1990s

The 1990s saw the trends of the 1980s come to fruition. Supermarkets and other stores, and takeaways and fast food restaurants, were increasingly taking the job of preparing food away from the individual household. In 1980, the average meal took one hour to prepare. By 1999, it took 20 minutes.

But despite the continued rise of the ready-meal, TV chefs such as Jamie Oliver (pictured) reflected cooking's growing popularity as a leisure interest.

Dish of the day

The popularity of Indian food in the nineties led to Chicken Tikka Masala being declared Britain's national restaurant dish in April 2001. Curry wasn't only eaten out, but increasingly cooked in the home and also accounted for a quarter of all frozen convenience meals bought.

Produce became extremely varied in the nineties, with supermarkets stocking a much wider range of exotic fruits and vegetables. But the increase in fresh imported produce was matched with an increase in the range of processed food and snacks available. Despite this, we still managed to consume fewer calories in the home per day than we did twenty years before - 1870 compared to 2474.

Food facts

The market for prepared foods grew enormously in the 1990s. Chilled ready-prepared meals overtook frozen ones by 1999.

Surveys suggested that chilled meals were seen by consumers as better quality, with a greater range of recipes. The products provided meals that many people could not cook themselves.

Food manufacturers showed constant ingenuity in devising new ways of taking the effort out of cooking and food preparation.

The Institute of Grocery Distribution found that sales of raw ingredients for cooking fell between 1988 and 1998. In the two years to 1998, sales of most home-baking ingredients fell, but sales of baking mixes, and frozen and chilled dough, went up.

Evidence was emerging that home baking was becoming popular with some parents as a leisure activity for their young children.

Shopping

Remarkably, despite all the variety and choice on offer, Office of National Statistics figures suggest people have been spending less on food than in the 1970s, taking inflation into account.

Average household spending on food was £61.90 in 2000/01 compared to the equivalent of £68.60 in 1974, even though people's incomes as a whole had risen over the period.

By 2000/01, food and non-alcoholic drinks had fallen to 16% of average household spending.

These averages mask the fact that people with lower incomes spend much less on food, but it is still the largest item in their household budget.

Average spending on food in 2000/01 was £26 a week for the poorest tenth of households, rising to £111 a week for the richest 10 per cent.

According to a survey in 2000, more than a quarter of chilled meals were Italian and about a quarter Indian, with traditional British meals making up less than one in five.

The move to bigger superstores continued, but the high streets began to fight back.

The decision in 1993 to end the newsagents' monopoly gave a boost to convenience stores, which opened long hours and sold a range of food, as well as sweets, cigarettes and newspapers.

The introduction of in-store bakeries to many convenience stores has increased the range of food on sale.

The supermarket chains themselves began to build smaller stores in the old high street locations and some attached to petrol stations.

For example, the first Tesco Metro opened in London's Covent Garden in 1992.

At the same time a new breed of retailers arrived from continental Europe - a reminder that not everyone could afford the new high-quality foods on offer.

The discount chains, such as Aldi, Netto and Lidl, offered basic goods in large warehouses at rock-bottom prices.

Taste

A new packing technique known as modified atmosphere packaging ushered in the age of the pre-washed, ready-prepared salad.

Previously exotic salad leaves - such as radicchio, rocket and lollo rosso - became a regular feature on supermarket shelves.

More fundamentally, general eating habits were changing, with more far more food eaten as snacks, on the move. Fast food outlets multiplied.

Breakfast was one casualty of the speeded-up lifestyle, with nearly one in three adults missing breakfast at home.

Kellogg's spotted a gap in the market and developed a cereal bar specifically targeted at those who had missed breakfast, with an advertising campaign to suggest the bar was a healthy option.

Not only was the bar an immediate hit, but it also raised sales of other cereal bars.

Food faces

Ironically, as people at home were less inclined to use their spare time preparing food, cooking became more popular as a leisure activity.

Celebrity chefs dominated many slots of the television schedules and cookery books contributed to the boom in the book trade.

While retailers have experienced a run on products featured in Delia Smith's cooking programmes, one survey found that fewer than one in five viewers tried a recipe after watching a TV celebrity chef.

In his book The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver wrote that his approach to cooking originated from his struggle to recreate restaurant dishes in the cramped kitchens of rented flats.

His TV programmes and books tapped into a desire among ordinary people to create delicious and innovative dishes at home with a minimum of fuss.