Interesting Facts

People in the UK are eating 3.5 million ready meals - wait for it - a day. (According to analysts Kantar Worldpanel for trade mag The Grocer, Brits munched their way through £3.2 billion worth of chilled or frozen dinners in 2015. Family favourites are shepherd's pie, lasagne and chicken tikka masala, with traditional British meals accounting for £1.3 billion of sales. Italian meals £610 million, Indian nearly £400 million and Chinese meals £281 million. We are turning into a nation of microwave chefs.)

According to a study by BUPA, 80% of Brits believe families today are missing out on creating happy memories by not eating meals together. (The top foods that invoked childhood memories were:- Ice cream Roast dinner Fish and chips Apple crumble Bangers and mash Shepherd’s pie Spaghetti Bolognese Strawberries and cream Fruit salad Bakewell tart For me it's sherry trifle.)

After being told to eat 3 square meals a day all our lives, experts are now warning us that eating breakfast, lunch and dinner may be damaging our health. (Abigail Carroll, who wrote 'Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal', argues that the idea of eating three meals a day is a European invention from the Middle Ages, supposedly more civilised than eating when you're hungry. Now experts are saying that fasting can be good for your health. Maybe they are just getting us ready for food shortages.)

According to a study conducted by the Department for Education, the traditional family meal appears to be making a comeback in the UK. (In the study, 52% of children said they had shared a meal with their parents six times in the last week compared with 42 per cent in 2004. Now, I wonder if they sat at the table, or ate in front of the TV.)

According to a study by food firm Tilda, just over half of adults in the UK have suffered increased levels of stress and anxiety in the past year. (As they struggle to find that elusive work-life balance, the average person now gets six and a half hours sleep a day and spends less than 20 minutes preparing weekday meals.  One in the eye for Jamie Oliver.)

Children who are eligible for free school meals are nearly 4 times more likely to receive a permanent exclusion and around 3 times more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion than children who are not eligible for free school meals (In other words, children from poor families struggle.  I wonder why the current government is so hell bent on creating more poor families?)