Consumers Look for Value in All the Right Places

Cooking at Home

Pressed by time and financial resources, consumers often will choose to pick up fast food. However, in an article about consumer behavior, Kellogg's chief executive officer offered positive reports that increased consumer buying, particularly for cereal and packaged goods indicate a shift to eating more at home. What's the best thing that could happen? Consumers may find dining at home to be a more favorable choice.

More importantly, dietary concerns for children as well as adults to eat healthy may encourage consumers to make better food choices. The bounty of available foods stocked on food market shelves, choices among fresh, frozen and packaged items, offer a boom to consumers. With all these choices, where does the consumer get ideas of what to cook and what to eat? My nephew in the 9^th grade has already taken three elective cooking classes and has opinions on what's being served at every meal. Perhaps some schools may support efforts to educate the younger generations on meal preparation that could promote cultural and health awareness.

Maybe for many consumers, getting creative in the kitchen can be both challenging and time saving. How often did your mother quickly pull together a pot of soup with vegetables, meats, and pastas—and had absolutely no recipe? Because our decisions of what to eat are often dependent on what tastes good, surely thinking of simple, made-from-scratch meals will be satisfying to eat for the whole family. A recent article in The New York Times, Replicating Restaurant Dishes at Home, brought up an interesting topic about the desire for healthier home cooked versions of fast food recipes. Too often our food choices have become easily fooled by salty tastes and food additives. Strip away these food enhancers and what you have is often not desirable at all.

Take for example a simple dish of spaghetti and meatballs, as the article points out. Recreating this favorite restaurant dish to serve at home, with minced fresh garlic and a splash of wine added to the meatball mix can make for a savory dinner meal any day of the week. Besides, consumers looking for value can save money by eating more at home than going out to restaurants. Eating at home is a winning solution--for the love of food and your wallet.