JUST LEAVE THE COOKING TO US : SUPERMARKETS PREPARE MEALS FOR BUSY SHOPPERS.

Byline: Ben Dobbin Associated Press 

As the day winds down, there remains that inescapable, often vexing question: What's for dinner tonight?

Supermarkets have a new answer. Instead of just providing a superabundance of ingredients, many grocery stores are doing the cooking, too.

Charlie and Betty Mullaney eat lunch or dinner at a huge Wegmans supermarket in suburban Rochester two or three times a week and, on occasion, take out a prepared meal, anything from steamed lobster to meatloaf.

``This takes some of the bite out of shopping,'' said Mullaney, 70, digging into a fish fry before journeying through Wegmans, at 116,000 square feet nearly three times the size of an ordinary supermarket.

Americans' dining habits have changed dramatically in a generation, principally because more women have left home for the work place. That leaves less time to cook and much more business for company cafeterias, fast-food joints and restaurants.

But until recently, supermarkets did not share in the boom - in fact, their whopping 65 percent share of food sales shrank to 50 percent over the course of 30 years. So now the big supermarkets are enticing shoppers back with nutritious, tasty, freshly prepared meals.

The grocery store deli has been reinvented. Instead of just salads, lunch meats and cheese, supermarkets are laying out meal solutions - hot and cold entrees to eat in-store or take out, and uncooked dishes that can be finished quickly in the microwave.

``We see supermarkets excelling in food that customers would make at home if they had time to cook,'' said Howard Solganik, a supermarket consultant in Dayton, Ohio. ``We still want to eat the same things our parents fed us when we were kids, and have our children eat the same way.''

Making dinner time as effortless as possible is no passing phenomenon.

Supermarkets are fighting competition from Wal-Marts or even drugstore chains offering an increased variety of packaged foods, and Boston Market and other chains offering home-style cooking to go.

So far, up to 30 percent of supermarkets have ventured into the business of home meals, Solganik said. ``I think in the next three years, you will see an explosion of interest.''

``If supermarkets don't begin to offer what the customer is asking for, which is prepared foods, they won't be around much longer,'' said consultant Brian Sodus of Midlothian, Va. ``This is critical to their survival.''

Recognizing this, the Food Marketing Institute will hold its first Meal Solutions convention in Phoenix in September.

``That's where the effort is now focused,'' said the trade association's senior vice president, Karen Brown. ``How can we make it easier for consumers to think about the supermarket as a place to come and get meals, as opposed to just boxes and bags they take home and create a meal from?''

Already, there are answers. Stores like Bread & Circus in Boston and Queen Anne Thriftway in Seattle occasionally invite in food-demonstration chefs. The new Eatzi's in Dallas caters to the takeout crowd. And the 23-store Ukrop's chain in Virginia has seven 125-seat atrium cafes and offers 125 takeout items daily.

Wegmans, an upscale chain with 48 one-stop-shopping emporiums in New York and three in Pennsylvania, seems to allow space for every new experiment in prepared foods.

In its Penfield store, the Fresh to Go section stocks soups, salads and pasta sauces alongside precooked fish, chicken and Chinese - ``a combination of things you can quickly cook, reheat or eat cold,'' said Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale.

At the fish stand, any of 87 varieties imported from as far off as New Zealand can be broiled, fried, baked or grilled in the store at no extra charge.

At the self-service Chinese food buffet, Kung Pao chicken, shrimp Singapore and fried rice is sold by weight - $3.99 a pound. Another counter offers made-to-order pizza, Buffalo wings and calzone and yet another an assortment of pasta dishes ranging from Alfredo to marinara to pesto.

Max and Margaret Stoner, both 52-year-old teachers, sit down for a submarine sandwich and a salad twice a month, then embark on a 1-1/2-hour shopping expedition.

``We like it because you get everything done at once,'' Stoner said.

``I don't feel like I'm in a grocery store,'' his wife said as a player piano purred jazz nearby. ``Actually there's more atmosphere here than in some expensive restaurants.''

Jeff O'Donnell, 37, comes by on Fridays to pick up cash for the week at the money machine. For $2.25, he can leave his 4-year-old daughter, Shannon, at the store's Kids Korner while he goes shopping for an hour. They often make time for a meal before heading home.

He said of the big supermarket, ``They've gotten (shopping) down to an art form.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Joann Peters, right, makes a sandwich at a Wegmans C afe in Amherst, N.Y. Supermarkets like Wegmans are not only selling groceries but also preparing meals to eat in-store or take home.

Associated Press