The contrast between current UK diets in 1942, when reliable records began, makes for interesting reading. Back then families consumed far more vegetables and fish and about half as many biscuits as modern ones. Even since the 1970s Britons have cut back drastically on green vegetables and have turned to ready meals—especially meaty ones—and salty snacks.
Part of the reason for this is that there is an increasing percentage of working mothers with less time to cook. Advances in technology, not just freezers and microwave ovens but better containers for processed food means that ready meals are an increasingly acceptable meal solution.
There is a perception that less cooking takes place in the home, and that cooking skills are declining. According to Kantar Worldpanel, most people have a repertoire of about seven different meals and simply repeat them. That is not all that different from 1950s family meals in which the same dishes—Sunday roasts, leftovers made into cottage pies, sausage and mash—featured every week. And today’s repertoires might at least feature once-exotic dishes such as pasta.
Nor has the tradition of family eating declined as much as is commonly thought. People still sit down to a Sunday roast, a meal rarely eaten in solitude, 14 times a year on average. However the growing numbers who live alone, now 29% of all households, often eat by themselves. But adults who live with others usually eat dinner together – a recent survey by Manchester University found that only 20% of those who lived with others had eaten their most recent dinner at home alone, a figure which has changed little in the past two decades.
The Last Night’ s Dinner Survey conducted by Bord Bia in Ireland also shows some interesting trends in home dining. Ireland’s favourite style of dinner is a classic “meat and two veg” which accounts for almost 1 in 6 of last night’s dinners. In fact, 6 in 10 people in Ireland had a classic meat and two veg dinner in the past week. In terms of specific dishes spaghetti Bolognese and Roast Chicken dinners top the poll; with Spaghetti Bolognese a clear number one for kids featuring in 8% of all kids meals last night.
Cooking dinner from scratch using fresh ingredients is a growing trend with 4 in 10 claiming to do so more often nowadays. Half of adult meals are prepared totally from scratch but only a quarter of kids meals are. 18% of adults ate alone on average across the week. On average 41 minutes is spent preparing dinner, but this rises to 53 mins on a Sunday. Only 36% of those with kids always eat together as a family, with a further 48% doing so when they can.
Source: BordBia – Eating at Home Trends in England & Ireland Highlighted
