Food Trends 2020: Stocking Up & Taking Stock
Illustrations by JoEllen Martinson Davis
Before the sourdough starters or victory gardens, we were stockpiling groceries. As we initially retreated to our homes earlier this year, word to the wise was that you’d better pack your pantry and freezer to last about two weeks. Looking for long-lasting shelf staples to minimize trips out, sales of dried beans were up 231% on 2019, yeast up 600%, canned meat up 188%, and canned tuna up 142% (Nielsen). In April, the American Frozen Food Institute found that 86% of US consumers were stocking up on frozen goods, including 7% of consumers who rarely or never normally buy frozen.
While frozen pizzas and Hamburger Helper make for a quick pantry-to-table dinner, dried beans and tinned fish require more thought and ingredients. Food and beverage communications firm HUNTER surveyed US consumers in April, finding the top recipes consumers were searching for were simple, practical meal solutions (61%) and ways to use up current ingredients (60%). The assemblage of food staples - whether strategically purchased, on impulse, or because it was the only option left on bare shelves - begged different questions: what ingredients do I have and how should I use them? How do I organize what’s in my pantry in a way to maximize meals and reduce waste? What recipes will make the ingredients I have on-hand delicious?
To organize and maximize ingredients on hand, spreadsheet strategies emerged detailing every ingredient on hand and what meals could be made from them. Pantry-proof recipe collections were curated. Others turned to the internet asking for help, making way for outlets like the wonderful Home Cooking podcast and DTC cookware brand Great Jones’ free “text potline” where they give out free cooking advice. Google turned out the highest returns for recipe searches of banana bread, meatloaf, pancakes, oatmeal cookies, baked ravioli and sourdough crackers. Cooks, chefs, and food writers everywhere took to their blogs, podcasts and social channels to answer questions and provide cooking inspiration. Popular kitchen appliances like Instant Pots and Air Fryers took on not just dinner but lunch as well. Carb-centric appliances like pasta makers, rice cookers, waffle irons, bread makers and electric griddles saw explosive growth in the five weeks between March 15 and April 18, 2020.
Throughout quarantine, consumers have continually pivoted, learning how to stretch their groceries, cooking skills, and creativity with recipes. While many will regularly return to eating out as soon as it becomes safe to, there are likely longer-term behavior shifts already at play. Of the same HUNTER study (above), more than half (54%) of Americans were cooking more due to the virus and of those, over half (51%) plan to continue doing so afterwards. Most notably, 75% say they have become more confident in the kitchen. And this confidence, which most Millennials and Generation Z were lacking pre-Covid-19, could lead to interesting new cooking and eating trends in the future.
