Are parents who buy ready meals very busy, or just terrible cooks?

‘Lack of time’ is often cited by parents as a reason for purchasing ready-made meals for their families, and many marketing campaigns attempt to capitalise on that. But a study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Behavior has found that being busy is merely one contributing factor in the choice of convenience meals.

Researchers have assessed the reasons why parents buy ready-meals for their families and tested these reasons against sociodemographic factors, as well as the cooking and meal planning abilities of participants.

Previous research found significant associations between the purchase of ready-meals and employment, but this study suggests that employment only had an effect on one of the reasons parents gave for buying ready-meals: “I don’t have time to prepare other foods.”

The researchers found that parents from all social backgrounds endorse reasons for buying pre-packaged food, and parents’ perceived meal planning and cooking abilities may be the most common underlying cause of these reasons.