Ultraprocessed foods require an hour less in kitchen daily
Food Preparation and Cleanup Time
Executive Summary
The time investment required for healthy, minimally processed foods versus ultra-processed convenience foods represents a critical trade-off that shapes dietary choices across populations. Research reveals substantial disparities: Americans who cook from scratch spend an average of 37 minutes per day on meal preparation and cleanup, while those purchasing ultra-processed convenience foods can reduce this to as little as 5-10 minutes per meal through microwaving or minimal assembly. However, strategic approaches like batch cooking can transform this calculus, compressing a week's cooking into 2-4 hours on a single day rather than daily commitments. This temporal burden intersects with diet quality, socioeconomic factors, and health outcomes, making it a pivotal consideration for nutrition policy and individual decision-making. ers.usda
National Time Use Patterns
Baseline Cooking Time in the United States
The 2014 American Time Use Survey establishes that Americans age 18 and over spent an average of 37 minutes per day on food preparation and cleanup. This figure masks significant demographic variation: ers.usda
- Women: 51 minutes per day
- Men: 22 minutes per day
- Young adults (18-24): 21 minutes per day
- Working-age adults (25-64): 38 minutes per day
- Adults 65+: 43 minutes per day
- Employed individuals: Less time than unemployed
- Households with children: More time than childless households ers.usda
For those self-identifying as the household's primary meal preparer, time investment increases substantially to 51 minutes per day on average. Among this group, demographic patterns amplify: ers.usda
- Male primary meal preparers: 32 minutes per day
- Female primary meal preparers: 60 minutes per day
- WIC participants (as primary meal preparers): 86 minutes per day ers.usda
These data reflect a dramatic historical decline. Since the 1960s, time spent on cooking and food preparation has fallen substantially, with current estimates representing approximately 33 minutes per day when aggregated across the entire population, including non-cooks. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Time Stratification and Diet Quality
A 2014 population-based study of 1,319 adults in Seattle stratified participants by daily time spent on food preparation, cooking, and cleanup: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- <1 hour/day: 16% of participants (212 individuals)
- 1-2 hours/day: 43% of participants (566 individuals)
- >2 hours/day: 41% of participants (541 individuals)
This time investment correlates directly with diet quality indicators. Adjusted analyses controlling for age, gender, race, employment, education, and income revealed: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
| Time Spent Daily | Fruit Servings/Week | Vegetables Servings/Week | Fast Food Spending/Week (per person) |
|---|---|---|---|
| <1 hour | 6.1 ± 0.7 | 10.6 ± 0.9 | $22.80 ± 2.70 |
| 1-2 hours | 7.1 ± 0.6 | 12.1 ± 0.8 | $16.40 ± 2.30 |
| >2 hours | 8.4 ± 0.6 | 13.6 ± 0.8 | $15.10 ± 2.30 |
Individuals spending less than one hour daily on meal-related activities were 1.79 times more likely to visit fast food restaurants once per week or more compared to those spending over two hours (95% CI: 1.27-2.53; p=0.001). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Ultra-Processed Food Preparation Time
Microwave Meal Preparation
Ultra-processed frozen meals represent the minimal time investment option. Standard reheating times include:
From Frozen: - Microwave: 3-7 minutes at high power foodnessgracious - Conventional oven: 30-40 minutes at 320-350°F springwell - Air fryer: 8-10 minutes (from thawed) foodnessgracious
From Thawed (refrigerated overnight): - Microwave: 2-3 minutes at high power frugalnutrition - Conventional oven: 20 minutes at 350°F foodnessgracious
Specific product examples demonstrate the range:
- Lean Cuisine meals: 3 minutes on high power (per package instructions) reddit
- Stouffer's Mac & Cheese: 7 minutes (microwave) vs. 75-80 minutes (oven) thetakeout
- Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie: 10-12 minutes (microwave) vs. 70 minutes (oven) thetakeout
- Hungry-Man dinners: 7.5-9 minutes (microwave) vs. 55-60 minutes (oven) thetakeout
The total time investment for an ultra-processed meal, including minimal cleanup (rinsing a single container or disposing of packaging), typically ranges from 5-10 minutes. thetakeout
