Hard economic times are driving U.S. consumers to eat at home more often and plan fewer grocery shopping trips, although they are not willing to sacrifice product quality, according to this 2008 Unilever study.

Nearly a third of consumers (30%) are eating at home more frequently, and 40% feel worse off economically than they did one year ago. However, although consumer budgets are tight, there is still a demand for food quality; most of the shoppers surveyed said they would not switch to a private label to save money.

Other Findings:

• To help balance their budgets, consumers would “reduce spending a lot” on entertainment (55%), vacations (50%), and clothing (41%). Only 18% of consumers are willing to cut spending significantly on home heating/cooling, household necessities, or housing.
• The top two consumer saving techniques are “only buy when it’s on sale” and “use coupons whenever I buy this product.”
• The top categories shoppers will not abandon include (98%+) include antiperspirant, batteries, canned vegetables, fresh meat and seafood, hair care, household cleanser, laundry detergents, margarine, OTC medicines, personal was, companion animal food, toilet paper.
• If shoppers have to reduce further because of the economy, they will reduce spending on air fresheners, cookies, beer/wine, frozen dinners, and soda.