When you spend the day tackling piles of paperwork, rushing to meetings or running around after the kids, it can be tempting to forgo cooking and opt for a quick ready-meal or a sandwich on-the-go.
However, recent research has revealed that our stressful lives could be having an effect on our taste buds, as we forget to take the time to really enjoy our food.
Scientific research, commissioned by GLORIOUS! and led by Dr David Lewis, found that only 28 per cent of people actually savoured their food, while 79 per cent of those analysed were unable to identify even basic sandwiches in taste tests.
The 1,000 people polled were on average only able to identify 35 per cent of ingredients, with flavour swaps such as ham and tuna, Quorn and chicken, or pork and chicken constantly being confused.
"The abundance of great flavours food experiences has never been more diverse, yet our findings suggest consumers are lazy when it comes to tasting and appreciating their food," said Dr Lewis
"Our lunchtime habits in particular show that workers consume food as a means to refuelling the body and most rarely, taste what they're eating.
"There's so much fine produce, ingredients and meals available - from budget to blow-out - that food should be an adventure, yet most consumers are getting lost in the basics of taste exploration."
Although hectic work and family kitchen often mean that we can't spend as much time in the kitchen as we'd like, donning your cotton apron to prepare a meal every now and then is a great way to reconnect with various food tastes and textures.
By spending even a small amount of time shopping for fresh, local ingredients and paying attention to the mixture of various flavours while cokking, amateur chefs can get a real feel for the food they're consuming and learn to savour every taste and smell.