Ready-to-Eat and Ready-to-Cook Foods
Beyond frozen meals, the ultra-processed food spectrum includes options requiring even less preparation:
- Ready-to-eat items (protein bars, packaged sandwiches, snack foods): 0-2 minutes
- Instant noodles: 3-5 minutes
- Canned soups: 2-3 minutes (microwave) or 5-7 minutes (stovetop) ers.usda
- Pre-cooked protein (rotisserie chicken, deli items): 0-3 minutes for reheating nutritionrx
Minimally Processed Food Preparation Time
Cooking from Scratch: Time Requirements
Research tracking actual cooking sessions provides granular data on time investment for whole food preparation:
Individual Meal Preparation:
A detailed weekly cooking log documented preparation times for a family cooking from scratch: carolthecook
- Daily average: 135-294 minutes total (2.25-4.9 hours)
- Breakfast preparation: 30-52 minutes
- Lunch preparation: 17-101 minutes
- Dinner preparation: 51-141 minutes
- Weekly total: 16 hours 10 minutes (970 minutes)
Self-reported cooking times from home cooks show similar patterns: reddit
- Quick meals (stir-fries, pasta, simple proteins): 30-45 minutes
- Standard meals (roasted proteins with vegetables): 60-90 minutes
- Complex meals (soups, stews, casseroles): 90-120 minutes
USDA Controlled Study: Processing Level and Preparation Time
A 2025 USDA study compared preparation times for nutritionally matched menus differing only in processing level. The research involved two 5-day Western diet menus: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Less-Processed Western (LPW) menu: 20% minimally processed foods, 67% ultra-processed foods
- More-Processed Western (MPW) menu: Higher proportion of convenience items
Key Findings:
The LPW menu required 203% longer preparation time than the MPW menu overall (β = 3.0323; 95% CI: 1.86483-4.93065; p=0.0002). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Daily time differences ranged from: - Minimum: ~90 minutes (Day 5) - Maximum: ~9 hours (Day 1)
When only active preparation time was considered (excluding passive cooking time like baking or simmering): - Minimum difference: Less than 1 minute (Day 3) - Maximum difference: Over 2 hours (Day 1)
This research demonstrates that foods requiring extended preparation—such as homemade bread from dried yeast and beans cooked from dried rather than canned—dramatically increase time investment despite providing similar nutritional value to their ultra-processed counterparts. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Component-Based Preparation Times
Breaking down whole food preparation by component provides actionable insights:
Proteins: - Hard-boiled eggs: 10-15 minutes for a dozen reddit - Raw chicken breast (pan-cooked): 10-12 minutes nutritionrx - Fish fillets: 8-12 minutes cookingbites - Dried beans: 1-2 hours (including soaking time) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih - Canned beans: 2-3 minutes pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Grains: - Rice (stovetop): 20-30 minutes - Quinoa: 15-20 minutes - Pasta: 8-12 minutes - Homemade bread: 2-4 hours (mostly passive rising time) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Vegetables: - Chopping and prep: 10-20 minutes for mixed vegetables - Roasting: 25-40 minutes - Steaming: 5-10 minutes - Fresh salad assembly: 5-15 minutes
Cleanup Time Differential
Cleanup After Cooking from Scratch
Cleanup represents a substantial component of the total time burden. Research and practical observations indicate:
Dishwashing Times: - Hand washing (full meal's dishes): 15-45 minutes homesandgardens - Loading dishwasher: 2-5 minutes youtube - Dishwasher cycle time: 2.5-4.25 hours (though not requiring active attention) facebook - Unloading dishwasher: 3-5 minutes youtube
A comparison of hand washing versus dishwasher use for equivalent loads shows: youtube - Hand washing active time: 20-30 minutes for full load - Dishwasher active time: 3-5 minutes loading + 3-5 minutes unloading = 6-10 minutes - Overall process time: Hand washing ~30 minutes (completed); Dishwasher ~3 hours (mostly passive)
The number of dishes requiring cleanup varies significantly by cooking method:
From-Scratch Cooking Typically Uses: - Cutting boards: 1-3 - Knives and utensils: 3-8 items - Mixing bowls: 2-5 - Pots and pans: 2-4 - Serving dishes: 2-4 - Eating dishes: 1 per person - Total items: 15-30+ pieces per meal permies
Ultra-Processed Meal Cleanup: - Microwave-safe container or disposable tray: 1 item (often discarded) - Eating plate: 1 - Utensils: 1-2 - Total items: 1-4 pieces per meal reddit
