Posted on 04/04/2020 6:52:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway
While it’s hard to see the bright side of things during the dark days of the coronavirus pandemic, one potential silver lining is the fact most consumers are cooking more at home. Research has shown that home cooking not only often can lead to healthier overall lifestyles, but it’s also a good life skill to teach kids.
And whether you’re taking a casual tour of social media or looking at data from any number of sources, signs today definitely point to more of us making our own food. A lot more of us.
But what specifically do the numbers say? First, that a lot of people are learning to make certain types of food for the first time.
Whether it’s something as simple as making rice…
Or something a little more complicated like making bread, interest has spiked to all time highs.
But it’s not just Google searches that are shifting, but actual purchase data of cooking equipment. According to NPD analyst Joe Derochowski, demand for gear to make food at home has jumped significantly.
According to tracking data from NPD for the week ending March 21st, purchases of bread makers were up 800% when compared to the same week a year ago. Electric rotisseries were up nearly 4 times the previous year, while pasta makers were pacing at 3 times their normal sales when compared to a year ago.
While people are learning the basics and scooping up housewares to help them prepare more food at home, they’re also looking for recipes that lets them pinch a penny or two. Chicory, a shoppable recipe app platform used by recipe publishers, has seen a spike in interest for low-cost “bowl food” like soups and stroganoff.
The table below shows a snapshot in time look at the top daily recipe views near the end of March:
What the table data tells us is that people are making comfort food that can stretch a buck, which is not all that surprising since many of us have been thrust into financial uncertainty in relatively short order.
While there are many differences between the great recession and today’s crisis, it is instructive to look at what happened then to get an idea of how behaviors changed during the downturn. Data from NPD shows those categories that saw an increase between February 2007 (pre-crisis) and February 2010 (post-crisis) were pasta dishes, bread and cereal.
In other words, not only did we look to make food that was affordable such as pasta and casseroles then, but we also consumed more carbs, which tend to be cheaper than protein-heavy foods.
And while we are once again cooking more food that will feed us more affordably, unlike the 2008 and 2009 time frame, early indicators show that recent behavior shifts might be driven in part by a desire for food self-sufficiency rather than just saving a buck. Data from Chicory shows in the chart below there’s was a massive spike in mid-March in interest in scratch cooking.
Naturally, part of the interest in making things like corn bread and cookies is due to most of us having more time on our hands, but I also have to wonder if the rapid growth in interest in things like making things like tortillas and basic bread is because some consumers worry they might have to make these staples at home for the foreseeable future.
How permanent these behavior shifts will be depend in large part on how the COVID-19 crisis resolves itself over the course of 2020-2021. My guess is the lingering effects of the Coronavirus crisis will be longer and deeper than that of the great recession and, ultimately, result in more permanent behavior changes than we saw from the last big downturn.
Well I know the store is sold out of flour more often than not!!
i’d really like to make sourdough bread some day
Our stores are sold out of yeast, too!
My bread machine has been very busy lately...
:-)
Baking from scratch isn’t just cheaper. It is a way to pass the time.
My kids are baking a lot, because it is entertainment AND has a definite reward at the end. Hard part is getting them to make dinner as they did tonight.
Was at Wally World today and forgot to check for yeast.
Last time, I asked the fat chick in the baking aisle "Do you have yeast?"
She "Yeah, but the doctor gave me something for it and it's almost cleared up".
I forgot about bread and moved on to Sporting Goods.
Well, I’ve been self-medicating with comfort food. If this goes on much longer I’m going to have to trade my front door for a garage door.
What did they make?
Just beware of COVID-15. It is spread by the consumption of various home-cooked foods. It is usually not life-threatening just causes you to gain 15 pounds like a freshman in college. Most of my friends are already afflicted with it to one degree or another.
SPOT ON. = So that she could make homemade bread & cinnamon rolls for her kids, I gave one of my 5# sacks of flour to a SFC’s wife (who I met for the 1st time at the FSH Commissary, last Thursday), as she could buy NONE, after looking several places.
There seems to be a lot of INFORMAL cases of “helping each other out” & some bartering happening “in this time of CHINESE VIRUS” within the FSH community.
Yours, TMN78247
USA, Retired
WHERE did you find any YEAST?? = NONE around here that my neighbor can find.
(Since she cannot make bread, I’ve been sharing my cornbread with Alichia.= We had navy beans, with ham last night, fried cornbread & coffee for Supper.)
Yours, TMN78247
WHERE did you find any YEAST?? = NONE around here that my neighbor can find.
(Since she cannot make bread, I’ve been sharing my cornbread with Alichia.= We had navy beans, with ham last night, fried cornbread & coffee for Supper.)
Yours, TMN78247
WHERE did you find any YEAST?? = NONE around here that my neighbor can find.
(Since she cannot make bread, I’ve been sharing my cornbread with Alichia.= We had navy beans, with ham last night, fried cornbread & coffee for Supper.)
Yours, TMN78247
WHERE did you find any YEAST?? = NONE around here that my neighbor can find.
(Since she cannot make bread, I’ve been sharing my cornbread with Alichia.= We had navy beans, with ham last night, fried cornbread & coffee for Supper.)
Yours, TMN78247
100% CORRECT.= ImVho, NOTHING is better than my neighbor’s SOURDOUGH whole wheat bread & scratch sweet rolls.
(Alichia & I “trade” baked goods often & more so now, since there are shortages of lots of things & we are under a “stay home” thing.)
Yours, TMN78247
Have a bread maker coming in the next week!
Cannot wait to make my own bread.
DO ANY of our GREAT members who cook, have a WONDERFUL recipe for old-time BREAD PUDDING (of the sort that people made 6+ decades ago, when i was in my boyhood) & that they want to share??
In my boyhood in NETEX, bread pudding was usually served with a HOT & semi-sweet sauce poured on top.
Yours, TMN78247
I had some in my pantry but need more.
None to be found!
However, there are lots of recipes for bread without yeast.
I’m not a cook - don’t really like cooking hence the magic bread maker! - but YouTube has lots of how-to videos and there are recipes all over the Internet.
Real cooks also say that yeast floats around in the air and will land on your uncovered bread dough.
I have no idea about that and am willing to give it a whirl, but here in Colorado I know that the one thing that I can count on floating around and landing on every single thing is... dust!
:-D
Gardening is getting big too. All the seed sources are running out. Chicken hatcheries are swamped with orders as well.
Navy beans?!?
Our stores are out!
I have a slab of ham and only need one little bag of navy beans but, alas, there are none to be had.
So sad.
;-)
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