‘I can’t be bothered to cook’: how our eating habits are changing

Pic: Caitlin Griffith

The UK takeaway business is worth billions of pounds and even during a global pandemic, UK households rely on apps to provide hot meals and supplies. On day two of our #foodforthought series we take a look at the results of our social media survey into changing eating habits. 

We heard from 72 people from a range of age groups and demographics to help us to get a better understanding of how and why people use food delivery apps. While this is hardly scientific, and was conducted before the UK-wide lockdown was enforced, it offers a snapshot into how our eating habits are changing.

A huge 87 percent of respondents told us that they use food delivery apps. We wanted to better understand why so many people use these apps to order food. Coming out on top with a whopping 76 percent, was the excuse “I can’t be bothered to cook”, while over 41 percent of respondents said they couldn’t be bothered to buy ingredients.

As part of this series on food hygiene and changing eating habits, we investigated the rise of so-called dark kitchens. We wanted to better understand if food app users understand exactly where their food is being produced. We asked respondents if they had ever heard of a dark kitchen, cloud kitchen or ghost kitchen. Notably, over 70 percent had never heard of dark kitchens, despite their rapidly rising prevalence in big cities such as London. 

A whopping 85 percent of you said you think apps should make it clear when your food isn’t being prepared in a traditional bricks and mortar restaurant. Watch this short explainer video to better understand how a dark kitchen works.

As our eating habits change, more and more of us are turning to delivery apps for easy-to-access ready-made food. But what is unclear to many is how much of our food is being prepared in non-traditional sites such as dark kitchens. Our investigation shows that while customers want easily accessible food at home, they still want to know where their food is coming from. 

This is day two of our series on food hygiene. Check out the rest of the investigation here #foodforthought 

Leave a Reply