Infographic of the Week: Time Spent on Food

This week’s Infographic of the Week is not a fancy rendering of factoids, but a collection of graphs and charts essential for those interested in the restaurant, shopping and meal preparation habits of those in the U.S.

According to the USDA report How Much Time Do Americans Spend on Food, we in the U.S. spend an average of 2.5 hours a day eating and drinking, half of which is done while doing something else, like watching tv, driving or working.

But the report digs much deeper.  Here is some of the data we found most interesting for Food+Tech Connect readers:

• 23 percent of those with higher incomes (185 percent of poverty) eat out at a restaurant on an average day.
•  A mere 4 percent of the population eats out at someone else’s home on any given day
• 40 percent of the population eats between the hours of noon-1 and 6-7 p.m.
• Only 7.5 percent of the population reports eating while traveling to work or to shop.

• 14 to 18 percent of the population grocery shop every day and those over 65 are the most likely age group to do so, as are those with higher incomes and those living in cities.
• The average American spends 33 minutes a day on food preparation (women spend 47 minutes, while men spend 18), including clean up, and only 54 percent do so every day.
• 73 percent of women say they are the ones who usually do the grocery shopping in their household and prepare the meals.