How Our Consumption Has Changed

We're getting our food faster, and on the run, and usually not making very sure what we're stuffing our faces with. How will Peak Oil effect our consumption? More on that later.

Takeout, curbside dining are on the rise
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
Americans are doing a lot more dashboard dining and takeout than they did 20 years ago, according to a new survey from a leading market research firm.

"People don't want to get out of their cars to get dinner," says Harry Balzer, a vice president for NPD Group. That's why upscale restaurant chains are offering takeout and curbside services, he says.

He says takeout meals are popular because they are cheaper than dining in a restaurant, and people get fresh food without shopping, cleaning and preparing it.

Many people are experiencing "fresh stress," he says. "They want fresh foods, but they don't have time to make it."

For more than 20 years, the NPD Group has tracked people's eating habits in their homes and at restaurants. The company has 40 different ongoing surveys, including one in which 3,500 people fill out a form daily about what restaurants they visited the day before. The findings show that people today:

• Eat about 32 restaurant-purchased meals a person a year in their cars, up from 19 meals a person in 1985.

• Get 57 takeout restaurant meals for home a person a year, compared with 33 meals in 1985.

• Order 22% of restaurant meals from the car, up from 14% in 1998.

• Buy about 27 restaurant meals a person to take to work, up from 23 meals in 1985.

• Eat about 80 meals a person at restaurants, down from 93 in 1985.

Supermarkets might have to follow the restaurant trend and offer curbside service, Balzer says. "At some point, they are going to have to knock a hole in the side of the wall and throw the rotisserie chicken out as you drive by."

Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the National Restaurant Association, says the popularity of takeout probably will continue.

"Most restaurant operators report that takeout, which includes curbside, drive-through and delivery, represents a higher proportion of their total sales than it did two years ago."

From the consumer perspective, one out of five diners say they'd like to be ordering even more takeout. Women are especially likely to report that, Riehle says.

Many people are cooking less, partly because so many homemakers have entered the workforce, Balzer says. Other findings:

• Foods that are more likely to be a part of today's diet than in 1985 include sweetened cereals for breakfast, carbonated soft drinks for lunch and dinner and salty snacks.

• Dishes that are less likely to be part of today's diet than in 1985 include toast for breakfast, coffee for lunch, vegetables for dinner and carbonated soft drinks as a snack.