Grocery shopping habits reflect more than what people put in their carts. Spending levels, food-price changes, household responsibilities, time pressure, online ordering, and meal-planning routines all shape how Americans organize meals and food budgets. The statistics below focus mainly on the United States, with measurement periods identified for each source.
Contents
- Grocery spending and category shifts
- Food prices shaping decisions
- Who shops and who prepares meals
- Time spent on grocery and food work
- Online grocery participation
- Planning and saving at the store
Grocery spending and category shifts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average U.S. consumer unit spent $10,169 on food in 2024. Of that total, $6,224 went to food at home, and food at home represented 7.9% of total average annual expenditures. Average food-at-home spending increased 2.8% from 2023 to 2024. These are averages for consumer units, so they describe overall spending patterns rather than a typical weekly bill for every household. (Consumer expenditures in 2024)
Category changes were uneven. Average spending on meat, poultry, fish, and eggs reached $1,414 per consumer unit in 2024, up 21.5% from 2023. Cereals and bakery products accounted for $779, but that average fell 6.1% year over year. Fruits and vegetables accounted for $953, down 3.5% from 2023. The spending figures show where household budgets landed; they do not by themselves identify whether changes came from prices, quantities, product substitutions, or a combination of those factors. (Consumer expenditures in 2024)
| Food-at-home category | Average 2024 spending per consumer unit | Change from 2023 to 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs | $1,414 | +21.5% |
| Fruits and vegetables | $953 | -3.5% |
| Cereals and bakery products | $779 | -6.1% |
The contrast between categories matters for meal planning. A household can face a sharply higher average outlay in one group while reducing spending in another. A grocery plan built around flexible recipes can therefore respond to category-level changes instead of treating the entire food budget as if it moved uniformly.
Food prices shaping decisions
The December 2024 Consumer Price Index release provides a separate view of price movement. U.S. food-at-home prices rose 1.8% from December 2023 to December 2024. During the same period, cereals and bakery products rose 0.8%, meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 4.2%, dairy and related products rose 1.3%, fruits and vegetables rose 1.0%, nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials rose 2.3%, and other food at home rose 0.8%. (Consumer Price Index News Release - 2024 M12 Results)
Several subcategories moved more dramatically. Beef prices rose 5.4% from December 2023 to December 2024, while poultry prices rose 0.8%. Eggs rose 8.5%. The egg figure is a price change for that period, not a forecast and not a measure of how much every household spent on eggs. (Consumer Price Index News Release - 2024 M12 Results)
| CPI food-at-home measure | December 2023–December 2024 change |
|---|---|
| Food at home | +1.8% |
| Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs | +4.2% |
| Beef | +5.4% |
| Eggs | +8.5% |
| Fruits and vegetables | +1.0% |
| Cereals and bakery products | +0.8% |
These price movements help explain why shoppers may compare stores, change proteins, or use a list more carefully. They should not be confused with the annual spending changes above: CPI measures price movement, while consumer-expenditure averages measure dollars spent by consumer units.
Who shops and who prepares meals
USDA Economic Research Service data for U.S. adults aged 18 and older in 2023 shows that grocery responsibility was distributed across several levels. A total of 12.3% usually did none of their household’s grocery shopping, 13.8% did a little, 19.0% did some, 15.6% did a lot, and 39.3% did all of it. (Table 3: Usual grocery shopper and usual meal preparer in the household, on an average day in 2023)
The gender figures in the same 2023 table show a difference in reported household roles. Among men aged 18 and older, 27.9% usually did all of their household’s grocery shopping. Among women, the corresponding share was 50.2%. For meal preparation, 22.2% of men usually did all of it, compared with 43.0% of women. Among adults aged 25–64, 40.7% usually did all of their household’s grocery shopping. (Table 3: Usual grocery shopper and usual meal preparer in the household, on an average day in 2023)
These results describe usual household responsibility, not a claim that one person performs every shopping or cooking task on every occasion. They are useful for understanding why a meal plan may need shared lists, clear handoffs, or recipes that can be prepared by more than one household member.
