London - It's the first rule of an efficient weekly food shop – make a list and stick to it.
But many families are abandoning the shopping list in favour of buying groceries on impulse, research shows.
A study found one in four shoppers decide what to eat on the day rather than planning meals days or even weeks in advance.
The trend shows how our lives have changed, with families often having less time to plan and buy a big weekly or monthly shop due to long working hours.
The survey of 2 000 adults by Co-operative Food found that one in six never used a shopping list, and fewer than one in ten planned weekly food in advance. There was also an increase in mid-week shopping as opposed to weekends, while consumers were buying more goods from smaller convenience stores than big supermarkets.
The trend towards smaller food shops has also been fuelled by an increase in single households and a desire to cut down on food waste, the Co-op said.
The company’s retail chief executive Steve Murrells added: “The idea of planning and eating three square meals a day are a thing of the past.”
Daily Mail