During the COVID-19 lockdown households embarked on a roller-coaster ride of food purchases, choices and attitudes. From panic buying and empty shelves, to avoiding waste and cooking from scratch, over a few weeks many people re-appraised their relationship with food, including commodities previously taken for granted.

As we have emerged from lockdown to the reality of this global health crisis, people are paying more attention to their health, recently brought further into the spotlight with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s anti-obesity campaign. In a survey, 72% of European shoppers said they will make 'greater attempts' to eat and drink more healthily in the future as a result of their COVID-19 experience. This will inevitably impact food brands.

Of course, health consciousness was rising pre-COVID-19. Last year Linda Ellett, UK Head of Consumer Markets at KPMG in the UK noted that “the rise of the health-conscious consumer continues to dominate”. However initially, COVID seemed to reverse health consciousness; at the beginning of lockdown butter sales rose by 70% and despite one in five people saying they were cutting down on meat prior to lockdown, people began to return to it with a 50% greater demand for minced beef. YouGov research found that just over one quarter of people thought they ate less healthily in lockdown although half said their eating habits had not changed. 

Shifting consumer habits

Lockdown meant other habits relating to food changed. As people encountered shortages of staple items and supply chain breakdowns, many shoppers started to source food more locally, especially as travel restrictions were also imposed. This led many to discover more local produce on the high street, in farm shops and from other independent retailers, in many cases preferring them to those mindlessly added to their weekly supermarket trolleys.

Elsewhere they looked for other ways of relying on supplies. FMCG saw a massive spike at the beginning of lockdown, particularly in direct to consumer (D2C) sales, with 68% of FMCG saying the COVID crisis had a positive impact on D2C sales.

During the peak of the crisis, Heinz set up its D2C online channel ‘Heinz To Home’ delivering bundles of Heinz products direct to people’s doors. The channel includes a recipe hub with ideas for home cooking using its products, a clever and adaptive way to cater to consumers new habits. It has not been alone, with 61% of FMCG brands including recipe content in their marketing.

Another element of the COVID-19 food reappraisal came from people deprived of frequent dining out but with increased time suddenly at their disposal. It wasn’t surprising that 43% of adults in the UK surveyed in April said they were eating and cooking at home more than before COVID-19.

This led to the huge growth in home baking, and subsequent flour shortages in supermarkets, and scratch cooking. People explored and honed new skills as they absorbed the many online sources of inspiration and cooking guidance to recreate the restaurant experience at home. A Global Data survey found that 45% of UK consumers claimed to be experimenting with new recipes since the COVID outbreak. Some restaurants looked to empower these newbie chefs with the ingredients and recipes to recreate their dishes at home, in the hope no doubt that they would expose their ineptitudes and return to the restaurants in droves when they were able to.

A happy, healthy balanced life

But the issue now, is to what extent these changing habits remain as lockdown has eased. The lockdown unhealthy eating trend may prove to be a temporary blip, especially as people have been shocked by this unparalleled health scare with more now concerned about their health.

COVID has made us think about our health more but that doesn’t mean we make healthier choices all the time. Brands need to be there for their consumers and show how their products can be integrated into a happy, healthy and balanced life. 

The final influence on dining attitudes will be nothing to do with food per se but the other pleasure that COVID stripped from our daily lives: spending time with family and friends. The inability to have social get togethers over food and drink underlined the vital fuel that enhances our relationship with food.

Changing the health of the nation

As we enter August, we will start to see the impact of the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme, encouraging diners to return to their habits of old. But overall, the heightened sense of holistic health, the discovery of in-home cooking skills and the reconnection with healthy food will more than compensate the negative impact that COVID has had on healthy eating. 

One thing however that will eventually resurface in people’s lives will be a return to the same pace of life experienced pre-COVID, despite the likely exaggerated trend for people to resist the return to old ways in this regard. With time once again a more precious commodity, people will want time-saving convenience in their meal preparation, likely supporting the growing number of healthy convenience meal options from brands such as BOL.

As we all look forward to life post-COVID, food and drink brands have the opportunity to harness these positive influences in both their communications and product development, changing the health of the nation in a constructive way, while belittling the draconian sticking plaster necessity of the heightened regulations on HFSS advertising.