NEW YORK - Sixty-four percent of Americans go grocery shopping and spend time preparing food on Sundays, according to a recent Parade magazine study, Progressive Grocer reports.

The "2010 Sunday in America" survey found that Sundays are more likely to be spent gathering food (72 percent of respondents), preparing or cooking food (89 percent) and dining at home (91 percent for breakfast; 86 percent for dinner). Also, 69 percent said they dine at restaurants on Sunday, while 59 percent often invite others to dine at home with them.

"This makes sense to me, because our lives are increasingly hectic," said Brett Wilson, Parade publisher. "People like Friday because it heralds the weekend. Saturday is less harried but often spent running errands, doing chores, and chauffeuring the kids to games and appointments. Sunday is the one day of the week when we have more time ?" for home and family and, of course, food."

Sundays are used for planning food for the week ahead, too. Nearly three-fourths of respondents (73 percent) make out their grocery lists. Most use the Sunday newspapers as a major source for shopping: 94 percent look for sales information, while 92 percent clip coupons.