Comfort food and dessert top the isolation-survival menu

Australians are bulking up on treats and burgers with delivery platforms seeing a massive isolation effect.

Tonight, what will you be eating? Picture: AP

Australia’s appetite for burgers and cakes is growing in isolation, according to one of the nation’s biggest food delivery platforms.

Uber Eats said searches across the more than 20,000 restaurants on the platform between the middle of February and April for comfort food and dessert are up, while searches for vegan food are down as healthy food falls by the wayside for many.

The popular delivery platform said breakfast and brunch have also been big winners with workers at home and nationwide searches have gone up 100 per cent, concentrated in inner city locales.

The coronavirus pandemic also appears to be playing havoc with traditional meal times, with the data showing dinner times have shifted towards 6pm, away from the pre-virus peak of 8pm.

An anonymised survey of 4886 people by comparison site Finder found the average user spent $138 across Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Menulog, and fast food restaurants in March.

This compared with an average spend of $99 in February and $103 in January, according to Finder.

Finder’s insights manager Graham Cook said the data showed consumer spending on fast food and food delivery had grown 38 per cent across March.

“As people spend more time at home during the lockdown, Aussies are spending more than ever on food deliveries. Many restaurants that were previously not part of the home-delivery infrastructure have come on board, resulting in a huge increase in choice for the homebound consumer,” Mr Cook said.

“It will be interesting to see if this trend continues as social distancing measures are relaxed in the coming months.”

Finder data shows men are more likely than women to spend on food delivery, with Gen Y the biggest spenders when ordering in.

Uber Eats said the most popular meal in Melbourne from independent restaurants is the Halal Snack Pack, which is reportedly a trend mirrored across the Gold Coast, Geelong and Canberra.

Only Hobart has stayed the course, with healthier search terms trending across the southernmost-capital.

Uber Eats found more Australians are ordering essentials it offers on the platform, with milk topping the list of must-haves.

Orders for eggs, bread, milk and toilet paper are all up 60 per cent in recent months.