One detailed analysis of a "fancy meal" prepared for three people noted that washing "all the dishes, prep bowls, cutting boards, cooking pots and pans" required 30-45 minutes using a continuous hot water method. permies
Cleanup Strategies and Time Investment
Cleaning strategies significantly affect time investment:
"Clean as You Go" Method: - Maintains basin of hot soapy water during cooking - Washes items during passive cooking periods (simmering, baking) - Reported to reduce post-meal cleanup to 10-20 minutes adventurekitchen
Post-Meal Bulk Cleaning: - All cleanup occurs after eating - Typical time: 20-45 minutes for family meal carolthecook
Dishwasher-Optimized Method: - Empty dishwasher before cooking begins - Load items immediately as used - Run overnight - Active cleanup time: 5-10 minutes busybudgeter
Batch Cooking: The Time Efficiency Solution
Batch Cooking Time Investment
Batch cooking represents a strategic approach that concentrates cooking time into single sessions while providing meals for extended periods:
Typical Batch Cooking Sessions:
- 3-hour Sunday prep: Yields 5-7 days of complete meals lineupcook
- 2-3 hour weekly session: Standard reported time for meal preppers collegeinfogeek
- 4-5 hour session: Produces 10-14 meals for one person reddit
- 2.5-3 hours: Covers lunch and dinner for 4 people for one week reddit
Time Breakdown for 3-Hour Batch Cooking Session: lineupcook
| Time Block | Activity | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Hour 1 | Planning, grocery shopping, washing/chopping vegetables | 30-60 minutes |
| Hour 2 | Batch cooking begins (stews, casseroles, proteins, grains) | 60 minutes |
| Hour 3 | Component prep, portioning, cleanup | 60 minutes |
Time Savings Analysis
Daily Cooking vs. Batch Cooking:
Cooking daily from scratch: - Time per day: 60-90 minutes (cooking + cleanup) - Weekly total: 7-10.5 hours
Batch cooking approach: - Weekly cooking session: 2-4 hours - Daily reheating: 5-10 minutes - Weekly total: 2.5-5 hours - Net time savings: 4.5-6.5 hours per week gulpglow
One meal prepper reported spending $46 per week on ingredients that provided dinner plus next-day lunch, requiring 30-60 minutes per night for cooking five nights weekly—totaling 2.5-5 hours weekly. By contrast, switching to batch cooking reduced this to a single 3-hour session plus minimal daily reheating. reddit
Batch Cooking vs. Ultra-Processed Foods
The time comparison between batch cooking and ultra-processed convenience foods reveals:
Weekly Time Investment:
| Approach | Weekly Cooking Time | Daily Meal Time | Total Active Time/Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily UPF consumption | 0 minutes | 5-10 minutes | 35-70 minutes |
| Daily cooking from scratch | 0 minutes | 60-90 minutes | 420-630 minutes |
| Batch cooking (Sunday prep) | 180 minutes | 5-10 minutes (reheating) | 215-250 minutes |
Batch cooking achieves comparable daily convenience to ultra-processed foods (5-10 minute meals) while maintaining the nutritional benefits of home cooking. ashleypardo
Time-Cooking Relationship with Ultra-Processed Food Intake
NHANES Study: Cooking Frequency and UPF Consumption
A 2024 study analyzing 9,491 U.S. adults from the 2007-2010 NHANES examined the relationship between cooking frequency and ultra-processed food intake: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Cooking Frequency and UPF Intake:
- Adults cooking dinner 0-2 times/week: Baseline UPF consumption
- Adults cooking dinner 7 times/week: Consumed 6.30% less energy from UPF (95% CI: -7.96% to -4.64%; p<0.001)
Cooking Duration and UPF Intake:
- Adults spending 0-45 minutes cooking dinner: Baseline UPF consumption
- Adults spending >90 minutes cooking dinner: Consumed 4.28% less energy from UPF (95% CI: -6.08% to -2.49%; p<0.001)
Critically, the study found that ultra-processed foods comprised >50% of energy consumed regardless of cooking frequency or time spent cooking, indicating that even those who cook regularly incorporate substantial UPF into their diets. pure.johnshopkins
NIH Clinical Trial: Time and Money as Barriers
The landmark 2019 NIH study by Kevin Hall comparing ultra-processed and unprocessed diets matched for calories, macronutrients, sugar, sodium, and fiber revealed critical practical barriers: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Ingredient cost: Unprocessed diet ingredients cost ~50% more than ultra-processed equivalents
