Correlations between Convenience Cooking Product Use and Vegetable Intake

Abstract

Australians’ vegetable intakes are low, and strategies are needed for improvement. Popular convenience cooking products (meal bases and recipe bases, ready-made marinades, and convenience cooking sauces) address common cooking and vegetable consumption barriers (cost, time, and cooking skills). However, relationships between their usage and vegetable intakes have not been established. Therefore, Australian adults were surveyed on convenience cooking product use, vegetable intake and variety, behaviours when barriers to vegetable inclusion arise, and vegetable choice factors. Of 842 participants, 36.7% used meal and recipe bases, 28.1% marinades, and 47.2% cooking sauces, with most following the back-of-pack recipes at least sometimes. A total of 12.5% of participants used products from all three categories. Factors associated with lower vegetable intakes were meal and recipe base and cooking sauce use, using a higher number of product categories, and always following back-of-pack recipes. Factors associated with lower vegetable variety were the use of meal and recipe bases and cooking sauces. Factors in vegetable choice, and behaviours when not including a listed vegetable (due to not having or liking the vegetable, or an inability to eat it) did not vary by usage habits. These results provide insights into current vegetable intakes of those using convenience products, providing a baseline for future changes in the product design and recommendations.

Frequency of Convenience Cooking Product Use Is Associated with Cooking Confidence, Creativity, and Markers of Vegetable Intake

“…This study is the first to investigate the relationship between the frequency of convenience cooking product use and outcomes related to cooking confidence, cooking creativity and vegetable intakes. These findings extend upon previous research studying users of these products, compared to non-users, without consideration of the frequency of use [ 25 ]. The findings here regarding cooking creativity and confidence complement the earlier findings that found use was linked to higher cooking confidence and creativity, with more regular use of convenience cooking products (meal/recipe bases, simmer sauces and pasta sauces) being associated with higher scores.…”

“…The findings here regarding cooking creativity and confidence complement the earlier findings that found use was linked to higher cooking confidence and creativity, with more regular use of convenience cooking products (meal/recipe bases, simmer sauces and pasta sauces) being associated with higher scores. Here, the frequency of use correlated with vegetable variety scores, with more frequent use linked to higher variety, which is interesting given there was no difference in variety scores between users and non-users previously [ 25 ]. However, this did not result in a higher overall vegetable consumption level.…”

“…We have previously reported, using a convenience sample of 842 Australians, that those who reported using convenience cooking products had lower scores for cooking confidence and cooking creativity than those who do not use them [ 24 ], suggesting that these products might be a tool to facilitate home cooking in those with low levels of confidence and skills, as users reported typically following the back-of-pack recipes. However, users also typically had lower vegetable intakes [ 25 ], and an audit of meal and recipe base products available in Australian supermarkets revealed low vegetable variety in the back-of-pack recipes [ 26 ], potentially suggesting that improvements in product design are needed to allow these products to be regarded as tools for facilitating healthy eating.…”

Happy Little Vegemites™! An analysis of the contribution of yeast extract spreads and tomato‐based sauces to nutrient intake adequacy in Australia

“…The addition of this information to food packaging has been shown to help improve intakes because consumers have been found to generally follow back of package recommendations. 16,17 Nutrient fortified sauces and condiments, such as yeast extract spreads, may also be an important source of key nutrients, as indicated by the current analysis. However, there is a need to work with food manufacturers regarding product reformulation such that the overall nutrient profiles are improved.…”

Frequency of use of convenience cooking product is associated with cooking confidence and creativity and markers of vegetable intake

“…Previously, through convenience sampling, we showed that those who report using convenience cooking products have cooking confidence and cooking creativity, (3) and also typically have lower vegetable intakes. (4) This study presents a representative sample of Australian who were self-reported consumers of convenience cooking and assesses how cooking confidence and creativity and markers of vegetable intake relate to frequency of use. A demographically balanced panel of Australian adults were surveyed ( n = 1034; Qualtrics panel) on their frequency of use of convenience cooking products, cooking confidence (7-item scale) and creativity (6-item scale), and their typical vegetable intake (serves/day) and their vegetable variety (14-item scale).…”