Cooking at Home: A Strategy to Comply With U.S. Dietary Guidelines at No Extra Cost

Abstract

Introduction Cooking at home is associated with better diet quality. This study examined the frequency of home-cooked dinners versus eating out in relation to the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and food expenditures. Methods The Seattle Obesity Study used a stratified random sample of 437 King County adults. In-person computer-assisted interviews collected sociodemographic and behavioral data during 2011–2013. HEI-2010 and 2005 were computed using Food Frequency Questionnaires. Multivariable regression analyses, conducted in 2015, examined associations among HEI scores, food expenditures, and frequency of cooking at home versus eating out variables. Results Frequent home-cooked dinners were associated with being married, unemployed, larger households, presence of children aged <12 years, and lower frequency of eating out, but unrelated to education or income. In adjusted models, frequent at-home cooking was associated with higher HEI-2010 (β=7.4, p<0.001), whereas frequent eating out was associated with lower HEI-2010 (β= −6.6, p<0.001). Frequent home cooking was linked with reduced per capita food expenditures overall ($330/month among low vs $273/month among high cooking group, p<0.001), and reduced away-from-home expenditures ($133 and $65, respectively), without any significant increase in at-home food expenditures. However, frequent eating out was associated with significantly higher per capita food expenditures overall ($261 in low vs $364 among high eating out group, p=0.001), and higher away-from-home expenditures. Conclusions Home-cooked dinners were associated with greater dietary guideline compliance, without significant increase in food expenditures. By contrast, frequent eating out was associated with higher expenditures and lower compliance. Home cooking may be a component of nutrition resilience.

Neighbourhood social capital and obesity: a systematic review of the literature

“…Christensen and Carpiano also examined the effect of specific types of network social capital (measures of social involvement related to employment, apprenticeship, child education and residence) and found that social capital was both positively and negatively associated with BMI and that this relationship was mediated through greater participation in sports and strenuous exercise (lower BMI) and greater interest in cooking (higher BMI) . While the positive association of social capital and BMI through interest in cooking may seem counterintuitive (home cooking has been associated with lower BMI and eating out increases the risk of obesity ), the authors explain their findings in terms of (i) a greater desire to entertain friends as opposed to preparing healthy and nutritious meals and (ii) the receipt of greater demands from others, resulting in preparing meals for oneself and others that are more convenient and time efficient than healthy. Various researches have pointed out how cooking interest, sometimes driven by the massive increase in TV cooking shows that promote fancy rather than healthy meals, can also explain this association .…”

Food away from home of middle-income earners: Empirical evidence from the three major cities in Malaysia

“…As indicated by Farfan et al (2017) in their findings, the consumption of food particularly for FAFH is rapidly growing across the developing world, and will continue to do so as GDP per person grows and food systems evolve. Interestingly, Tiwari et al (2017) found that income is unrelated with consuming food at home.…”

“…Most of the previous studies indicated that household size or family size is one of the important variables used to determine household expenditure and is statistically significant (Benus et al, 1976;Battese & Bonyhady, 1979;Kulub Abd. Rashid et al, 2010;Sekhampu & Niyimbanira, 2013;Tiwari et al, 2017). For FAFH, Lee and Tan (2007) found that household size did not affect total monthly household expenditure on FAFH.…”

Life cycle models of women's body mass index and probability of being obese: Evidence from panel data

“…However, people who cook at home more often, rather than eating out, tend to have healthier overall diets without higher food expenses. In addition, they perform significantly better on the HEI and were less likely to be obese (Tiwari et al., )…”