What Is Your Go-To For A Quick And Easy Dinner? - Exclusive Survey

It's a tough business, being human, especially in the 21st century. In our busy, chaotic world, free time is an increasingly hot commodity. According to recently published data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, 96% of people age 15 and older had at least five hours of free time during the day. It might sound awesome, but when you think about it, that's only five hours to relax, socialize, exercise, complete miscellaneous tasks, or walk the dog, let alone prepare meals. Per the data, 40% of people even had to push housework and chores off till the weekend. 

We get it. It's a delight to spend some soul-healing time cooking a good meal at home, but between working, maintaining a social life, and getting enough sleep, the contemporary adult is stretched pretty thin. That's why we asked 588 Tasting Table readers what their go-to convenience food is when they want to make dinner easier — and the results are in. (Keep reading to see if your old standby made the list.) 

Swinging by the Whole Foods hot bar on the way home from work? 9.69% of our readers are. Coming in lowest on the list of convenient, time-saving dinner options is the classic grocery store hot meal. Next up, 14.46% of readers said they're alright with biting the price increase and choosing pre-sliced veggies as a time saver. (That mirepoix never looked better — or easier.) Some readers said they're bypassing sliced veggies altogether and opting instead for an already complete, totally hands-off meal: canned soup and chili raked in 15.99% of the vote. More than a quarter of our readers would rather pull their instant, hot meal out of the freezer instead of the can — frozen meals and TV dinners drew 26.53% of the vote. DiGiorno, anyone? 

Without further ado, the moment we've all been waiting for. We asked, and our readers answered. In first place, with a whopping 33.33% of the vote, the most popular go-to for a quick and easy dinner is fast food. From burgers to tacos to chicken nuggets, a quick trip through the drive-thru can be a lifesaver on a busy weeknight.