New Convenience Foods Require Home Cooks To Do A Little Work

Food companies have determined that many women, and increasingly more men, enjoy cooking dinner at home but often don’t have the time. They reluctantly turn to boxed or frozen convenience foods. But now companies are developing packaged meals – e.g., Kraft’s new Recipe Makers products – that require the cook to do a little of the work. In its consumer research, Kraft showed women versions of convenience foods that required adding either one or two sauces. The women preferred the two-sauce version because the added steps made the product feel more like homemade. A Kraft researcher said women wanted to spend at least 15 to 30 minutes peeling, chopping or doing other meal preparation "to have it count”.