Home cooking soars nationwide as result of pandemic with 67% cooking from scratch

Have you been cooking from scratch more?

I remember during the first lockdown how all of us went a bit mad for baking banana bread but apparently we've all been cooking more in general. According to a recent survey since the start of the pandemic last year the amount of people cooking meals has increased with 67 per cent of those surveyed saying the cook more now than before the pandemic. Between increased time spent at home and restaurants being closed for most of the pandemic it's easy to see how we have all been cooking more. As well as cooking more from scratch it also seems that on average we're spending more time preparing meals in general with over half the population saying the spend two hours or more preparing dinner. The survey also found that 49 per cent of those questioned are cooking between four to six dinners each week. With that being said there is still a demand for ready meals with 84 per cent admitting that they buy pre-prepared meals and/or takeaway to give them a much-needed break. 43 per cent prefer the pre-prepared meals and side dishes options, an increase since the pandemic began, with 36 per cent saying it is their go to option one to two times per week. The survey, conducted by SuperValu also found that certain meals are far more popular than others. Family favourites like spaghetti bolognese and lasagne are still the most cooked mid-week meal with the traditional roast dinner continuing to be the must have weekend meal for one in two families (49 per cent). Aside from cooking, baking was another popular way to spend time in the kitchen as the survey revealed that the top four lockdown baking favourites have been cupcakes (45 per cent), cookies (42 per cent), soda bread (38 per cent) and banana bread (33 per cent).