Recipes on the Rise

The frequency with which U.S. families eat meals at home is on the rise and the use of recipes has followed suit.

Recipes are Cooking, a recent recipe usage report released by The NPD Group, finds 42 percent of U.S. families using recipes at least once per week in 2011, up from 37 percent in 2005.

The NPD report reveals that two-thirds (67 percent) of all homemakers have used at least one recipe during the past month, and two in five (42 percent) have used recipes more often than that. As dinner is the most likely recipe-based meal, nearly 38 million U.S. households used a recipe while preparing their evening meal in the past week, and 11 million households prepare dinner using a recipe on average.

“Cost-conscious American families are eating meals at home more, which means household cooks are in greater need of meal ideas,” says Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst. “Recipes provide the ideas for convenient and good tasting meals and enable households to stretch food dollars by providing new and creative ways to use ingredients already available at home.”

The millennial generation - born between 1982 and 2001 – is the driving force behind this resurgence of recipe usage. Half of all millennials, nearly 30 million, use recipes at least once per week, as do 45 percent of Generation Xers, nearly 25 million. Other frequent recipe users, households using recipes at least once per week, trend toward traditional families that include children under the age of 18.

“As in-home meal consumption continues to grow, the home cooks’ need for new and interesting meal ideas is going to continue to grow as well,” says Seifer. “Food manufacturers can take advantage of the advanced planning involved in recipe dishes. If you can promote the right recipe in front of these cooks you are very likely to get on their shopping list.”

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries.