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Brits are avoiding restaurant and pub dining in favor of takeaways following a cultural shift during the pandemic, a report reveals.
Adults consumed up to 74 per cent more calories from takeaways as lockdown hooked the nation on the likes of Deliveroo and JustEat.
And while this figure has decreased slightly since hospitality venues reopened, intake is still 48 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
New analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows this rise has come at the expense of pubs, restaurants and cafes, with people still dining out less than before the pandemic.
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Adults consumed up to 74 per cent more calories from takeaways as lockdown hooked the nation on the likes of Deliveroo and JustEats. And while this figure has decreased slightly since hotel establishments reopened, intake is still 48 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Before the crisis, the average adult consumed around 270 calories a week from takeout food.
During the first Covid lockdown, this reached 395 calories per week.
While restaurant reopenings saw takeaway consumption fall through 2020, takeaway consumption began to rise again in 2021, this time to around 470 calories per week during the third national lockdown in England.
These higher levels have endured, with takeout consumption in the first quarter of 2022 at around 400 calories per week.
Household food shopping baskets also increased during the Covid pandemic and beyond.
Even outside of strict lockdown periods in 2020, households purchased about 170 more calories per adult per day, a 9 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels.
The health of shopping baskets did not change markedly during the period.
But, despite fears at the time, these effects have proven to be mostly temporary.
By 2022, the size of household shopping baskets had largely returned to normal, the analysis shows.
The IFS said total calorie intake appears to have returned to normal, but excess consumed during that period “could still have long-term effects on health and weight.”
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The proportion of Britons who are overweight or obese has slowly increased over time, reaching two-thirds in 2021, the latest data available. No data was recorded for 2020, the year of the Covid pandemic.
Report author Andrew McKendrick, research economist at the IFS, said: “The Covid pandemic produced huge changes in both the number of calories households bought and where they came from.
‘The confinements and closures of the hospitality industry left a more important role for food consumption at home and takeaways.
“But by early 2022, most of these changes had been reversed: households were largely back to buying as much as they did in 2019.
“However, the pandemic left a legacy: the increasing use of takeout.”
Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: “This research confirms what is already clear: hot food on the go is taking over our high streets.”
‘The pandemic accelerated this and there is now so much availability of unhealthy foods that it is almost inevitable.
‘We know that, on average, portion sizes in these places are much larger than what you would prepare at home, with more sugar, salt and fat. Consumers can’t even make informed decisions about what they buy.
“Council councils must improve the health of high streets by using the planning tools they have at their disposal, and national government must step up and empower them to do this.”