Time spent on grocery and food work
In 2023, U.S. adults aged 18 and older spent an average of 8.3 minutes per day grocery shopping. The average varied considerably by responsibility: adults who did none of their household’s grocery shopping spent 0.8 minutes per day, those who did a little spent 3.7 minutes, those who did some spent 5.2 minutes, and those who did a lot spent 10.7 minutes. (Table 5: Average minutes per day spent in selected activities by how much of the grocery shopping the interviewee is responsible for, on an average day in 2023, age 18 and older)
The same USDA time-use table reported 49.7 minutes per day on food preparation and cleanup for adults who did all of their household’s grocery shopping. Women spent an average of 8.9 minutes per day grocery shopping, compared with 7.2 minutes for men. Women spent 57.3 minutes per day on food preparation and cleanup, compared with 35.6 minutes for men. (Table 5: Average minutes per day spent in selected activities by how much of the grocery shopping the interviewee is responsible for, on an average day in 2023, age 18 and older)
Time pressure also intersects with paid work. Adults who did some of their household’s grocery shopping spent an average of 240.5 minutes per day in paid work in 2023. Because these measures are daily averages, they should not be read as a schedule for every individual day. (Table 5: Average minutes per day spent in selected activities by how much of the grocery shopping the interviewee is responsible for, on an average day in 2023, age 18 and older)
Online grocery participation
Among U.S. grocery shoppers aged 15 and older, 19.5% bought groceries online at least once in the previous 30 days in 2023. Among past-month online grocery shoppers, 30.6% bought groceries online once, 22.3% bought groceries twice, and 47.1% bought groceries three times or more. (Eating and Health Module (ATUS) - Summary Findings)
Pickup was the most common usual method among U.S. online grocery shoppers: 52.4% usually picked up their groceries. Delivery was the usual method for 43.5%, while 4.1% used both pickup and delivery as their usual method. (Eating and Health Module (ATUS) - Summary Findings)
Time constraints were the named reason for online grocery shopping for 48.1% of U.S. online grocery shoppers in 2023. Convenience was named by 13.9%. Among shoppers who did not buy groceries online, 49.3% named wanting to see and touch products in person as a reason. These responses point to competing priorities: online ordering can address time pressure, while physical stores preserve direct product inspection. (Eating and Health Module (ATUS) - Summary Findings)
Planning and saving at the store
FMI’s 2025 national grocery-shopping research found that 83% of consumers reported making a shopping list to stretch their food budget. The same report found that 79% reported taking household inventory, 69% reported meal planning, and 60% reported seeking coupons or discounts. These are reported behaviors in a 2025 report, not estimates of how often each activity occurred in a particular week. (FMI Unveils Key Trends Shaping the Future of Food Shopping: Consumer Tradeoffs, Grocery Sentiment and the Future of SNAP)
| Budget-stretching behavior | Consumers reporting it in FMI’s 2025 research |
|---|---|
| Make a shopping list | 83% |
| Take household inventory | 79% |
| Meal plan | 69% |
| Seek coupons or discounts | 60% |
FMI’s 2024 survey also measured store choice and digital tools. Supermarkets were the main store for 40% of shoppers, compared with 32% who chose mass stores. Digital coupons were used by 50%, while physical coupons were used by 37%. Mobile phones were used by 37% of grocery shoppers to compare prices across stores. (FMI Launches 2024 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends Series: How Consumers Are Finding Value at the Grocery Store)
Meal preparation time was also tracked in the 2024 FMI survey. Thirty-two percent of shoppers reported that dinner preparation took under 30 minutes, compared with 18% in February 2020. The comparison uses the survey’s stated periods: 2024 and February 2020. (FMI Launches 2024 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends Series: How Consumers Are Finding Value at the Grocery Store)
Taken together, these figures describe a grocery routine built around several practical levers: knowing what is already at home, planning meals, checking discounts, comparing prices, and choosing pickup, delivery, or in-store shopping according to time and product preferences. The measurements come from different U.S. sources and years, so they should be read as complementary snapshots rather than a single survey of one population.