- Preparation time: Acknowledged as requiring "more time" but not quantified in the controlled setting
- Researcher acknowledgment: "We have to be mindful that it takes more time and more money to prepare less-processed foods" cc.nih
The study environment—where all food was prepared by staff and served to participants—eliminated the time burden, highlighting that real-world adoption faces obstacles the controlled trial bypassed. statnews
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Time Value
Time as Economic Resource
Economic analyses value food preparation time using the market substitute approach, typically pricing time at minimum wage rates: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
New Zealand Study (2017): - Minimum wage: NZ$15.25/hour - Used to calculate time cost of meal preparation - Found that when time costs were included, takeaway meals ranged from 14% less expensive to 32% more expensive than home-made meals (compared to 11-100% more expensive without time costs) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Comparative Examples from the Study: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
| Meal Type | Home-Made Cost (excluding time) | Home-Made Cost (including time) | Takeaway Cost | Time to Prepare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken meal | NZ$15.26 | NZ$21.69 | NZ$28.40 | 25 minutes |
| Fish and chips | NZ$15.13 | NZ$22.22 | NZ$16.90 | 28 minutes |
| Butter chicken | NZ$18.10 | NZ$24.99 | NZ$21.71 | 28 minutes |
| Beef chow mein | NZ$16.94 | NZ$23.13 | NZ$22.02 | 23 minutes |
| Burger | NZ$12.68 | NZ$16.89 | NZ$20.00 | 17 minutes |
| Pizza | NZ$6.76 | NZ$15.55 | NZ$14.97 | 36 minutes |
When time is valued economically, the financial advantage of home cooking diminishes substantially, particularly for time-constrained individuals whose labor commands higher market rates. sciencedirect
Fast Food Time Savings
The USDA's 2014 Eating & Health Module quantified the time savings from purchasing prepared foods: ers.usda
Usual Meal Preparers:
- Without fast food purchase: 58 minutes per day on meal prep
- With fast food purchase: 27 minutes per day on meal prep
- Time savings: 31 minutes per day
Annualized Impact: - Daily savings: 31 minutes - Annual equivalent: 7.7 days not spent in meal preparation
For employed individuals, the time savings were even more pronounced: - Without fast food: 45 minutes per day - With fast food: 21 minutes per day - Time savings: 24 minutes per day
For households with children: - Without fast food: 74 minutes per day - With fast food: 39 minutes per day - Time savings: 35 minutes per day ers.usda
These data exclude travel time to purchase fast food, suggesting actual time savings may be lower than reported. ers.usda
Sociodemographic Factors and Time Barriers
Employment Status and Time Constraints
Employment status emerges as a primary determinant of food preparation time:
Seattle Obesity Study Findings: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Percentage employed/self-employed by time spent on meal preparation: - <1 hour/day: 68.4% employed - 1-2 hours/day: 67.1% employed - >2 hours/day: 53.2% employed (p<0.001)
Working more than 40 hours per week associates with persistent time-related barriers to healthful eating, particularly among young adult men. experts.umn
Household Composition
Household size and children significantly impact time investment: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Average Household Size by Cooking Time: - <1 hour/day: 1.6 people - 1-2 hours/day: 2.0 people - >2 hours/day: 2.6 people (p<0.001)
Households with Children:
| Number of Children | <1 hr/day | 1-2 hrs/day | >2 hrs/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 children | 86.3% | 74.9% | 62.3% |
| 1 child | 4.7% | 13.5% | 15.2% |
| 2+ children | 9.0% | 11.7% | 22.6% |
The presence of children more than doubles the likelihood of spending >2 hours daily on meal preparation (p<0.001). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Convenience Orientation
Attitudinal differences toward convenience strongly correlate with time investment. The percentage who "strongly agreed" with the statement "It is important to me that the foods I usually eat take little time to purchase, cook and clean up": pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- <1 hour/day: 43.1%
- 1-2 hours/day: 26.3%
- >2 hours/day: 20.2% (p<0.001)
This suggests that time scarcity and convenience prioritization operate as both practical constraint and psychological orientation.
