27 September 2011
The office lunch hour is actually just 21 minutes on average, according to a survey.
Almost a quarter of people eat lunch at their work desks, noted the eating habits survey from independent contract catering group Westbury Street Holdings (WSH), owner of contract caterer BaxterStorey and state schools caterer Caterlink.
Lunch is a sandwich, 30 per cent of respondents said, followed by salad for 11 per cent of the people.
When it comes to drinks and snacks, tea is by far the most popular hot
drink. Those choosing coffee go for i
nstant, with latte second.
Two-thirds of people usually snack in the afternoons. “Encouragingly, 57 per cent claim to regularly eat fruit as a snack, followed by biscuits/cookies (55 per cent), crisps (53 per cent) and chocolate (51 per cent). The average spend on snacks is £1.70,” says the report.
At dinner time, 62 per cent of respondents said they eat in front of the TV. The average time spent eating dinner is 27 minutes and 6 seconds, while the average time spent eating breakfast is 12 minutes and 24 seconds.
Almost a quarter of parents of school children said the recession has reduced their ability to make healthy eating choices for their children.
Just over half of parents pack school lunches for their children, with 38 per cent going for school lunches and 6 per cent for lunch outside school.
Four in 10 parents would pay more for better school meals, but an equal number would not pay extra.
“The survey analysis reveals that mothers are more likely to doubt that school meals are valuable for their child’s nutrition,” the survey noted. “Their lower willingness to pay extra for better quality could be related to these doubts.”
“We need to have a national conversation on how we feed our children and the government has a vitally important role to play in this,” said Alastair Storey, chief executive of WSH.
“If we are serious about tackling the obesity crisis that is facing us, there needs to be a better communication job to parents on issues around healthy eating and the effects that diet has on a child’s progress.”
Other news for Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Servest scrubs up for Heathrow contract
Legion retains Coryton refinery deal
Lords appoints kosher caterers
The incredible shrinking lunch hour
Run Forrest, run
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