Banned from crisps at home, men eat 41% more when they're out

Men are tucking into more bags of crisps and bars of chocolate - despite efforts by their other halves to curb snacking.

Mums have been looking to improve their family’s diets by cutting back on the snacks they stockpile in the kitchen cupboard - prompting a 7% drop in the amount of crisps being eaten at home by 35 to 44-year-old men [Kantar Worldpanel 12 m/e February 2012].

However, retail analysts Kantar Worldpanel says men who can no longer get crisps and chocs at home are still eating them - they’re just buying the snacks themselves and eating them on the go.

This has prompted a 37% increase in the amount of chocolate eaten out of home by 35 to 44-year old men in the past year, while their out-of-home crisp consumption has risen 41%.

The trend has contributed to an overall 23% increase in out-of-home chocolate consumption by all UK men, although crisp consumption has fallen by 3%.

Men in their mid 30s and 40s were more likely than other age groups to live in a household with children, and dads would often cut out a food if it was no longer available at home, said Ross McKnight, consumer research analyst at Kantar Worldpanel. “However, it appears men are now sourcing their fix of crisps and chocolate out of home.”

Their partners are more restrained. Women aged between 35 and 44 have cut back on out-of-home snacking, with their consumption of crisps down 3% year-on-year and chocolate consumption down 14% [Kantar].