Reasons Parents Buy Prepackaged, Processed Meals: It Is More Complicated Than "I Don't Have Time"

Abstract

Objective: To investigate reasons why parents purchase prepackaged, processed meals and associations with parental cooking self-efficacy, meal-planning ability, and home food availability.

Methods: This secondary data analysis uses Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment Plus study data from parents of children aged 8-12 years (n = 160). Associations between reasons why parents purchase prepackaged, processed meals and the outcomes were assessed with chi-square, Fisher exact, and t tests.

Results: The most frequently endorsed reasons for purchasing prepackaged, processed meals included lack of time (57%) and family preferences (49%). Five of 6 reasons were associated with lower parental cooking self-efficacy and meal-planning ability. Some reasons were associated with less-healthful home food environments; few reasons varied by socio-demographic characteristics.

Conclusions and implications: Because lower cooking self-efficacy and meal-planning ability are associated with most reasons reported for purchasing prepackaged, processed meals, strategies to increase these attributes for parents of all backgrounds may reduce reliance on prepackaged processed meals for family mealtimes.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01538615.

Keywords: child; food environment; meal-planning; parents; processed food; self-efficacy.