The Market For Convenience Foods Sold In Convenience Stores

The New York Times–bestselling author “digs deep into the world of how we shop and how we eat. It’s a marvelous, smart, revealing work” (Susan Orlean, #1 bestselling author). In a culture obsessed with food—how it looks, what it tastes like, where it comes from, what is good for us—there are often more questions than answers. Ruhlman proposes that the best practices for consuming wisely could be hiding in plain sight—in the aisles of your local supermarket. Using the human story of the family-run Midwestern chain Heinen’s as an anchor to this journalistic narrative, he dives into the mysterious world of supermarkets and the ways in which we produce, consume, and distribute food. Grocery examines how rapidly supermarkets—and our food and culture—have changed since the days of your friendly neighborhood grocer. But rather than waxing nostalgic for the age of mom-and-pop shops, Ruhlman seeks to understand how our food needs have shifted since the mid-twentieth century, and how these needs mirror our cultural ones. A mix of reportage and rant, personal history and social commentary, Grocery is a landmark book from one of our most insightful food writers. “Anyone who has ever walked into a grocery store or who has ever cooked food from a grocery store or who has ever eaten food from a grocery store must read Grocery. It is food journalism at its best and I’m so freakin’ jealous I didn’t write it.” —Alton Brown, television personality “If you care about why we eat what we eat—and you want to do something about it—you need to read this absorbing, beautifully written book.” —Ruth Reichl, New York Times–bestselling author

The various activities associated with the provision of food for feeding of the family traditionally have been functions of the home. One of the major enterprises of the homemaker in past years was to plan, produce or purchase, preserve, and prepares food daily for the family. The role of the homemaker today has changed from one of producer to one of purchaser. Hence, at least weekly, the selection of food at the market place involves not only the best use of her time but wise expenditure of her food budget. The market is changing so rapidly that each year hundreds of new items are added to the grocery shelves. Lay-outs in stores, new packaging and prepackaging, added self-service, methods of check-out, increased size of stores, and the addition of non-food items have all had a tremendous effect upon the homemaker and her food budget. The increase in the availability of food with built-in conveniences presents the homemaker with decisions to be made that were unheard of one generation ago. Never before has the homemaker had such a great array of convenience, variety, nutrition, and glamour to choose from. Today's consumer has a three-way choice and she may use one or all of the three ways as she desires. She may serve home-prepared foods if her time permits, or supplement part of her home-prepared meals with a few mixes, or rely entirely on the convenience foods if her time is limited. The many new and wonderful forms of foods that are available have greatly lightened the physical labor of the homemaker, but they have increased the mental work. The homemaker is confronted with many decisions regarding food value, money value, and time management. Is it wiser to spend her money for these so-called convenient foods which are ready to serve or partially prepared so that more of her time is freed for other family duties? Each individual home-maker has to answer this question for herself and her family. Studies on differences in cost and nutritive value of certain convenience foods have not kept pace with the rapid increase in the number and kind of these convenience foods. A recent study giving average prices which was representative for the United States has been reported by Shays and Durham, 1963. Additional information on what is available in Utah grocery stores and on the effect of built-in convenience on cost is needed. The purpose of this study was to determine the purchaser, cost and nutritive value of specific convenience foods. The study includes a survey of two super markets and a neighborhood grocery store in the Logan, Utah, area to check on the convenience foods purchased.

Liquor, tobacco, processed food, and sugary snacks: this is the range of products that are far from healthy available in convenience stores. Yetthese stores have become people’s resource for meeting daily needs in deprived neighborhoods in the United States. In her book, Convenience Stores as Social Spaces: Trust and Relations in Deprived Neighborhoods in the U.S., Cosima Werner explores the contested meanings of these stores and their function as social hubs in a social fabric where poverty, violence, and social neglect are part of peoples’ daily life. Despite the strict security measures around the stores, language barriers, and cultural differences that make convenience stores appear as the antithesis of social spaces, trustful relationships are crucial for residents to access resources such as loans, food, drinks, or information to make ends meet. The concepts of trust and mistrust shed light on the fragility of trust within these communities. Through ethnographic research conducted in Chicago and Detroit, she reveals the unique ways in which these stores are viewed and utilized by residents.