment so they can save money by cooking at home.
"Shopping trips had seen a significant decline back when gasoline prices were at record high levels" Eduardo Castro-Wright, Wal-Mart’s head of U.S. stores, said in a Feb. 26 interview. "Now we're seeing a reversal of that."
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, reported today that sales at U.S. stores open at least a year increased 5.1 percent in February, better than its prediction for 1 percent to 3 percent growth in the three months ending May 1. An increase in customer traffic drove the gains, Wal-Mart said in a statement.
Consumers' biggest worry has shifted from gasoline prices, which have tumbled from a record in July, to "the fear of losing their jobs and being able to make payments on mortgages and credit-card balances," Castro-Wright said.
Shoppers want to save money by eating in and are buying groceries, small appliances, cookware and "anything that has to do with the home," he said last week from his office in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is based.
The home cooking trend that was also noted in a report that found sales of food magazines are rising. The report said that food magazines are also considering home cooks' budgets when they present recipes.
As the recession drags on, magazines are changing the tone and content of articles and features to better reflect the economic challenges women are facing. Food magazines are considering cooks' budgets when they present recipes for the home cook.
After covering eating trends that have included haute pub food, exotic fruits like yuzu, and restaurants that dehydrated, foamed and froze everything from meat to dessert, upscale food magazines are writing about an even more unexpected topic: cheap home eating.
Reflecting the bad economy, Gourmet, which usually writes about expensive restaurants and faraway travel, has added a feature about what to do with leftovers, and put a ham sandwich -- albeit a fancy one -- on its March cover.
Food & Wine's March issue includes an essay on buying the cheapest bottle on a wine list. Bon Appetit's April cover trumpets a "low-cost, big-flavor" pizza party.
"There is an incredible opportunity," said Ruth Reichl, the editor in chief of Gourmet. "People need help learning to cook again, and they need advice on less-expensive ingredients, and we're trying to give it to them."
The budget-minded approach is one that seems to resonate with readers. Despite the economy, food magazines remain popular: most recorded gains or only slight drops in the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations report, which compared the last six months of 2008 with the period a year earlier.
As the high-end magazines try to survive a shaky 2009, it is out with the truffles, in with the button mushrooms.
"There are ways in which we feel it should change," said Dana Cowin, the editor in chief of Food & Wine, published by American Express Publishing. "We don't, for example, do recipes that involve loads of foie gras and shavings of truffles."
Home cooking has seen a resurgence as families cut out restaurant visits to save money and they are looking for help in preparing low cost meals that taste good.
Reuters 
Wal-Mart reported a 5.1% increase in sales at its stores open a year or more during February. Wal-Mart's Eduardo Castro-Wright 
