In early 2020, a novel coronavirus quickly spread across the globe. In response to the rapidly increasing number of confirmed U.S. cases, state and local governments suggested social distancing, issued stay-at-home orders, and restricted travel, fundamentally changing how individuals allocate time. Directly impacted time activities, such as work, eating food away from home, grocery shopping, and childcare significantly impact two food-related topics: household food waste and diet quality. In order to investigate these non-marginal time changes, we predict weekly time allocated to seven activities for households in the National Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey using information from the American Time Use Survey. Jointly estimating household production functions for food waste and diet quality, we find that time events that are related to fresh produce consumption, such as increased grocery store trips and time spent in FAH activities, are related to higher diet quality, but lower food waste. While time events that are associated with quick convenient meals, such as time spent in secondary childcare and work time, are also associated with lower food waste, these events decrease household diet quality. We then predict the level of household food waste and diet quality for three COVID-19 scenarios: one where the household head is likely able to work remotely, another where the household head is likely to lose their job, and a third, where the household head is likely to be considered an essential worker. Households without children that are likely able to work remotely are predicted to have lower levels of food waste and higher diet quality, while households without children in the other two COVID-19 scenarios are predicted to have only minor differences.

2020年初，一种新型冠状病毒迅速在全球传播。为应对美国确诊病例数量的迅速增加，各州和地方政府建议保持社交距离、发布居家令和限制旅行，从根本上改变了个人分配时间的方式。直接影响的时间活动，例如工作、离家吃饭、杂货店购物和儿童保育，显着影响两个与食物相关的主题：家庭食物浪费和饮食质量。为了调查这些非边际时间变化，我们使用来自美国时间使用调查的信息，预测在全国食品获取和购买调查中分配给家庭的七项活动的每周时间。联合估计食物浪费和饮食质量的家庭生产函数，我们发现与新鲜农产品消费相关的时间事件，例如增加杂货店旅行次数和花在 FAH 活动上的时间，与更高的饮食质量有关，但食物浪费更少。虽然与方便快捷的膳食相关的时间事件，例如花在二级儿童保育和工作时间的时间，也与减少食物浪费有关，但这些事件会降低家庭饮食质量。然后，我们预测三种 COVID-19 情景的家庭食物浪费水平和饮食质量：一种是户主可能能够远程工作，另一种是户主可能会失业，第三种是家庭头很可能被认为是必不可少的工人。