More Canadian households are eating instant meals at home, a survey suggests. (iStockphoto)

Canadians are gravitating more towards convenience foods when they eat at home but are still concerned about the nutritional aspects of ingredients, a new report suggests.

The NPD Group, which provides consumer and retail information to industry clients, bills its report, released Tuesday, as the most comprehensive annual study on eating trends in Canada.

Canadian households ate about 67 per cent of their meals at home, about the same as in the two previous years. However, the number of meals made from scratch continues to fall. Canadian households consumed an average of 380 meals with homemade dishes in 2009, down from 398 in 2008 and 423 in 2003, says the report, entitled Eating Patterns in Canada.

It also suggests that two-thirds of consumers who were studied are paying attention to nutritional claims on packaging, with about 85 per cent shunning sodium, saturated fats and trans fats.

NPD analyst Joel Gregoire said most households see food in a practical utilitarian way and the economic downturn doesn't appear to have had a major impact on spending for packaged foods at the grocery store.

"What this tells me is that even in tough economic times, people really are still looking for convenience," he said in an interview. "Just because times are getting tough doesn't mean we're all turning into Julia Childs and we're all learning how to cook."

The Top 5 frozen food choices were vegetables, ice cream, french fries, pizza and chicken, the data showed.

Not a huge surprise

Halifax dietitian Tristaca Caldwell said it's not a surprise that fewer homemade meals are being made.

"Most of the clients that I have are spending less than 15 minutes a day in food prep, so that's over three meals — less than 15 minutes a day," she said.

"If a food is convenient, that's what they're going to choose. We all lead very busy lives, and particularly for families who have a lot on the go, convenience does tend to trump nutrition."

Although many packaged foods carry health claims, she said it doesn't mean the food is healthier than if you were to make it at home yourself.

"The biggest hurdle that people have to mount is planning. It's not so much necessarily that it takes more time to cook your own food."

Families need to take 15 minutes on the weekend to sit down and plan their meals for the week, she suggested. If they know what they're going to do, it can take the same amount of time to make chicken, rice and vegetables from scratch as it does to heat a packaged convenience food, she said.

Going through the NPD frozen foods list, Caldwell noted that frozen vegetables are a good option because they're flash frozen, which preserves nutrients. As well, they're usually already chopped and easy to prepare.

Ice cream is good for an "occasional treat," she said, but it would be beneficial to have yogurt instead.

French fries have extra fat and sodium that isn't needed, she observed, and she'd be happier if people bought a pre-made crust and made their own pizzas with fresh vegetables and a little cheese.

She's in favour of frozen chicken breasts, but said you lose out on nutrition with processed foods like frozen chicken strips or a chicken burger.