Over a quarter (28%) of lower-income households spent less on food this Christmas in comparison to previous years, new research shows.
According to a recent YouGov suvey commissioned by Veg Power, families with a total household income of £30,000 or less said that spending less on food last year also led to less consumption of vegetables for 28% and less purchased across 20%.
For 20%, treats were bought instead of vegetables due to the pressures of Christmas festivities amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning
Retail sales analysis from IRI Worldwide also found that Christmas shopping baskets are becoming less healthy, with alcohol, sweets and snacks having gained more value share.
It revealed that the average Christmas basket now contains 5.7% more sweets and snacks than it did in 2018, with 7.6% less veg.
Commenting on what can be done to address this, Veg Power CEO, Dan Parker told The Grocer: “When people have strain on budgets, then any food wasted is unacceptable.”
“The key to keeping healthy food in lower-income baskets is not simply lower prices, it is giving parents greater confidence that the food will be eaten.”
He added: “We are supporting families with initiatives like Simply Veg which offers simple, easy ideas from an impressive panel of experts to help reduce the impact on families’ budgets, encourage veg acceptance by children and decrease the amount of food wasted.”
