Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – eating three meals a day doesn’t seem difficult but when life gets hectic it can be. Mornings can get seriously chaotic, so it’s unsurprising that breakfast is the most commonly skipped meal, according to new data from Graze.
And then who has the energy to cook lunch every single day? It’s easier to settle with a selection of nibbly bits. Then there’s dinner, why cook when Deliveroo and Just Eat are available?
It’s easy to slip into these habits and if you’re an all-day snacker, you’re far from alone. It appears that only four in 10 Brits eat three full meals a day, according to a new survey by Graze. Of the 2,000 Brits polled, one in ten shared that they’ve adopted a grazing lifestyle due to being too busy or not being hungry enough for a full meal. 17% of those surveyed said that they intentionally don’t eat full meals as they are trying to lose weight.
In a full week, a typical Brit will skip meals four days of out seven with Monday, Wednesday, and Tuesday the most common days to go without food glorious food. Meanwhile, Gen Z is the age group most likely to skip meals.
Outside of Brits being busy and not knowing what to eat, 23% think the idea of eating three square meals a day is now old-fashioned and outdated. So instead of eating a full meal, we turn to snacks instead.
Most of us love a cheeky snack with one in four admitting to doing it more than last year, with the optimum time for a snack fix being 12.29pm. However, snacking doesn’t have the best reputation.
Graze discovered that this snacking culture means they are usually eating less healthily than they would like, relying on processed and high sugar and salt foods to fill them up day-to-day.
Most people reach for a packet of crisps or some chocolate if they want something to nibble on – after all, Brits’ favourite snacks are crisps, biscuits, milk chocolate, and fruit.
But, snacking doesn’t have to be unhealthy. Four in ten wish that there were more healthy snacks available to buy that taste good and a third.
“Snacking is a word that sometimes comes laden with negative connotations, but snacking in between meals is a great way to fulfil our daily dietary requirements in a nutritious way,” Eleanor McClelland, Head of Food at graze said.
McCelland thinks people just need to eat the right type of snacks such as those made from ingredients like “nuts, seeds, and fruit that are free from artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives” she adds.