People are eating more takeaway food today than before the Pandemic.
Some new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests that our consumption of takeaway food increased during the lockdowns, and that this habit has stayed with us post-lockdowns.
Takeaway consumption was around 400 calories per week per person in the first quarter of 2022, 50% above pre-pandemic levels.
In terms of calories consumed, this increase in takeaway calorie consumption has come at the expense of calories consumed in coffee shops, pubs and restaurants.
Calories bought outside the home.
It would seem that people are consuming less on food when they are 'out out' but more on food cooked outside the home and delivered to them!
A lazy trend...?
What I find most interesting about this is how it doesn't sync with either the cost of living or the decline in people working...
There are more people off sick today than there before the Pandemic, more people on low-incomes, we're facing a cost of living crisis, which includes the cost of food going up.
So we've got a situation of people with less money and more time and yet still people are buying MORE fast food and takeaways than before the Pandemic...
One would have thought ppeople would be consuming FEWER calories bought outside the home, and MORE calories bought in the form of raw ingredients and cooked inside the home as it's somewhere between 2-5 times cheaper depending on the food items to do this.
However I guess it depends on what people are switching from... as the analysis says people have SWAPPED more expensive eating out with less expensive takeaways.
Consumption Patterns...
I mean let's face it 400 calories a week on a takeout isn't really a decent meal!
So this isn't people doing this EVERY day, it's a mixture of your smaller mid-week and weekend 'quick breakfast or dinner' from Mcdonalds by Uber Eats once a week or your monthly blowout.
You want to be on at least 1000 calories for a proper takeout IMHO, THE large Dominos or MASSIVE FISH AND CHIPS, ideally twice that to have a decent nosh, maybe even more!
This is actually probably around what I buy out, excluding meal deals...
Meal Deals not that popular...?
At only 50 calories a day on average bought on lunches etc. in Supermarkets, clearly meal deals aren't that popular, or maybe it's that they're healthier, this is by calories!
That's one a week on average per person, maybe that is about right for some of the working population!
Although I would have thought this would have been higher as a proportion over all...?
Perhaps my love of a decent Meal Deal isn't shared by the nation after all!
Each to their own, I guess!
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