One question I am often asked, and the person who asks the question usually provides the answer as well, is: “Do you know why families don’t have any money today?” And, the answer they share is: “They don’t prepare foods like they used to. They use too much prepackaged food. They eat out too much.” Which is it? Or are those answers really the reason?

I would venture to say that in a majority of the cases, families don’t make meals from scratch, use prepackaged food and eat out more often because of lack of time. The Economic Research Service of the USDA analyzed the data collected from the American Time Use Survey in 2003-04 to see how different household characteristics affect the time spent in food preparation. Some of the key findings include:

Nonworking women spend about 70 minutes per day in food preparation (time spent preparing, serving, and cleanup).

Women who work part-time spend about 55 minutes per day in food preparation.

Women who work full-time spend about 40 minutes per day in food preparation.

Single women show a similar pattern of spending less time in food preparation with increased time spent working. However, when compared to married or partnered women, single women spend less time preparing food overall.

Having more children living in the household increases the time a woman spends preparing food.

Men spend less time preparing food than women. Nonworking men spend from 28 minutes per day in food preparation. Men who work full-time spend about 15 minutes per day in food preparation.

The USDA prepares a monthly “Cost of Food at Home” which includes four different budgets for a family of four and uses the low-cost healthy foods from the USDA publication “Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals.” It is estimated that these menus will take anywhere from 80 minutes to 2.5 hours per day on average to prepare.

This study reflects that we need to reconsider thoughts about families making meals from scratch, in this age of so much to do, too little time.

How much time do you really spend preparing food at home? Take the next week and keep track of how much time you really spend in preparing, serving and cleaning up from family meals and snacks. You might be surprised that you don’t spend the time you think you do, or even the time you used to spend on preparing family meals.

If you are interested in looking at the USDA Food Plans, the April 2007 “Cost of Food at Home” publication is available online at www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodApr07.pdf .

For more information or to make comments on the information contained in Coulee Consumer, please write to La Crosse County UW-Extension, Attention: Coulee Consumer, 400 N. Fourth St., La Crosse, WI 54601, or call 785-9593.

.