UK Attitudes towards Cooking in the Home Market Report 2023
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The UK Attitudes Towards Cooking in the Home 2023 Market Report examines consumers’ attitudes towards home cooking, decisions consumers are making to save money when cooking at home, and opportunities for brands to position themselves to best serve consumers that are cooking in the home. This report covers consumer attitudes, consumer behaviour, market forecast, industry trends, market challenges and statistics for the UK cooking in the home market.
The widely felt income squeeze will cause Brits to closely consider their grocery budgets in 2023. For the same reason, consumers in the UK will increase the number of at-home meals that they have. Money-saving products and solutions, such as sourcing cheaper ingredients, and batch cooking, will take increasing appeal amongst at-home cooks.
Meanwhile, supermarkets are seeking to promote less food waste with the removal of best before / use by dates from some products. One supermarket has gone as far as introducing energy saving cooking instructions for their own-label products. Consumers are notably switching to own-label products in an effort to save money, which could pressure premium brands to justify their value.
In the UK, over 40% of adults who prepare meals for their households use a combination of unprepared and prepared ingredients, while prepared meals (i.e. ready meals, pizza) are served much less frequently. This trend has remained similar since 2018, but in terms of age, there is more variation in home cooking behaviour. The 16-24 age range is most likely to cook with prepared meals, while the over 65s are most likely to cook from scratch.
Consumers are also leaning towards meat-free more as sustainability comes into focus for those cooking in the home. Meat substitutes could benefit from this trend, but the higher cost of meat substitutes make them less relevant as incomes are squeezed, and chickpeas or legumes can replace them as cheaper alternatives.
In the next 2-3 years, as pressures on household incomes ease, competition from foodservice will return. This means that at-home cooked meals will be reduced. Despite this, many households will remain cautious in their spending and economising habits will linger.
Following on from this, Mintel predicts that from 2026-2028, the cooking from scratch trend will continue to increase in popularity. This will come as consumers focus more on health. Additionally, the meat reduction trend is expected to continue to grow as sustainability becomes more important for UK adults. Brands can position themselves as helpful to consumers in this transition to meat-free by providing, for example, plant-based recipes.
To discover more about consumer cooking habits and food purchasing trends, read our 2022 report on UK Cooking Sauces, or take a look at our extensive Food Market Research Reports.
This report, written by Alice Pilkington, a leading analyst in the Food & Drink sector, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in the Home Cooking market and add expert context to the numbers.
Increased at-home meal occasions due to the income squeeze hold multiple opportunities for both ingredients and prepared foods. In the short term, calling out suitability for batch-cooking and less traditional cooking methods will tap into some of the key ways in which people are looking to save money. Further ahead, providing help on how to adapt recipes for other diets will keep brands relevant to the increasingly significant meat reduction trend.
Alice Pilkington
Senior Food and Drink Analyst
Mintel provides a range of market information, frequently through the category level, including market size and forecasting, complete with market drivers that illustrate the forces that shape a category or market.
Mintel’s proprietary consumer research provides our analysts with the attitudinal and behavioral data used to provide valuable insight to topical issues.
Mintel provides overviews of the top brands and manufacturers, and uses consumer research to explore attitudes and reactions to brands, as well as insight into what will resonate with consumers.
Market reports provide appendices of data to support the research and insight produced. Our databooks* are easily manipulated and downloadable to support your research needs and covers factors from consumer attitudes to market forecasts.
*databooks not available with UK B2B Industry reports.
Please Note: This is a sample report. All of the figures, graphs, and tables have been redacted. Our reports are available to download in PDF and PPT formats.