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Brian Snyder / Reuters file
According to a survey, 52 percent of dads say they are the primary supermarket shoppers in the household.
There’s a good chance dad might be shopping for his own Father’s Day breakfast in bed this Sunday. No, he’s not in the doghouse, but apparently dads are doing more of the grocery shopping these days.
According to a survey released this week by brand marketing firm Cone Communications, 52 percent of dads say they are the primary supermarket shoppers in the household, and 35 percent of moms admitted fathers have more influence when it comes to grocery purchases.
“This research goes against all stereotypes of the ‘Father Knows Best’ dad who doesn’t concern himself with domestic responsibilities,” says Bill Fleishman, president of Cone Communications, about the online survey that polled 1,000 parents with children under 17.
The company’s research also found dad shoppers aren’t just winging their supermarket hunting. Dad’s polled said they:
- Create a detailed shopping list – 63% (vs. 65% of moms)
- Collect coupons or read circulars – 56% (vs. 62% of moms)
- Plan meals for the week ahead of time – 52% (vs. 46% of moms)
- Perform background research on grocery products – 24% (vs. 11% of moms)
And moms are more likely to spend more time in the grocery store than dads. While Cone’s study found fathers were doing more of the grocery shopping, Today Money Facebook fans we informally polled Friday largely said the opposite it true.
“If my husband went to the store we would be having frozen pizza and macaroni and cheese for dinner every night,” said Mariska Colbert of her husband Zac.
And Melissa Klement added, “Wish my hubby would do it.”
But Roberta Harwood Speller, who works in a grocery store said: “There are several men that shop each week there for their families. They do very well. Even have their kids with them.”
For those of us who just can’t accept father foragers in the supermarket, it may be time set aside your bias in the aisle.
“We’re finding that dads are not acting so differently from moms in their approach to grocery shopping,” maintained Cone’s Fleishman.
(Full disclosure: My husband does most of the supermarket shopping these days, but I have to write up the list.)
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My wife would be completely clueless in a grocery store. I do all the cooking out of survival instinct. If she was in the store and in the kitchen all we'd get is cambell's soup and toasted cheese sandwiches. Most women that I've been around do not know how to cook or shop in a grocery store.
My daughter did not know how to cook when she got out of college and had little sense of survival. But she was hungry and got tired of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches so she learned to cook. So did my son. He got tired of Kraft mac and cheese so he learned how to make fried chicken over the phone from Arizona to Michigan.
Obviously, you hang with an unusual group of women. :) I don't know any men that cook, or at least admit to it. I can count on my 10 fingers the meals my husband of 49 years has ever prepared. And forget grocery shopping. He thinks bread is still .89 a loaf and hamburger .99 a pound!
I'd say this belies real life experience. Take a walk through any supermarket. You will see the majority of shoppers are women.
Tells you something about surveys.
My wife would NEVER let me do the shopping, and for good reason. She shops, she cooks, I clean the dishes and I barbecue. Sorry, sounds old fashioned but it works.
My dad did all the grocery shopping when I was a little kid in the early 1950's but for very different reasons. We only had one car, my mom didn't know how to drive anyway, and my dad couldn't stand left being home with us kids for even two hours so he went to the grocery every Saturday by himself (heaven forbid he take a child with him). Big deal. Moms shop. Dads shop. I voted for the help doing my shopping, not that I have any help, but I couldn't resist because having help seems so ludicrous.
One colume there labled "THE HELP" is especially for Mitt Romney just incase he wants to respond to the survey too. LOL
I shop at 7 different stores in the Sacramento area each month, depending on who has the best deals on the day I go out. I've seen very few "dads" shopping, and when they do, it looks like cold cuts, sliced bread, and frozen pizza are the staples. Sometimes there'll be prepackaged salads and single-serving juice boxes, too. If these men are single, custodial dads, I can understand somewhat. But these stats in the article are beyond fake.
What a total waste of time for the article and comments. Who really cares who does the groceries!
Whoever did this survey never stood by the doors of a supermarket. Just take a look around and do a headcount: 80% of shoppers are women, not men. This happens on any given day, time, location. Period.
When my husband does the grocery shopping, he spends WAY too much and only buys brand names of things that don't require brand names. (Store-brand ibuprofen gel-caps works just as well as Advil for two-thirds the cost.) Besides...I do the cooking, so like others have said...the person who cooks really needs to be the person who shops.
This article is an attempt at patronizing bunch of bullish*t. Maybe Eve is attempting a recovery strategy to the piece of crap article she wrote earlier this week slamming dad's because the work they do is less value than mom's.
I say we do away with father's day. Its just for show anyway. Now mothers day is a different story. We could NEVER do away with Mother's Day!!!
Agreed! That previous article written by Eve was so biased it was ridiculous and certainly drew the ire of many men and some women. This article too... is worthless.
Fathers day should be eliminated. We fathers don't need a pat on the head and an ugly tie or a "worlds greatest fisherman" plaque. Leave the meaningless tokens for the mothers, they need more flattery, women need that stuff. Just tell your dad you love him once in a while, if you can't say the words just figure out a way to show him. We don't need a full day.
Here you go... www.evetahmincioglu.com/web/blog/
This link will give the reader some background and perspective where Eve is coming from. Now I know why...
I'm not sure how accurate this survey is. I've always done the grocery shopping and I see very few men there. I do see more couples than in years past. I'd hate to see what we'd have to eat if my husband did the shopping. Beer, bread and ice cream are not ingredients for a meal.
what, no chips"S"S"
I'm w/ you Jan. I very seldom see guys in the grocery store.
I(male) do all the grocery shopping. For a short period of time more than twenty yrs ago my wife did the shopping. It was a time that I changed jobs and was very busy working many hours. The grocery bill doubled and we never had food in the refrigerator. She had to stop at the store every night, figure out what to have for dinner and we ended up eating dinner an hour to two hours later than normal. She would never read the ads or plan ahead. I went back to doing the shopping and again cut the bill in half and had planned meals for a week or more. I only have one main shopping day a week. We are eating much better now. I also do about 90% of the cooking. She complains a little, but I know that she understands. Even now when she does stop for a loaf of bread she doesnt know if that bread should cost $1 or $5. After she buys it, she still doesnt know how much she paid.....Some people just are not interested enough to do it properly.
I have to do the shopping, my wife spends at least $50 more if she goes with me, and closer to $75 is she goes alone. Plus, she doesn't look at the meat to see how much fat is in that package, and is clueless about picking the best vegis and fruit. The bananas are either too green to turn ripe or you have about 20 minutes to eat them before they rot. To be fair, I don't really clean much.
My husband does the vast majority of shopping and the cooking, and he wants to. Does he work? Yes, full time as do I. Does he complain about it? Never.
This must be for white folks. Because black woman do most of the grocery shopping in our homes.
back in the early 1950's. i use to go with my farther to do the weekly grocery shoping. we had on average 3 full carts when done. i don't remember when i started going with him. i was about 5/6 yrs old. my farther was not the only man who did the shoping. he would stop and greet others also doing this weekly routine. my mother had to stay at home or was working. it was a great and wonderful time for me.
My husband is willing to shop IF and only IF I make a detailed list. If I have to figure out exactly what he should buy, I can just go ahead and do it myself. Plus, I am not a "list shopper" in that I look at what produce looks good, local, fresh, any special items needed, etc. A list just doesn't do it.
I do the cooking, my husband does the shopping, as I really don't like this chore. Easy enough to make a list, and after 20 years, he knows what I prefer. It's kind of nice, because he'll buy foods that I wouldn't think of buying, and then I learn how to cook something new and different. (And yes, he can keep it within a nice healthy budget.)