The likelihood to eat breakfast doesn’t change much from weekday to weekend – but what is eaten is often different
A new report from YouGov, ‘Breakfast Habits’, reveals that over half (51%) of UK consumers agree that it is important to have a good breakfast, thus showing a good deal of awareness about the role of breakfast in good nutrition.
Nearly three in five (59%) UK consumers claim to always have breakfast during the week (Monday to Friday), while 17% have it often and 18% eat it rarely. The proportion of consumers who rarely have breakfast at the weekend is only slightly lower at 15%, illustrating that the influence of busy working lifestyles is not as detrimental to breakfast eating as might be first expected.
There is more of a difference in what is actually eaten for breakfast at these different times, however. Across Monday to Friday cereal and toast remain the most popular breakfast foods, with 82% and 83% respectively saying they eat these foods for breakfast. Convenience appears to play the greatest role in the success of cereal and toast as popular breakfast choices, with 55% and 52% respectively recognising that factor as a positive attribute. More cite health reasons for choosing cereal (37%) than for choosing toast (27%).
While regular consumption of toast slightly increases from 30% to 34% at the weekend, regular consumption of cereal for breakfast falls from 42% of consumers during the week to 34% at the weekend. Consumption of hot cereal falls from 23% to 18%.
At the weekend hot items such as bacon, eggs and sausages increase in popularity as regular features on the breakfast menu. Regular consumption of eggs rises from one in ten (10%) to 16%, from 4% to 11% for bacon and 4% to 7% for sausages. Half (50%) eat eggs and bacon occasionally, with this figure at 43% for sausages; these are core features of a cooked weekend treat.
