Sunday roast trend highlights grim reality of cost of living

Meal planning, making fewer Sunday roasts and ditching alcohol are some of the diet changes Britons are making as a result of the cost of living crisis, according to new research.

A survey of 3,000 people has found that people have cut consumption of alcohol by as much as 22 per cent, while a fifth of respondents said they are buying less red meat and avoiding snacking in between meals.

A significant change in eating habits is the abandonment of the Sunday roast. As more than one in five stated they are using their oven as little as possible, 26 per cent of people said they are less likely to make the traditional offering on a weekly basis.

Of those surveyed, 18 per cent said they have switched off their oven for good and no longer use it.

The news comes as people across the UK are struggling to afford their gas and electricity bills, and food prices continue to rocket. The Bank of England has forecasted that inflation will likely rise to 11 per cent in October.

Last month, retail data company Kantar predicted that shoppers could expect to see their food and grocery bills increase by more than £500 per year, with items such as butter, milk and poultry seeing the biggest jump in price.

According to the BBC’s Good Food Nation survey, almost a third of shoppers are swapping branded items for supermarket own brands in a bid to curb costs, while a quarter are shopping less frequently.

Additionally, 22 per cent of people said they no longer stick to a single supermarket and will shop around for deals and reductions instead.

Some parents are opting to send their kids to school with packed lunches (15 per cent) as opposed to paying for school dinners, while others have changed what they pack for their children to save money (30 per cent).

Meanwhile some adults said they are implementing meal planning around ingredients they already have that are set to expire.

The survey also asked children aged between five and 16 about how their families could increase budgeting. The top responses were using up food that is already in the house (61 per cent) and buying cheaper ingredients (55 per cent).