Do I have to make dinner? January 24, 16:28

The other day, an article on the net that a couple raising a young child wrote, "Every weekday dinner is a take-out" has become a hot topic. Certainly, it is not easy to handcraft every meal while working. And now is the unprecedented “takeout boom”. It seems that the environment where you do not have to make all the rice by hand is getting ready. (Reporter of the Network Media Department Shinsuke Ayuai Asako Wada Naoko Okubo)

The article that triggered me

They do not make their own dinner on weekdays and outsource everything. This article posted online was written by a couple working in their 20s. The child is still two years old. Since there was a shop nearby that could take out daily set meals, he apparently decided to use this service every day on weekdays.

One meal costs 850 yen for two people and costs 1700 yen a day.
30,000 yen a month. (There are also discounts)
As a result, the "disposable time", that is, the free use time seems to have increased.

We asked the people why they started using this service.
They seemed to have been interested in "efficient housework" from the beginning.

He also felt that the load of cooking in housework was particularly large. Since the menu of the nearby store was well balanced, he said that he tried "take out all weekdays". And when they asked about what their articles were talking about on the net, it was "as expected."

The woman who wrote the article, "I thought that people of the same generation were interested in improving the efficiency of housework, so I felt that there was a response from them. I want to try various things. ''

Takeout is unprecedented popularity

These food and takeaway services are rapidly gaining in popularity. It's not just a so-called lunch box. The eateries in the city are now starting to take out, competing. With a little search on the internet, you can find a number of apps and services that make it easy to find a restaurant where you can take out your meal.

We asked Yuki Honda, the CEO of a company that operates and develops one of the apps, "Picks", as to why this has happened.

“With the increase in single-person households and dual-income households and the diversification of work styles, the need for“ meal meals ”to buy home-grown lunches and side dishes and eat at home is increasing, and the market size is expanding year by year. I'm doing it. "

Asking the Japanese side dish association if it is so popular, the market size of the “meal meal” has been growing for nine consecutive years since 2009, excluding the restaurant industry, It was more than trillion 251.8 billion yen.

In the food market as a whole, the growth of the “meal meal” market is remarkable, and the growth rate has exceeded 120% in the ten years since 2008. According to the Japan Prepared Foods Association, "the market for" meal meal "is driving the domestic food scene."

According to Mr. Honda of "Picks", a recently introduced system is also involved.

Mr. Honda "In October last year, the reduced tax rate was introduced in line with the increase in the consumption tax rate. We have received 100 inquiries a month from restaurants as a result of this effect. I feel that the consciousness of the restaurant side has also increased. ''

“Compete with housework!”

Where does the user find the takeout attractive? I was able to talk to a man who actually uses it.

A 35-year-old male employee who took out lunch at a store near Shibuya Station seems to use this service 20 times a month when there are many.

Man: "In the past, during a short lunch break, I was wondering where to go, and when I was in the store, I was busy and had to eat fast. It's nice that you can choose a menu slowly and you can get lunch without waiting if you go to the designated time. ''

For those who work in downtown, lunch take-out seems like a welcome service. So what about take-out for dinner? This man is mainly used for lunch, but says that take-out may be a great benefit for dual-working households and child-rearing households.

Man: "It's pretty hard to make lunch and dinner every day. In that case, I think it would be helpful to have such a service. Competing with" housework "or something that I always have to do I think there is an advantage in terms of being free from it. ''

On the other hand, what are the benefits for the store? According to the store where the man took out lunch, the details of the order can be known in advance, so the burden on the employees in preparation can be reduced, and the reception of orders over the phone etc. and the trouble of accounting are reduced, so the store side There are also benefits.

Also pay attention to dinner needs

We talked to Takuo Yamauchi, a director of a company that runs another takeout app, "menu". The main target at the moment is office workers, but he is also paying attention to the “dinner needs” of the child-rearing generation. Currently, the service area is only the 23 wards of Tokyo, but in the future it seems that the company hopes to expand to the surrounding area where the child-rearing generation lives.

Mr. Yamauchi: "Currently, lunch is mainly taken out, but there is actually a need for dinner. Eventually, we will expand the target area and hope to be able to use it, for example, to add one more item to dinner by takeout. I am. "

Free from the curse of “handmade myth”

Take-out service is a little more expensive, but it also has the advantage of eating something freshly made. Regardless of whether it's everyday or not, now that the service is getting better, it may be a realistic option.

Still, I think some people feel hesitant that they must be handmade. According to housework researcher Noriko Sami, "Is it okay to be released soon from my belief that my mother and wife are good at doing housework and taking care of my family?"

In Japan, in particular, he pointed out that even if the number of dual-income workers increased, the pressure on women to make homemade meals remained strong.

Mr. Sami points out the OECD statistics (2016) that examined the time spent on housework and the proportion of men. Compared to the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Japan is less than half, down to 15%.

Samurai: "If housework is tough, it would be nice to try to reduce it, but it's not easy. Especially with regard to meals," handmade mythology "has permeated. By keeping female domestic workers in their homes, we have secured male workers who concentrate on work and aimed at high economic growth.The period of high growth was long ago, but the name of Japanese culture The values ​​that have been formed under the slogan, "Housework is for women" and "Child care is still mother-centered" are still difficult to collapse. "

Looking abroad, he says there isn't much pressure to make a decent meal like in Japan.

Samurai: “Considering that housekeeping is not a barometer of affection, but a technology for living, it is not always a good thing for a wife to take care of housework. If time increases, it's a welcome thing and it's time to switch your head in that direction.If you can help someone say "can't do" you can feel and feel much better Will it be easier? ''

Even though I can't do it every day, I sometimes want to use take-outs to make my life easier. This time, I heard that there were voices that did not become the voice of the child-raising generation behind the topic of articles on the Internet.