What does an ‘ingredient household’ mean on TikTok?

TikTokers are going viral with their videos sharing their experiences of living in a ‘ingredient household’ — here’s everything to know about what it means.

Just about anything can become a trend on short-form video platform TikTok. Often, it’s shared experiences among the millions of users on the app that end up spawning viral topics.

One topic that has been popular on TikTok for a while, but saw a resurgence of popularity in December 2022 and early 2023, is ‘ingredient households.’

Users have garnered millions of likes and views for their videos discussing growing up in an ‘ingredient household,’ with countless users across the app relating to these popular posts, and sharing experiences of their own.

What is an ‘ingredient household’ on TikTok?

Essentially, an ‘ingredient household’ refers to a house that only stocks separate ingredients, as opposed to meals or snacks that are ready to eat.

TikTokers have gone viral as a result of sharing snacks that they ate as a kid in an ingredient household, including examples like a spoonful of peanut butter, croutons, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and many more.

“Just learned I grew up in an ingredient household,” read one comment with over 30,000 likes under a viral video from the trend.

“Just realized I am the ingredient household. My kids eat all those as snacks lol,” said another user.

“Don’t forget a can of black olives,” added another commenter.

The trend is continuing to garner popularity as more and more people stumble across ingredient household videos, with some recounting their experience of when they were a kid, and others sharing what their ingredient households look like as adults.