Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November/December 2025 print edition of Produce Grower under the headline “The modern grocery shopper.”
For the modern grocery shopper, “eating well” is the foundation of how they think about value and how they choose food and beverage products, according to The Food Industry Association’s latest report.
As revealed in “2025 U.S. Grocery Shopping Trends,” FMI found that American shoppers’ aspiration to eat well guides their choices about what to buy, how to cook and where to shop. Although shoppers have their own definitions of eating well, they share common themes.
More than just sustenance, eating well is a rich combination of personal values and desires that includes health and nutrition, the quality of fresh and minimally processed foods, the pleasure of cooking and discovery, the joy of sharing meals and a consideration for ethical sourcing, according to FMI.
This aspiration is the foundation for how shoppers define value. For the modern consumer, value is not simply a function of the lowest price. Instead, it is a sophisticated calculation of how well a product aligns with their personal goals. A product’s true worth is measured by its contribution to a shopper’s health, enjoyment and ethical standards.
This reveals a fundamental shift in the consumer mindset, where the quest to eat well fundamentally shapes what shoppers consider “basic food needs.” Rather than focusing on mere calories, shoppers define their essentials in terms of quality and preparation.
The top definitions of basic food needs are “a mostly home-cooked diet” and “a nutritious diet,” reinforcing that, for most, the basics are about achieving a certain standard of living and health, not just avoiding hunger. These core values explain why shoppers are willing to invest in specific benefit areas to achieve their goal of eating well.
Health benefits
Health, entertainment, exploration and convenience drive spending, with 46% of those surveyed anticipating they’ll eat healthier in the future. Health is the strongest driver of spending, with 46% willing to invest more for health-related products. Shoppers view healthy and nutritious food as a long-term investment in their wellbeing, one that can potentially minimize future healthcare costs.
More than 60% believe their at-home diet could improve, with 49% putting in more effort to select healthy options. Shoppers see themselves as primarily responsible for ensuring they eat nutritious food, with 89% trusting their stores for food safety.
This focus on health provides a variety of positioning and marketing strategies for growers and retailers:
Food as medicine: Position everyday foods and ingredients as investments in long-term health, with potential savings on future healthcare costs.
Fuel for performance: Market food and beverages as fuel for fitness, physical activity, recovery etc., highlighting them as complements (or alternatives) to gym memberships and wellness subscriptions.
Everyday wellness routines: Offer solutions for building consistent habits at home, such as functional foods, better-for-you snacks and guided nutrition bundles that mimic wellness programs.
Other spending drivers
FMI’s research found that weekly grocery spending averages $170, slightly up from previous years, with 70% of shoppers expressing “high concern” about rising grocery prices — more than other necessities. Even with budget concerns, shoppers are engaging in strategic psychological accounting, justifying food expenditures by framing them as investments in wellbeing or substitutes for more costly leisure.
Regarding entertainment, food experiences can provide pleasure, relaxation and a reward for hard work. Shoppers see food as an at-home substitute for activities such as going to the movies or a concert. A special meal or a favorite treat is not an indulgence, but a necessary component of family life and personal enjoyment.
FMI also identified exploration as a grocery spending driver. Many shoppers value discovery and novelty in their food choices. Trying new products or exploring different cuisines is seen as a form of travel — a way to connect with other cultures and culinary traditions without leaving home.
Shoppers will strategically pay for convenience when it supports other valuable goals. This trade-off is about optimizing personal resources — buying back time and energy that can be better spent on other priorities, such as cooking a healthy meal, connecting with family or simply relaxing.
Grocery budgets
Those four drivers — health, entertainment, exploration and convenience — show that shoppers are trading discretionary spending for food-related benefits. Budgeting allows shoppers to manage their finances to protect these priorities.
The modern shopper views budgeting as a positive and empowering strategy for achieving their food aspirations while maintaining financial control, FMI discovered. Budgeting becomes a tool for self-investment, not deprivation.
Most consumers adopt simple and flexible approaches rather than tracking every dollar. This allows them to maintain control while giving them the latitude to pursue their goals for eating well. One shopper stated in the comment section of the survey, “I don’t want to eat cheap food just to hit a budget number. If that means I have to cut back on something else, so be it. I need to eat real food, not junk.”
Survey respondents revealed they are far more likely to cut back on discretionary spending in other areas before they reduce their grocery spending. For example, shoppers said if their household income decreased by 10%, they’d first cut spending on services (59%), then leisure and activities (57%), consumer items (48%), then food (34%) and finally housing (11%).
Emphasizing health and nutrition is certainly not a new strategy. But there’s still plenty of new and improved messaging to help shoppers invest in their health.
“The health and wellbeing landscape has been evolving, and the food industry needs to adjust its messaging accordingly,” says Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI. “In just the past couple of years, we’ve seen the emerging impact of GLP-1 medications, food as medicine programs, shifting consumer perspectives and evolving public policy emphasis.”
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