Food demand is an important component of the agricultural sector and much food preparation occurs in the home. While there is much information about the market cost of food, there has been no information about the preparation cost of food at home because there has been no data available on the quantity of time spent in food preparation. Using newly released time diary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this paper provides the first known estimates of the cost of time in food preparation at home. We also consider a demographic profile comparable with someone who may be on Food Stamps and following the recipes based on the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, which is designed to help low income groups on Food Stamps.