Study Reveals How Many Hours Of Work Americans Put Into Thanksgiving

By Joe Lombardi From Daily Voice

Many Americans may feel exhausted by the time Thanksgiving dinner hits the table, and a new survey shows why the holiday demands so much from home cooks.

QS Supplies surveyed one thousand US adults and found that people devote an average of 15 hours to planning, cooking, and cleaning in preparation for Thanksgiving. The time adds up quickly, with grocery shopping, ingredient prep, cooking, and cleanup forming a long list of tasks that stretch across the week.

The survey said Americans spend five hours cooking or baking dishes, three hours chopping or prepping ingredients, four hours grocery shopping or planning meals, and two hours cleaning up afterward. Another one hour typically goes toward reorganizing the kitchen once the feast is finished.

The results also show that nine in ten Americans plan to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. One in three said they will cook everything from scratch. One in four expect to prepare food for more than ten guests, and seven is the average number of people each household will cook for.

Generational habits vary. Millennials and Gen X report spending the most time cooking or baking — about five hours each — while other groups tend to cook slightly less.

Nearly one in three respondents expect to spend more time on Thanksgiving prep this year, while almost two-thirds believe their workload will match last year’s.

Many people are turning to tools and shortcuts to ease the holiday strain. Fifty-two percent said their dishwasher is their biggest time-saver, followed by disposable plates or silverware at 35 percent and food processors or blenders at 29 percent. One in five Americans said they do not have enough time for themselves to fully enjoy the holiday.

The most frustrating task of all is cleaning up after the meal. Fifty-eight percent selected that chore as the toughest part of Thanksgiving, far outpacing grocery shopping, ingredient prep, and reorganizing the kitchen.

The QS Supplies survey included one 1,000 participants with an average age of 41. Half identified as men and half as women. The survey included baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z respondents.