Mr Carl Quash III, Euromonitor International’s head of packaged foods, snacks and nutrition, said that global respondents between the ages of 30 and 44 – the group comprising the most working adults – are the largest age group to replace meals with snacks.
Associate Professor Verena Tan, programme leader of the dietetics and nutrition programme at the Singapore Institute of Technology, said that hectic work schedules often leave people with little time to prepare and consume full meals.
As part of her private practice, Dr Tan has observed that the habit of replacing meals with snacks is particularly prevalent among the younger population, who tend to have busier lifestyles now more than before.
Snacking is thus a convenient way for them to fuel up on-the-go, she said.
“Research has shown that increased work hours are associated with more frequent out-of-home food purchases and reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables.
“This indicates a shift towards more convenient and often less healthy food options,” she added.
Madam Soh Wan Keem, principal dietitian of Nutrimaxx Consultancy, a coaching and counselling outfit for therapeutic diets, said that the increasing accessibility to snacks is also “changing the eating habits of many Singaporeans”.
Working from home instead of an office, for instance, has made it easier for people to reach for a snack.
Indeed, for Ms Huda Zainal, a 38-year-old sales administrator, potato chips and biscuits are what she has for breakfast at home on occasion.
“I know we should eat proper food and that snacks are not healthy, but it’s much easier to snack.
“You just have to buy a basket of snacks and put them at home. You don’t even have to order food delivery and wait for it to arrive,” she said.
However, some workers said that snacking is prevalent at the workplace, too.
Public relations account manager Tiara Putri, 29, said that she has snacks in place of meals at least three times a week.
Her choice of breakfast and lunch is often dictated by what food is left at the office pantry, ranging from fruits to potato chips to biscuits, and she has seen her colleagues having similar eating habits.
Ms Putri believes that this is driven mostly by people intent on clearing their workload, but that an “Asian work culture” – one where work takes precedence and where people are often afraid to speak up to their superiors – also has a part to play.
“If one person looks around the office and sees colleagues working through lunch, then all the more the person is not going to eat,” she said.
“If your teammates are working through lunch, getting up to leave for an hour almost feels wrong.”
As for why they choose not to order meals using food delivery platforms, Ms Putri said that prices tend to be more expensive for such services.
She also recalled that the last time she ordered food for lunch, she just “ended up taking it home for dinner” because she was too busy to eat it.
The cost-of-living crisis may also be a macroeconomic force that plays a role in snacks’ rising popularity, Mr Quash of Euromonitor International said.
“Salty snacks and biscuits have been key benefactors given their lower price points and filling feature of ingredients such as fibre, protein and vegetables,” he added.