More than half of adults eat no more than two portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and a quarter of those surveyed in the same new study said preparing healthy food was simply too boring and time-consuming.
Seven per cent of those surveyed, meanwhile, said they ate less healthily now than they had as a child.
Men are the worst offenders, according to the research, which was conducted by frozen food manufacturer Birdseye, eating on average just 2.4 portions of veg a day, compared to the 2.7 portions eaten by women.
One in seven of the survey's 1,000 respondents said they don’t eat vegetables because they can’t find exciting ways to cook them, while a quarter do not know how to cook vegetables at all, researchers discovered.
Almost half of the Londoners questioned (47 per cent) blamed their long commute to and from work for not having the time to cook a proper meal in the evening. And more than half admitted that they only eat two or fewer vegetable portions each day.
Furthermore, the survey found that 25 per cent of those questioned said that they avoid buying vegetables because they expire quickly, while one in ten said they don’t like eating vegetables because of childhood traumas and bad memories of school dinners.
