A new survey says that the chilled foods we buy now are radically different to what we were eating 20 years ago.
They’ve been a staple of every kitchen for decades but just how much have the contents of our fridges changed over the years? Quite a lot, according to new research by Cathedral City.
The cheese company found that iceberg lettuce, liver, kidneys and black pudding have disappeared from our chiller compartments over the past two decades. They’ve been replaced by the likes of hummus, salad bags, curry paste, olives, mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce.
And we’ve swapped full-fat milk for semi-skimmed or skimmed. In fact, the research claims that the only food that has stood the test of time is, you guessed it, cheese.
Salad cream and dripping?
However, I’d take issue with a couple of the findings. The survey claims salad cream is a recent addition to our fridges – I remember it being a staple of the summer months during my childhood (which is longer than 20 years ago now). I would also suspect that it doesn’t sit in as many fridges now as it did a decade ago (this article would seem to back me up).
And were many of us really still keeping chilled dripping in 1992? Perhaps the older generation were, but I never saw it in our family’s fridge.
The survey also found that we spend an average of £37.83 on fridge items each week – up from £20.58 in 1992 (which is £35 in today’s money).
And those surveyed said they preferred quality over price, despite the cash-strapped times we’re living in.
Have the contents of your fridge changed radically in the past 20 years? Let us know in the Comments section below.