The economy has really hit us hard," says Ms. Frechette, 29 years old. "We can't really afford to go eat Chinese food, so we had our own."
As the recession prompts more people to cut back on expensive meals and dining out, recipe swapping Web sites, particularly those that offer tips for budget meals and cost-cutting, are seeing increases in traffic. Rather than specializing in sophisticated gourmet concoctions, the most popular food sites appeal to a broad audience and allow users to upload their own recipes.
In March, Allrecipes.com, a Reader's Digest Association Inc. site, became the most visited site in the food category, with about 7.3 million unique visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix. Allrecipes, which is aimed at working moms with a utilitarian approach to cooking, surpassed perennial food Web site leader FoodNetwork.com, owned by Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., with 7.2 million, according to comScore.
In the past year, traffic at MyRecipes.com -- a Time Inc. site that pulls recipes from magazine titles like Cooking Light and Southern Living -- has almost doubled to 2.9 million unique visitors in March, according to comScore. Recipezaar.com, another Scripps brand, had roughly 3.3 million visitors in March, down slightly from 3.5 million a year ago, according to comScore. Deanna Brown, president of Scripps Networks Digital, said the company has seen a big increase in traffic to the inexpensive and budget-friendly areas of the site this year.
The popularity of budget-friendly sites comes as visits to some gourmet Web sites decline. In the past year, traffic to Epicurious.com, an online destination for food connoisseurs from Condé Nast Publications Inc., dropped by nearly a million unique visitors to 1.2 million in March, according to comScore. A Condé Nast spokeswoman attributed the decrease to a stronger consumer interest in online destinations of food manufacturers and "seasonal fluctuations."