Barriers to Home Cooking
Perceived vs. Actual Time Constraints
Research distinguishes between objective time availability and perceived time scarcity. Over 50% of young adults report experiencing general time constraints and lacking healthy life balance, with 37-46% reporting time constraints specifically affecting diet-related behaviors. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Paradoxically, most participants report high confidence they could find time to prepare healthy meals, yet few operationalize this into regular food preparation. This gap suggests barriers extend beyond pure time availability to include: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Motivational barriers: Lack of prioritization or competing demands pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Skill barriers: Insufficient cooking knowledge or confidence adventurekitchen
- Facility barriers: Inadequate kitchen equipment or space pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Cognitive barriers: Decision fatigue and meal planning challenges lineupcook
Time Deepening Practices
Young adults experiencing time constraints engage in "time deepening practices" to compress meal time: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Eating on the run pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Consuming fast food and convenience foods pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Multitasking while eating pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
These practices correlate with less healthful dietary intake and excess weight gain, creating a cycle where time pressure leads to dietary choices that potentially worsen health outcomes. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Practical Strategies to Reduce Time Burden
Efficiency Techniques
Evidence-based strategies to minimize cooking time while maintaining whole food consumption include:
1. Multitasking and Batch Processing: whole30 - Cook while watching educational videos or listening to podcasts - Prepare multiple meals simultaneously using different cooking methods - Boil eggs in bulk (12 eggs in 10-15 minutes provides snacks for several days)
2. Strategic Meal Planning: whole30 - Monthly meal planning before grocery shopping - Shopping in single trips to minimize repeated errands - Stockpiling shelf-stable basics (grains, canned vegetables)
3. Hands-Off Cooking Methods: dontwastethecrumbs - Slow cooker/Instant Pot utilization (minimal active time) - Oven roasting (passive cooking while multitasking) - Overnight preparation (soaking beans, marinating proteins)
4. Component-Based Meal Assembly: dontwastethecrumbs - Prep versatile components that combine multiple ways: - Grains (rice, quinoa): 1 batch serves 3-4 meals - Proteins (grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs): pre-cook weekly supply - Chopped vegetables: prep once, use throughout week - Sauces and dressings: batch prepare
5. Kitchen Organization: homesandgardens - Empty dishwasher before cooking - Clean-as-you-go methodology - Dedicated "dish station" with hot soapy water - Immediate soaking of pots/pans
Hybrid Approaches
Recognition that absolute dichotomy between ultra-processed and whole foods is impractical has led to hybrid models:
Minimally Processed Convenience Items: sciencealert - Pre-cut vegetables (frozen or fresh) - Canned beans (vs. dried) - Rotisserie chicken - Pre-washed salad greens - Frozen fruit
These items offer moderate convenience (reducing prep time by 50-70%) while maintaining nutritional quality comparable to fully scratch preparation. grocerydive
Home-Assembled Meals:
The New Zealand study identified "home-assembled" meals as a middle category requiring minimal cooking: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
- Average cost: Lower than both takeaway and fully home-made
- Average time: 5-12 minutes (significantly less than cooking from scratch)
- Examples: Pre-cooked proteins + bagged salad + microwaved vegetables
This approach reduces preparation time to 25-50% of scratch cooking while maintaining better nutritional profiles than ultra-processed alternatives. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Limitations and Uncertainties
Several methodological considerations qualify these findings:
1. Self-Report Bias: Time use data rely heavily on self-report, subject to both recall error and social desirability bias. facebook
2. Definition Variability: "Preparation time" definitions vary across studies—some include cleanup, others exclude it; some count passive cooking time, others only active time. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
