Three meals a day the norm, but what's a meal?

Aug. 16—U.S. consumers are less likely to skip their breakfast, lunch and dinner meal times today than they were five years ago, but these meals are often described as mini-meals rather than full meals, according to a new study by The NPD Group.

A recent NPD food market research report finds that although Americans still carve out main meal times, the number of items consumed at each main meal has declined over time and consumers often snack between meals.

The average American today has 4.1 food and beverage items at dinner compared with 5.3 items in 1985. Dinner is also the only meal in which consumers consider a majority of the meals to be a full meal, according to NPD’s Snacking in America 2012 report. The report, which examines long-term attitudes and behaviors about snacking as well as snack selection drivers, finds that snack occasions fill the gaps between traditional main meals with morning showing multiple eating occasions. One out of every five eating occasion in the U.S. is a snack and over half of Americans (53%) are snacking two or three times a day.

“Our frequent snacking is a result of our hectic lifestyles, need for convenience, increasing desire to eat healthier foods and simply to enjoy what we eat,” Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst, said in a press release. “There is, however, a complexity to snacking behaviors based on demographics, needs states and attitudes. Food manufacturers and retailers will need to align their business strategies with the appropriate consumer behaviors in order to capitalize on consumers’ penchant for snacking.”