Data Brief: While 73% of Shoppers Buy Fresh Groceries, Just 57% Purchase Packaged Food

As food prices rise, many consumers are looking for more cost-effective alternatives. Yet, shoppers shifting from restaurants to grocery stores are not necessarily looking to replace restaurant meals with ready-to-go options. In fact, many more grocery shoppers buy fresh meat and veggies than packaged or prepared foods.

For the PYMNTS study “Digital Economy Payments: Consumers Buy Into Food Bargains,” we surveyed nearly 2,700 U.S. consumers in July about how they are saving and spending their dollars as the economy faces continuing uncertainty.

What we found suggests that consumers are willing to take the extra time to cook if it means they do not have to pay the premium for convenience.

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The study found that 83% of consumers purchased groceries in July, and that share only varies a couple percentage points by income bracket.

Of those grocery shoppers, 73% purchased fresh meat or vegetables in their most recent grocery shopping, while a significantly lower share, just 57%, purchased pre-packaged products. Furthermore, only 37% bought prepared food. Yet, this category is on the rise, with the share up significantly from the 30% of consumers who had bought prepared food in their most recent grocery purchase back in November 2021.

These preferences hold relatively constant across financial lifestyles, though paycheck-to-paycheck consumers are slightly less likely to purchase fresh meat and vegetables than those who have savings to fall back on, and they are slightly more likely to purchase packaged foods.

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