Table 2.
Within region differences before the COVID-19 pandemic to during it on a number of food related variables and on Emergency Situation Food Practices.
| Island of Ireland (n = 538) | Great Britain (n = 961) | USA (n = 382) | New Zealand (n = 480) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variables | Before | During | Significance | Before | During | Significance | Before | During | Significance | Before | During | Significance |
| Cooking Related variables | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p |
| Dinner—readymade | 1.88 (1.06) | 1.52 (0.81) | <0.0001 | 2.35 (1.13) | 2.14 (1.13) | <0.0001 | 2.62 (1.27) | 2.53 (1.35) | 0.1011 | 1.98 (1.09) | 1.84 (1.16) | 0.0002 |
| Dinner—mixed ingredients | 3.61 (1.39) | 3.58 (1.58) | 0.3403 | 3.29 (1.25) | 3.29 (1.37) | 0.9960 | 3.20 (1.39) | 3.20 (1.47) | 0.7604 | 3.25 (1.35) | 3.29 (1.49) | 0.3373 |
| Dinner—fresh ingredients | 4.42 (1.17) | 4.77 (1.11) | <0.0001 | 4.12 (1.26) | 4.25 (1.37) | <0.0001 | 3.53 (1.45) | 3.55 (1.49) | 0.6751 | 4.29 (1.25) | 4.32 (1.35) | 0.2351 |
| Eat Take Away | 2.58 (0.91) | 1.87 (.86) | <0.0001 | 2.34 (0.98) | 1.83 (1.02) | <0.0001 | 3.01 (1.26) | 2.62 (1.37) | <0.0001 | 2.63 (0.97) | 1.55 (1.02) | <0.0001 |
| Throw Away food—prepare too much | 2.63 (1.40) | 2.14 (1.14) | <0.0001 | 1.98 (1.20) | 1.80 (1.07) | <0.0001 | 2.11 (1.39) | 1.98 (1.33) | 0.0042 | 1.89 (1.14) | 1.71 (1.07) | <0.0001 |
| Throw awaypast the use-by date | 2.74 (1.04) | 2.22 (0.92) | <0.0001 | 2.06 (1.00) | 1.90 (0.99) | <0.0001 | 2.35 (1.27) | 2.20 (1.27) | 0.0010 | 2.01 (0.97) | 1.85 (1.01) | <0.0001 |
| Bake | 1.92 (0.90) | 2.82 (1.17) | <0.0001 | 2.15 (1.09) | 2.45 (1.23) | <0.0001 | 2.45 (1.34) | 2.53 (1.34) | 0.0929 | 2.35 (1.06) | 2.74 (1.23) | <0.0001 |
| COVID-19 related issues | ||||||||||||
| Difficulty finding ingredients | 2.12 (0.70) | 3.08 (0.79) | <0.0001 | 2.13 (0.78) | 2.85 (0.83) | <0.0001 | 2.25 (0.97) | 2.69 (1.03) | <0.0001 | 2.29 (0.83) | 2.70 (0.95) | <0.0001 |
| Bulk buying | 2.31 (0.99) | 2.92 (1.05) | <0.0001 | 2.33 (0.98) | 2.73 (1.04) | <0.0001 | 2.63 (1.06) | 3.14 (1.14) | <0.0001 | 2.49 (0.92) | 2.82 (1.03) | <0.0001 |
| Food Practices (FP) | ||||||||||||
| Organisational | 11.07 (2.49) | 12.82 (1.97) | <0.0001 | 10.95 (2.54) | 11.82 (2.48) | <0.0001 | 10.59 (2.69) | 11.18 (2.70) | <0.0001 | 10.90 (2.45) | 11.68 (2.48) | <0.0001 |
| Management | 14.78 (2.98) | 14.82 (3.04) | 0.4379 | 13.53 (2.99) | 13.95 (3.23) | <0.0001 | 13.27 (3.55) | 13.96 (3.90) | <0.0001 | 14.17 (2.88) | 14.27 (3.01) | 0.1117 |
| Overall Emergency Situation FP | 25.85 (4.63) | 27.64 (4.18) | <0.0001 | 24.48 (4.41) | 25.77 (4.62) | <0.0001 | 23.86 (5.08) | 25.14 (5.46) | <0.0001 | 25.07 (4.34) | 25.94 (4.46) | <0.0001 |
| Diet Quality Indicators | ||||||||||||
| Portions of Fruit per day | 2.21 (1.32) | 2.29 (1.46) | 0.0343 | 2.29 (1.52) | 2.39 (1.53) | <0.0001 | 1.93 (1.60) | 2.06 (1.80) | 0.0163 | 2.17 (1.59) | 2.30 (1.62) | 0.0029 |
| Portions of Veg per day | 2.56 (1.37) | 2.81 (1.47) | <0.0001 | 2.66 (1.47) | 2.89 (1.63) | <0.0001 | 2.08 (1.55) | 2.29 (1.76) | 0.0106 | 2.62 (1.56) | 2.82 (1.71) | <0.0001 |
| Saturated Fat | 11.96 (4.57) | 13.34 (4.86) | <0.0001 | 9.82 (4.28) | 10.46 (4.58) | <0.0001 | 10.57 (5.26) | 10.89 (5.33) | 0.0222 | 9.98 (4.30) | 10.79 (4.82) | <0.0001 |
Bonferroni correction equals significance level at <0.0008. Cooking related variables were measured on a scale: “Everyday”, “4–6 times a week”, “2–3 times a week”, “Once a week”, “1–2 month”, “Never”, and were reverse coded so that “Everyday” was the highest score. COVID-19 related variables were scored on a 5-point scale, with 1 meaning “Never”, and 5 meaning “Every time”. For Food Practices possible ranges: Organisational 3–15; Management 5–25; Overall Emergency Situation: 8–40. Saturated Fat intake ranged from 0 to 36.