The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has released figures charting the UK's changing food-buying patterns since 1974. Data from 150,000 households who took part in the survey of their food and drink habits from 1974-2000, show that chips and fresh fruit are in, while white bread, tinned peas and meat paste are out, reports UK broadcaster BBC.
It comes from the National Food Survey, which in 1940 began asking households to fill out diaries of their weekly food and drink purchases.
Together with studies that replaced it from 2000, the survey data offers a fascinating snapshot of the nation's shifting norms of dining and imbibing. So what does it reveal?
Fresh fruit purchases went up nearly 50% while that of "soft drinks, not low calorie" dropped by a third.
The weekly shop has become more affordable over time. According to the data, some 24% of a typical pay packet went on food in 1974 compared with 11% today.
This reflects a broader trend, says Annie Gray, resident food historian on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet.. "Right up to the 1950s, we spent a third of our income on food," she says. Increased competition, better logistics and modern agricultural methods have all played a part in this.
However, falling prices have sometimes meant a drop in quality of some products at the bottom end of the market too, says Gray: "There comes a point where food doesn't get any cheaper without corners being cut."
Freezer revolution
According to the survey, just 15% of households owned a freezer in 1974. By 2000 that figure stood at 94%.
This is matched by a drop in the popularity of canned and tinned food. The amount of canned peas bought by a typical household dropped from 88g to 14g per week between 1974 and 2014. In total, consumption of canned vegetables dropped by a third over the same period.
Meanwhile, "ready meals and convenience meat products" went up fivefold.
More chips
The nation's preferred form of potato remains the chip.
Reported purchases in the category "chips (frozen and not frozen)" were three times higher in 2014 than in 1974. In a blow to the chip shop industry, however, households reported buying a third less takeaway chips over the same period.
Over this period, brands pushed the notion that oven chips were both a treat and a shortcut, says Gray. "They are very aggressively marketed," she adds. "Convenience foods are driven by perceived lack of time and perceived ease of cooking," she adds.
