Why has the packed lunch declined in popularity so sharply in recent years?

As economy improves, more and more people choose to eat out instead of packing lunch.

15:52 07 July 2014

A new report released this week has revealed that as the economy improves, more and more Britons can now afford to eat out and are therefore scrapping their money saving packed lunches.

Data released by analysts Kantar Worldpanel say that packed lunch consumption dropped by 10.9per cent in the 16 weeks leading to March 30. This represents a fall of 76 million packed lunches, year-on-year.

Kantar Worldpanel analyst Lucy Barton told trade magazine The Grocer yesterday: 'It has now started dropping relatively rapidly. This is partly due to the recovery in consumer confidence as we leave the recession.

'We saw a lot of consumers starting to use packed lunches as a way of saving money when times were tight but we also know consumers put "eating out" at the top of the list of things they would do if they had more money.'