Almost half of adults worry they will have to compromise on the quality of their purchases moving forward

Brits are spending less money on food – but are not as prepared as their European neighbours to give up on dining out, research has revealed.

An in-depth survey of 12,000 adults from the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Greece found how different nations are adopting a variety of tactics when it comes to food to help ease the cost-of-living crisis.

Surprisingly, the French – renowned for their ‘bon viveur’ culture of fine dining – were among the most willing to cut back on eating out (40 per cent), compared to 38 per cent of Germans and just 31 per cent of Brits.

And 47 per cent of respondents in Greece – another country with a proud culinary tradition – said they were eating at restaurants less often.

Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of French adults have stopped ordering as many takeaways too, which is also higher than the UK (23 per cent), the Netherlands (18 per cent) and Germany (17 per cent).

This comes as 45 per cent of Brits admitted they were worried they will have to compromise on the quality of their purchases, and more than a quarter were also worried about having to do so with the health and environmental impact of their food.

Current living costs are affecting habits

A spokesperson for Flora, which commissioned the research, said: "It's interesting to get a gauge on what the habits are when it comes to our food and spending habits.

"As we're seeing in the UK and across Europe, people are having to make difficult choices when it comes to dealing with the cost of living.

“We want to provide value for consumers with products that don’t compromise on performance or taste but there are small habits we can change to try to help with rising costs.

“One of the ways is switching out alternatives like dairy butter in place of substitutes such as Flora 100 per cent natural ingredients, which can alleviate some of the difficulties whilst also doing your bit for the planet.

"In the UK and Ireland, Flora 100 per cent Natural Ingredients has at least 50