Health and wellness

Instacart shares its food and grocery trends for 2025. In order to develop this forecast, Instacart analyzed Instacart purchase data from 2024, and uncovered standout insights about how people filled their carts (and kitchens) with items that trended across pop culture and social media over the past year.

Based on Instacart data, a few things are abundantly clear:

  • Health and wellness are continuing to influence people’s grocery purchasing decisions
  • Cooking and baking from scratch is on the rise
  • Enjoying diverse flavors is becoming increasingly important to many

Baking from scratch is back in full swing and ovens are pre-heating everywhere as people rediscover the joy of breadmaking. While sourdough may have seen its heyday in 2020, the love for homemade baked goods shows no signs of waning.

Instacart data reveals a 49% increase in the share of bread flour orders, alongside a 17% uptick in wheat berry purchases. These trends reflect a growing social media movement encouraging less processed foods and more baking and cooking from scratch.

This revival in breadmaking might be tied to the “homesteader” trend, which has garnered millions of views on social platforms. This lifestyle embraces the self-sufficient, back-to-basics approach of producing your own food and encourages people to find nourishment not just in consuming food, but in the very act of creating.

Homemade breadmaking isn’t the only food trend gaining in popularity: at-home pizza making is also having a moment. The share of orders with 00 flour, renowned for its quality in pizza making, has grown by 45%, while orders containing pizza sauce are also up by 9%.

As our world becomes more interconnected, the culinary scene is experiencing a vibrant transformation, with international flavors playing a more prominent role in our daily meals. Diverse global cuisines, especially those inspired by Asian influences, are reshaping not only our taste buds but also the items on our grocery lists. This trend mirrors a wider cultural shift towards inclusivity and exploration, highlighting our collective openness to embracing different culinary traditions.

The surge in popularity for items like milk tea (+75%), kimchi (+8%), and frozen Asian buns (+93%), showcases how cultural diversity and culinary innovation are becoming part of everyday dining for the masses. This growing appetite for international flavors is sparking creativity in food production and distribution, as grocery stores are now brimming with a vast selection of international ingredients and packaged foods. Given the rapid growth for these items, it’s likely that new flavor explorations will continue into 2025.