Home cooking in Britain is in decline, particularly among low-income households, as consumers increasingly turn to calorie-laden convenience foods and fatty ready meals to cope with austerity, according to data from retail analyst Kantar Worldpanel.
The data, which tracks the shopping habits of 30,000 British households, shows that those earning under £25,000 a year are spending a larger share of their food budgets on unhealthy frozen and chilled products. Home cooking has declined most among these groups, with families opting for cheap, filling prepared foods on supermarket price promotions rather than fresh produce.
Giles Quick, director of Kantar Worldpanel, said the recession and modern life pressures have changed shopping habits and relationships with food, leading to unhealthy eating and exacerbating public health issues like obesity. He called for measures such as reducing VAT on healthy products and restricting 'buy one get one free' promotions on high-fat, high-sugar foods.
The average time to prepare the main family meal has fallen from 60 minutes two decades ago to about 32 minutes now. Even baking is declining; homebaked cakes now account for just 20% of all cakes eaten, down from 50% 20 years ago. Frozen food sales have grown 11% in two years, and chilled ready meals are up 19%, especially among working-class groups.
Low-income families with young children are most likely to buy food on special offers, yet roughly a third of all sugar and saturated fat purchased is sold through these promotions. Quick added: 'Consumers appear unwilling, unmotivated and unable to alter their current eating habits.'
