One-fifth of millennials eat more takeaways than home-cooked food with 18% not knowing how to cook a healthy meal from scratch. In the UK there are 22 million fast-food takeaway meals eaten every week.
Many Brits are turning to junk food and microwave meals to eat during the busy working week. Generation Y are happy to pay a 30% premium on a takeaway meal despite supermarket ingredients being much cheaper.
However frequent takeaways and bad eating habits are having a detrimental effect on their bodies. According to Cancer Research UK as many as 70% of millennials are predicted to be obese by the time they are middle aged.
Why do Generation Y no longer cook from home?
Ubamarket conducted a survey on 2,000 UK adults and found that one-fifth of millennials consider home delivery a good way of eating a full meal within a busy working week.
A report from Kantar also revealed that supermarket sales decreased by 0.5% over the last quarter and the ‘big four’ (Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda) saw a drop in sales of 2%.
Fifty-eight percent of millennials survyed (which equates to over three million people) say they are not 100% sure if they know every ingredient that goes into the food they order from takeaways. Fifteen percent of millennials said the majority of their main meals are microwave meals.
Ubamarket revealed the five most popular takeaway meals:
- Chinese
- Indian
- Fish and chips
- Pizza
- Burger and chips
Ubamarket is attempting to resolve the obesity crisis
The Ubamarket app is attempting to encourage Generation Y to go back to grocery shopping and to live healthier lifestyles.
Currently 40% of millennials find travelling to a supermarket inconvenient, 31% consider making food a boring task and 27% of millennials say they don’t have the time to make their own food during the busy working week.
Ubamarket have suggested some explanations for this unhealthy lifestyle, including life has become more fast-paced and the technology in our everyday lives.
Will Broome, chief executive and founder of Ubamarket, said: “People may not be aware that home-cooking can be just as quick, save customers money and provide many health benefits.
“As our lives become more digitalised, technology could prove to have health benefits if used correctly - retailers should adapt their offerings to create a more efficient shopping experience. This would encourage people to shop in stores for their grocery shopping instead of ordering takeaways.
“If shops were to implement retail tech, such as apps that guide you around the store, allow you to write shopping lists and inform customers of the nutritional values of food, that would encourage shoppers up and down the country to make the most of the benefits that bricks and mortar stores have to offer.”
How to ‘supermarket-shop’ yourself away from obesity
- Write a list and stick to it- no ‘impulse’ buying
- Organise your list by route/ food category so you wont have to go down the junk food isles
- Shop on your own to avoid distractions
- Try not to use a trolley as it will slow you down, unless you are doing a big shop
- Use scan-and-go technology to avoid ques
- Use an app to discover the nutritional value of products