WHAT'S COOKING

JENNIFER OWENS

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- Bucking the trend towards home-meal replacement, SN found people to be cooking more in an unscientific survey of shoppers in the capital area.

SN interviewed shoppers at three conventional supermarkets: one in the District of Columbia; one in Alexandria, Va., and one in New Carrollton, Md.

Shoppers who said they cook at home said they shop for meats, produce, spices and other ingredients. Those that do not cook at home said they lacked the time and didn't want the chores associated with cooking.

Regardless of their cooking frequency, however, shoppers polled here said area supermarkets are doing a pretty good job of providing a wide variety of choices of everything from basic staples to fully prepared foods.

"We're cooking more," said Monika Relman of Washington, who was shopping with her 6-year-old daughter. "We've got a family now, and [our supermarket] is pretty good. We can find just about everything here."

Julia Parks of Upper Marlboro, said, "I think most people are cooking less, but I have two boys, so I'm cooking more."

Cindy Crapo of Arlington, Va., said she, too, was cooking more, "so I'm buying more vegetables." She said the decision to cook more is due in part to new natural-food supermarkets in the area which sell organically grown produce. However, she said she still shops conventional-format stores to pick up staples and other recipe ingredients.

Satari Patterson, a shopper in the New Carrollton area, said she finds herself buying and cooking "more steaks, more ground beef, franks -- it's just more of that." She would like to see more choices in the meat department, though.

Fabian Rocamora of Washington said he usually cooks more than his girlfriend does, so he shops a local supermarket for ingredients for their meals, though he sometimes has trouble finding "the right spices."

Tim Taylor, a legislative aide from Alexandria, claimed to be cooking more, although he had just purchased a bag of prepared salad. "I'm doing more salads, now that they put them in a bag. I'm not a big prep guy. I need to walk in, open the bag, add the dressing. It's an 'eat-and-gone' kind of thing."

He said he finds everything he needs at his neighborhood store, including prepared frozen foods: "It's easy to prepare, no dishes. You know how it works."

Many consumers cited a lack of time as the reason they are cooking less at home.

"I'm cooking less," admitted Frank McCoy of Washington. "It just got to be too much -- big family with two people working. I'm doing most of the cooking, which means frying up six chickens [at a time]."

He said his supermarket serves his needs well. "Like right now, I'm just picking up barbecued chickens. They've got pretty good convenient stuff -- and with their coupon book, good prices," he added.

Gail Sinick of Reston, Va., said, "You know, I'm full time in nursing school, so I do a minimum [of cooking]. But when the money and the budget are in good shape, I'll eat out more. When it isn't, I'll cook at home. It's economics that decide for me."

A sale-watcher, Sinick said she usually buys the same foods every week. "I find fresh things very expensive, so I run to the produce sales."

"I'm cooking less, I'm working more," said Naomi Arrostid of Washington. "Already prepared food? I'd like to see more of that. We get frozen stuff, but sometimes they have wine in them and the kids don't like that."

"I'm probably cooking the same, which isn't a lot to begin with," said one Washington woman who asked not to be identified. "I have a very limited kind of menu and I tend not to buy premade things, which doesn't mean I have a very good diet."

Lucille Tolson of Alexandria lives by herself and says she's cooking less. Still, she has not added prepared meals to her shopping list. Instead, she opts for Stouffer's frozen meals.