Fast Food Trends
“I feel like I have less than zero time outside of the essential life survival!”
For Birmingham attorney Suzanne Ashe 10 and 12 hour work days are common, and at home she’s constantly chasing after her two preschoolers.
“I eat at my desk, breakfast and lunch a lot of times because I don’t have time to do breakfast at home while I’m getting the kids out the door.”
So Ashe is always looking for ways to save time when it comes to food. On this day she’s trying one of the hottest new products out of Canada: the 5-Minute Chef Meal. It hit shelves in the United States in March, so Ashe is one of the first here to try it.
Bypassing the oven – even the microwave – this meal warms itself up, in its own box, anywhere, using technology the U-S government developed to feed soldiers during the Gulf War. But is it any good? Between bites, Ashe has this assessment.
“It’s really not bad. The noodles taste overcooked. Overall, it’s a little bland. I didn’t expect it be really great tasting so it’s not a big disappointment. I mean it’s definitely edible.”
Not exactly a glowing recommendation, but that probably won’t faze the manufacturer and others like it who are rushing new convenience foods to market. They’re responding to changing family demographics, says Keecha Harris, a registered dietitian and W. K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society fellow.
“We have a very small proportion of families that actually convene on a regular basis to eat meals. So mom may be eating in the kitchen and dad may be eating at the television and about 50 percent of their teenagers are going to be eating at their computer.”
And then there’s the car. Twenty percent of all meals today are consumed in the car, leading to the rise of so-called “handheld foods” that don’t drip, spill or stick. One example that raised eyebrows when it was test-marketed in the northeastern U.S. is Breakaway Foods’ line of IncrEdible brands, including scrambled eggs and Mac& Cheese in push-up tubes.
“It was in a package that was shaped like an old push-up ice cream bar.”
Williams Roberts is business editor of Prepared Foods Magazine.
“You’d put it in the microwave for however long, I think it was 90 seconds, you pulled it out and you had a little stick that you put in the one end and you pushed it out the other end.”
But the push-up tube was a flop with consumers. It was too messy and they couldn’t pepper their eggs. Roberts says failures are common.
“I would guestimate, on the conservative side, 50% will fail and will be off the shelves within a year.”
Although overall food sales are flat, convenience foods are selling at a pretty fast clip led by products like Go-Gurt and Campbell’s Soup-at-Hand. Production of handheld foods is growing at an annual rate of eight percent and sales could reach $2.5 billion a year by 2004, thanks in part to colorful packaging and catchy television advertising, says University of Alabama-Birmingham nutrition professor Beth Kitchin.
“It’s all marketing! No matter how intelligent a consumer is I think a lot of us really fall for that sort of stuff because we want that edge. But so many of these things are so expensive and they’re not going to be of any additional benefit, but people go for it!”
Meanwhile, manufacturers are cooking up new convenience foods that they hope consumers will go for in the coming months. The menu includes hot Ore-Ida French fries from vending machines and for those health-conscious parents — the “I Love Veggies Turkey Kit”, which offers kids meatless veggie turkey slices, crackers and cheese.
RFK Jr. boots all members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee
Health Secretary RFK Jr. has removed all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He says replacing them with new members will help restore 'public trust' in vaccines.
Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation suit against Blake Lively dismissed
Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit was in response to Lively accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us.
Sly Stone, visionary funk frontman of the Family Stone, has died at age 82
The musical visionary led a multi-racial funk band that produced five Top 10 hits in the late 1960s and early '70s.
Pam Bondi’s brother overwhelmingly defeated in heated race to lead the D.C. Bar
The race became a microcosm for the clashes and pressures on the American legal system this year, in part because one of the two top candidates is the younger brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump’s travel ban is now in effect. Here’s what to know
The ban, which revives a controversial measure from Trump's first term, took effect Monday morning. Here's what to know about who's affected, who's exempt and how foreign leaders are responding.
Warner Bros. Discovery to be split, as Zaslav retreats from grand ambitions
Warner Bros. Discovery is to split into two, separating streaming and studios from its cable channels. The company has been burdened by debt and the decline of cable TV.
