By Millie Muroi
Coconut water, chicken and chips were among the foods Australians bought more of last financial year, while the number of sugary treats purchased declined as the rising price of cocoa hit home.
Fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week shows shoppers bought more than 15 million tonnes of food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2023-24 – amounting to a bit more than 1.5 kilograms for each person, every day.
ABS consumption data shows we are eating more chips and meat, and less sugary treats like chocolate.Credit: Composite image: Stephen Kiprillis
Here’s what the latest numbers tell us about our eating habits and how they’ve changed.
We guzzled more liquids ... but skipped the soup
Staying hydrated and replenishing energy seemed to be a priority for Australians in 2023-24, with electrolyte and energy drink purchases rising 9 per cent over the year. Energy drink brands have increasingly been partnering with influencers, such as Jake and Logan Paul, in a bid to reel in younger consumers in particular.
While we reduced our consumption of fruit and vegetable juices by nearly 5 per cent, we reached for more bottled water (up 4 per cent) and soft drinks (up 2 per cent). Coconut water also grew in popularity by almost 20 per cent.
Despite our growing love of liquids, however, soup was out of fashion, recording the biggest fall in consumption (down 13 per cent) of any food group over the year.
We stocked up our snack cupboards, but slashed the sugar
If you felt more peckish in 2023-24, you’re not alone. We bought more snacks, opting for salty options such as potato snacks (up 10 per cent) and corn snacks (up 4 per cent). Over the year, we each consumed about 4.5 kilograms worth of these foods.
But we weren’t so keen on confectionery, cutting back on sweets by 4 per cent. Chocolate was the big loser, with daily consumption shrinking by about two whole chocolate bars over the year. That could also be a reflection of the price tag, amid warnings earlier this year that sky-high cocoa prices could force local chocolate makers to hike prices.
Other sweets (mainly lollies) also slipped out of favour, with a 2.5 per cent fall in consumption over the year.
We became more carnivorous
Australians bulked up on meat in 2023-24, pushing average daily consumption up by about 3 grams per person. That means the average Australian in 2023-24 chowed down nearly 19 kilograms of meat over the year – about 1 kilogram more than the previous year.
While we trimmed back on snags and processed meat, we filled our baskets with 3.5 per cent more chicken, raising average consumption to 51 grams a day.
More beef, lamb and pork also made its way through the checkout, with a 3.7 per cent increase over the year. Protein as a share of our daily energy intake also edged up to 15.4 per cent, from 15.3 per cent the previous year and 15.1 per cent in 2019-20.
We snubbed our vegetables but munched on more fruit
Australians continued to cut back on vegetables – though not by as much as the 7 per cent fall in 2022-23 – buying 0.2 per cent less over the year to 2023-24.
The biggest drivers of this fall were a drop in consumption of peas and beans (down 12 per cent), carrots and other root vegetables such as beetroot and sweet potato (down 5 per cent), and tomatoes (down 1 per cent) – all of which have been in decline since peaking around the pandemic.
This could be a result of less time spent cooking, which surged in popularity during the pandemic as people spent more time at home and cooked more meals from scratch.
We did, however, buy more fruit.
While we munched on fewer apples and pears (down 4 per cent) and citrus fruits (down 12 per cent), we ate more berries (up 15 per cent), while stone fruits (up 15 per cent) and other fruits such as melons and grapes (up 12 per cent) were also more popular.
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