Half of People Bring in Their own Lunch to Work

31st July 2017

Posted In: WMB Living

New research from Bord Bia’s Insight Centre, The Thinking House, highlights Irish consumer attitudes towards diet, grocery shopping, eating habits and cooking.

Since 2001, Bord Bia’s PERIscope study, the largest quantitative study of its kind in Ireland, has been exploring consumer attitudes to a wide range of food related topics including local food, the environment, and health and wellbeing.

Grace Binchy, Consumer Insight Manager, Bord Bia spoke about the importance of the study to Ireland’s food and drink industry. “This level of knowledge and consumer understanding allows our food and drink producers, selling at home and abroad, to make well informed business decisions that serve customers’ needs better. For instance, we know that nearly 70% of those surveyed want help to eat well. With this in mind, manufacturers should consider how they can help people to do just that, as well as digest nutritional labelling, create convenience in their lives and address changing perceptions around sustainability.”

Research Highlights in Ireland cover a number of areas including Health & Wellbeing; Cooking Confidence and Eating Habits; Price, Local Food and Convenience and Going Green.

Health and wellbeing continues to be a major trend globally and Irish people have a positive perception of their own health, with 88% recognising it is important to eat well and acknowledging a link between diet and mental wellbeing. The majority of parents claim they try to make sure their children have a balanced diet, however four in ten admit it is hard to get kids to eat vegetables. Fewer parents than ever before are concerned about childhood obesity, falling from 35% in 2007 to 21%.

There are also some interesting findings on Eating Habits with 40% ordering a takeaway once a week. According to the research, half of people bring in their own lunch to work, with less people now going out for lunch.

Irish people admit that picking food that is easy to prepare (77%) and quick to cook (69%) are important considerations. We are embracing all things green and becoming more environmentally conscious, having increased to 61% from 56% a decade ago. However, one in two of us are concerned with the amount of food we throw away.

You can read more findings from this comprehensive survey here. Bord Bia’s PERIscope study was carried out across 8 countries – Ireland and the UK, four Continental European markets, along with the US and China and involves over 8,000 interviews.