FOOD + DRINK

Less Eating Out, More Home Cooking for my Gastronomic Wednesday

Posted on March 18, 2009

pad thai recipes on tastespotting

I had good words for the home cooking trend last January. With many recent cookbooks preached a back to basics culinary approach and a change in our eating out habits, simple home cooking grows in popularity.

To prove my point, the March 2009 edition of delicious revealed drastic changes in food shopping and food consumption over the last year. A total of 3558 British people answered their survey. The conclusions are:

  • 82% are eating out less often
  • 51% are buying less takeouts (I found some conflicting data with Australia reporting an increased in takeout sales; but it may vary per country)
  • 40% have started taking lunch at work
  • 54% are making more meals from scratch
  • People also prepare more and more homemade desserts and bake cakes.

These facts put pressure on finding new recipes. The cooking magazines and cooking blogs will continue to be popular. I hope that as a society, we will recover the pleasure of home cooked meal. It is healthier and better for our wallet.

Takeouts Vs. Home Cooking

To measure how much you could save by cooking a home meal, Francesca Percy of Taste.au compared takeout prices versus home cooking on typical British takeout dishes. The comparison is based on recipes published on Taste.au. You will save

Tastespotting features 15 Pad Thai recipes and 2 Margherita pizza recipes. FoodTV.ca proposes plenty of Fish and Chips recipes.

By the way, have you heard of these food acronyms popular in Britain?

  • CREAM which stands for Cancel reservation, eat at mine
  • STAGS which stands for Stand at Home Gourmets
  • STAYCATIONS which means that you stay at home during the holiday instead of going away

Thanks to Matthew Drennan, the editor of delicious for sharing this evolution of verbal communication.

An ex-lifestyle and entertaining expert and UX designer who became a STEAM educator. At Bidouilleurs, I helped kids aged 5-12 become inventors and makers. An innovative mom who cares about gender equality and to get more girls and boys interested in STEM/STEAM.

  • Sabina
    March 19, 2009 at 11:22

    Wow, I loved reading all of this. We too are eating out less and brown bagging it more often. Another great post Kim!!

  • Jess
    March 19, 2009 at 13:22

    Kim– this is so interesting! Taking it one step further, I’ve heard of may people who are starting vegetable gardens this year. I think it’s such a great idea and can’t wait to start my own this spring. Homegrown and homecooking– sounds delicious!

  • At Home with Kim Vallee
    March 19, 2009 at 14:07

    Jess: you are absolutely right. In fact, even city dwellers are growing vegetables in flower pots.