According to research released by Roy Morgan in an average seven-day period, 41% of us snack on potato chips, 37% snack on nuts, and 32% snack on savoury biscuits/crackers. Angela Smith, Group Account Director, Roy Morgan Research explained that even though salty treats are the nation’s undisputed favourites, sweet snacks outnumber them when we consider the top 15 snacks enjoyed by Aussies over the age of 14. Of the top 15 favourite snacks five are savoury, nine are sweet and one (plain/natural yoghurt) is ‘neutral’.
“With two of every five Australians 14+ saying they ‘tend to snack throughout the day’, the snack market in this country is huge. While potato chips remain the nation’s undisputed favourite snack, their popularity varies between men and women and different age groups. Indeed, this is true of most snacks.” Ms Smith commented.
Ms Smith explained that there was a difference between the snacking preference of Men and women pointing out that women tend to be more likely than men to opt for snacks that are generally considered to be healthy, such as nuts (39% vs 35%), savoury biscuits/crackers (35% vs 28%), natural/plain yoghurt (32% vs 20%) and health/muesli/fruit bars (18% vs 15%). Ms Smith went on to explain that men more likely than women to snack on potato chips (44% vs 38%) and corn chips (19% vs 15%) in an average seven days. However, it should be noted that ice cream is the great leveler, enjoyed by similar proportions of women and men, whether it’s from a tub (27% of women vs 28% of men) or on a stick (19% of both).

“But age and gender are just two factors that influence a person’s snacking habits: attitudes towards food are obviously another. For instance, more than three of every five Australians say they ‘prefer to eat healthy snacks’ and nearly the same amount restrict how much they eat of fattening foods. Predictably, these people are more likely than others to opt for healthier snacks such as nuts and muesli bars.” Ms Smith commented
Ms Smith noted about the research that people under the age of 49 are more likely than the 50-plus brigade to tuck into everything from lollies to chocolate bars, corn chips and health/muesli/fruit bars. Smith added that nuts and savoury biscuits/crackers are more popular than potato chips, with 50-64 year-olds being the age group most likely to snack on nuts in an average seven days and Aussies aged 65+ being the biggest fans of savoury biscuits/crackers.