The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of change on Americans when it came to food. Restaurants were closed. We had to wonder if we needed to disinfect our groceries for a while. That obsession with making sourdough started up.
But apparently people started eating more fresh fruit and vegetables too.
The USDA Economic Research Service released a report on the impacts of COVID-19 on food spending and diet on May 20. The report found that — as is common with negative economic events — the pandemic shifted American’s food purchasing behavior.
The report — U.S. Household Food Spending Post COVID-19 and the Implications for Diet Quality by ERS research agricultural economists Abigail Okrent and Eliana Zeballos — compared changes in household food spending in different groups before, during and after the pandemic (2016 to 2022).
“Economic recessions and slowdowns have profoundly influenced spending patterns on food as consumers navigate tighter budgets and uncertainty,” according to the report. “These changes in food consumption behaviors can have enduring effects on health, persisting long after a recession ends.”
Pandemic food purchasing
The economic shocks of the pandemic were unique compared to previous economic shocks in a few ways, according to the report. The main one was the closure of restaurants and stay-at-home orders around the country.
“This prompted significant shifts in the ways people purchased and acquired food, such as increased online shopping and home cooking,” the report said. More consumers bought food at grocery stores — referred to as food at home (FAH) in the report — during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic years of 2016 to 2019.
Buying more food at grocery stores compared to restaurants and other “food away from home” venues changed how consumers spent money on different food categories.
“On the one hand, 2020 had little to no association with spending on dairy, fats and oils, poultry, eggs, fish and seafood, beverages, and desserts,” the report summarized. “On the other hand, spending during 2020 was higher than 2016 to 2019 levels for vegetables (7%), other FAH not elsewhere classified (7%), grains (6%), and prepared meals (6%).”
Some of these shifts continued into the pandemic in 2021, with vegetable spending up 8% and fruit spending up 7% compared to the 2016 to 2019 levels. In 2022, which the report used as a post-pandemic benchmark, spending behavior began to trend back toward pre-pandemic levels with some exceptions. This included spending on vegetables, which was still up 5% in 2022 compared to 2016 to 2019 levels.
The report authors highlighted this trend as potentially beneficial.
“Given that vegetable and fruit consumption has largely been flat over the past few decades and well below [Dietary Guidelines for Americans] recommendations overall, such a shift in spending could lead to better adherence to DGA recommendations.”
Fruit and vegetable buying trends overall
The report also found some key differences in food spending across different demographic groups regardless of year. For example, the report found that urban households spend more on fruit and vegetables compared to their rural counterparts. Similarly, West Coast households spend the most on fruit and vegetables overall out of the U.S. geographic regions.
Racial and ethnic demographic details also played a role in food spending behaviors, regardless of the year.
“Independent of income and other covariates, non-Hispanic Asian households spent more on fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish and seafood, and eggs, and less on processed red meats and beverages than non-Hispanic White, Black, and Native American/Pacific Islander/multiracial households,” the report found.
The report also noted that there were some seasonality trends in food purchasing at grocery stores — but not at restaurants — that was seen across all years in review.
“In particular, spending on fruits tended to be higher in the spring ($20 more per capita) and summer months ($20) compared to fall (-$6) and winter months (base), whereas vegetable consumption was unaffected by the seasons.”
The report authors speculated that the seasonality in fruit consumption, even in the face of expanded trade that means fresh fruit is reliably available year round, “may indicate consumers prefer to eat seasonal fruit produced within the United States.”