Americans haven't cooked this much at home since 2020: Campbell's CEO

(NewsNation) — More Americans are cooking at home and turning to ingredients that stretch their food budgets, a potential warning sign for the U.S. economy.

American soup and snack maker Campbell's recently saw the highest level of meals cooked at home since early 2020, CEO Mick Beekhuizen said on an earnings call this week.

"We started to see consumer sentiment softening in January," Beekhuizen said. "This continued throughout Q3, with consumers making more deliberate choices with their spending on food."

And it's not just where they're eating; it's what they're eating.

Shoppers are being more intentional with their snack spending and gravitating toward grocery items like condensed cooking soups, broths and Italian sauces, ingredients that help "stretch tight food budgets," Beekhuizen