Survey Finds Americans Will Spend Estimated 30 Million Hours Washing Holiday Dishes

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 2013-- With the holiday season just around the corner, millions of Americans are getting ready to prepare a holiday meal or bake a sweet treat. The stories from the kitchen will range from good, to bad, to burnt, and a recent survey conducted by PAM Cooking Spray, the leader in non-stick cooking sprays and a brand of ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), sheds light on what happens when Americans head to the kitchen for holiday entertaining in November and December.

Thirty million hours. That’s not how many hours of holiday songs will be played on the radio; it’s the estimated amount of time Americans will spend washing dishes during the season. Sixty percent of the respondents to the “PAM Sticky Situations Survey” said that a never-ending messy kitchen is the holiday element they look forward to the least. With half of those respondents spending 45 minutes or more washing dishes during and after a holiday meal, the time adds up quickly. A simple solution that can help reduce that number – PAM Cooking Spray – is an essential holiday helper.

“Whether spending holiday time in the kitchen is something you love or dread, a few time-saving shortcuts are something we all welcome,” said Anne-Michele Harrington, Brand Director for PAM. “PAM, your trusted ally for holiday cooking and baking, can give you the gift of time to spend on what you enjoy.”

PAM is an easy way to cut down on holiday clean-up time. PAM’s Original, Baking and Butter flavors leave up to 99% less residue than bargain brand cooking sprays or margarine, so instead of working hard to clean trays and pans, you can focus on more rewarding holiday activities.

Queen of the Kitchen

Baked goods are a source of pride with home entertainers everywhere, but nearly thirty percent of survey respondents said that preparing a dish that sticks to the pan is their biggest entertaining blunder. An estimated 1.7 billion sweet treats will be prepared this holiday season, but more than 200,000 of those treats will be discarded due to less than perfect results. PAM’s superior no-stick formula is an easy way to prevent sweet treats from sticking to your pan.

For more information on PAM, or to receive helpful tips and festive recipes please visit www.pamcookingspray.com. You can also get holiday recipes and cooking tips from PAM on Facebook.

The results quoted in this press release are taken from surveys conducted by ConAgra Foods using Google Consumer Surveys between October 28 and November 1, 2013. The survey was answered by more than 500 pre-screened randomly sampled internet users across the Google Consumer Surveys publisher network. The average margin of error is +/- 4%."

ABOUT CONAGRA FOODS

ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's largest packaged food companies. Its balanced portfolio includes consumer brands found in 97 percent of America’s households, the largest private brand packaged food business in North America, and a strong commercial and foodservice business. Consumers can find recognized brands such as Banquet®, Chef Boyardee®, Egg Beaters®, Healthy Choice®, Hebrew National®, Hunt's®, Marie Callender's®, Orville Redenbacher's® popcorn, PAM®, Peter Pan®, Reddi-wip®, Slim Jim® beef jerky, Snack Pack® and many other ConAgra Foods brands, plus food sold under private brand labels, in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise, club and drug stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong commercial foods presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other vegetable, spice, bakery and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. ConAgra Foods operates ReadySetEat.com, an interactive recipe website that provides consumers with dinner ideas and more. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com

Source: ConAgra Foods, Inc.

ConAgra Foods Dan Skinner, 630-857-1508 Dan.Skinner@conagrafoods.com