3. Skill Level Effects: Cooking efficiency improves with experience. Novice cooks require substantially more time than experienced cooks for identical meals. adventurekitchen
4. Quality of Comparison: The 2025 USDA study comparing processing levels matched meals nutritionally but included items like homemade bread and dried beans that maximize preparation time without necessarily representing typical minimally processed diets. advancedsciencenews
5. Individual Variability: Meal complexity preferences vary enormously. Some individuals prepare simple, quick whole-food meals (30-40 minutes); others choose elaborate preparations (2+ hours). reddit
Implications for Public Health and Policy
Time as Barrier to Dietary Guidelines
The USDA's Thrifty Food Plan—designed as a healthy, low-cost eating pattern—relies heavily on home cooking. Economic analyses reveal that when time costs are explicitly accounted for, this plan becomes substantially more expensive and potentially unachievable for single-headed households where time is a greater constraint than money. sciencedirect
Current dietary guidance emphasizing whole food consumption must confront the reality that for many populations—particularly employed parents, low-wage workers with multiple jobs, and single caregivers—time scarcity poses a more significant barrier than food cost. cc.nih
Nutrition Policy Recommendations
Evidence suggests policy interventions should:
1. Acknowledge Time Constraints Explicitly: - Dietary guidelines should include time-efficient healthy meal options - Recognize that "cooking from scratch" exists on a spectrum - Validate strategic use of minimally processed convenience items sciencealert
2. Promote Batch Cooking and Meal Preparation Skills: - Educational programs teaching time-efficient cooking strategies - Batch cooking demonstrations and support - Kitchen efficiency and organization training jetpacknutrition
3. Develop Time-Efficient Nutritious Products: - Encourage food industry development of minimally processed, nutrient-dense convenience foods - Clear labeling distinguishing nutritious convenience items from ultra-processed products time
4. Workplace and Social Support: - Flexible work schedules to accommodate meal preparation - Workplace cooking facilities and resources - Community cooking programs for time sharing experts.umn
Conclusion
The time differential between healthy, minimally processed food preparation and ultra-processed convenience food consumption is substantial and multifaceted. While ultra-processed meals require as little as 5-10 minutes total (preparation plus cleanup), cooking from scratch typically demands 60-90 minutes per meal including cleanup—a 6-15 fold time difference for individual meal preparation.
However, this comparison oversimplifies the landscape. Strategic batch cooking can compress weekly time investment to 2-4 hours total (compared to 7-10.5 hours for daily cooking), achieving daily meal convenience approaching that of ultra-processed foods while preserving nutritional benefits. The advent of minimally processed convenience items—frozen vegetables, pre-cooked proteins, canned beans—offers a middle path requiring 15-30 minutes per meal.
The relationship between cooking time and diet quality is dose-dependent: individuals spending >2 hours daily on meal preparation consume significantly more fruits and vegetables and visit fast food restaurants 45% less frequently than those spending <1 hour daily. Yet even among frequent home cooks, ultra-processed foods comprise over 50% of caloric intake, indicating that time investment alone does not eliminate UPF consumption.
Time constraints disproportionately affect employed individuals, households with children, and those working >40 hours weekly—precisely the populations at elevated risk for diet-related chronic diseases. For these groups, the 31-35 minute daily time savings from fast food purchases represents a meaningful quality-of-life trade-off that nutrition guidance must acknowledge rather than dismiss.
The optimal approach likely involves neither extreme—complete reliance on ultra-processed foods nor strict adherence to labor-intensive scratch cooking—but rather strategic integration of time-efficient healthy practices: batch cooking for core meals, selective use of minimally processed convenience items, and efficiency techniques that preserve nutritional quality while respecting real-world time constraints. As one NIH researcher noted, "Just telling people to eat healthier may not be effective without improved access"—and in this context, "access" encompasses not only food availability and affordability but also the temporal resources required to transform ingredients into meals.