Americans are returning to pre-pandemic habits and cooking at home less, according to a Gallup-Cookpad global survey published Monday.
Much of the increased workload of the pandemic home cooking boom was shouldered by women, the survey said.
People in the U.S. and Canada ate the fewest number of home-cooked meals per week out of any region in the world in 2022, averaging only 8.4 meals per week — the same rate they exhibited in 2019.
In the U.S. specifically, the eating-at-home rate reached a “historic low” last year, at 8.2 meals per week compared to 9.4 seen in 2020.
A variety of factors could explain the pullback in home cooking, including workers returning to the office — and cooking fewer lunches — and feeling more comfortable going out to eat, Andrew Dugan, the research director of the study, told Axios.