A national survey shows four in five Australians believe a hearty meal brings the household together, yet more than half are too stressed at work to cook the evening meal.
For many cultures, cooking and sharing a meal together is an important tradition, but the ritual of eating a meal at the dinner table every night appears to be a dying habit.
More than one thousand people were surveyed about their eating habits and more than half reported work stress is contributing to less weeknight cooking.
The industry body Meat and Livestock Australia which promotes Australian Lamb commissioned the research.
Accredited practising dietitian Fran Foulkes-Taylor from Foodbank WA has also noticed a shift towards households choosing what is convenient to eat.
She isn't blaming food delivery services, like UberEats and Deliveroo but still wants to encourage people to cook their own meals.
"The environment we live in definitely has an impact on what foods we choose to eat so it can't all be placed on the individual. But certainly and those services are just sort of finding a gap in the market and taking advantage of that."
While hungry diners can have ready-made meals arrive on their doorstep doorstep but Ms Foulkes-Taylor says eating home-cooked food with others reduced the risk of obesity.
The study also shows the reasons for ordering takeaway food vary from feeling too tired and the perceived amount of preparation time involved.
"So it can actually take less time to prepare a quick healthy meal at home but it's just about having the knowledge and skills to do this. So I think often it comes down to lack of ideas and that sort of brain power takes time and it takes preparation."
A previous 2011 study found eating meals with parents is one of the activities that improves students' performance at school. For parents, another more recent report found having a main meal at the table can increase their reported life satisfaction by up to 40 per cent.
Dr Katherine Livingstone from Deakin University lectures in population nutrition and says there are social benefits to eating at home too.
"So we know families who cook together, you know it's learning life skills they can pass onto the next generation. It's building more social interconnections between the family members. Often we don't see that as well with more frequent takeaway consumption. So I think it's a really interesting trend noting from a social context but also a health perspective as well. "
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