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Lockdown led to some big changes when it came to many of our eating habits.

Lots of people found themselves cooking at home more, eating out less and throwing away a lot less food.

However, a new survey from the environmental charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has revealed levels of food waste appear to be on the rise once again.

In fact, the findings suggest food waste has now returned to pre-lockdown levels.

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The Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which is run by WRAP, found that more people took on positive food management behaviours during lockdown which resulted in less food being thrown away.

The charity says that almost four in five people took up an average of 6.7 new food management behaviours which led to a significant fall in self-reported food waste during the first lockdown back in 2020.

Across the four key foods monitored, levels of bread, chicken, milk and potato waste fell from nearly a quarter of all items purchased (November 2019) to just 13.7% in April 2020. That represented a whopping 43% reduction in food waste.

The amount of food being thrown away did increase from June 2020, but it was remained lower then pre-Covid levels throughout the rest of the year.

However, the latest survey results from WRAP show a big spike in reported food waste which they suggest may have been driven by the easing of lockdown restrictions earlier this year.

In July 2021, levels of food waste were the same as those reported back in November 2018.

The findings suggest the rise in food waste is linked to people eating out more often and time pressures.

More people are buying takeaways or going to restaurants which means less food is being cooked at home.

According to the survey, Brits have eaten 7.6 takeaways or out-of-home meals on average during the past month compared to six meals in September 2020.

As people have made the transition back to normal routines, they're also believed to have dropped some of the new habits they took on during lockdowns as a result of time pressures.

Of the skills people took up during lockdown, freezing, using up leftovers and batch cooking were reported to have been the most useful.

But these same habits are the ones most at risk of being dropped as people struggle to make time to do them.

"One of the few positives of this extraordinary time has been people taking up new habits that prevent food from going to waste." said Sarah Clayton who is the Head of Citizen Behaviour Change at WRAP.

"We've seen more people getting creative with their cooking; using up ingredients and leftovers... more of us have taken to checking cupboards and fridges before we shop, using our freezers and even batch cooking.

"And people tell us they have found these habits extremely helpful. But the return of busy lifestyles means we are falling back into our old ways, and that risks these key skills not being used."

Food waste is a big problem as it can have a negative impact on the environment.

The food we purchase from supermarkets and local shops goes through a number of processes to get to us, and this often means lots of water, energy and fuel is used.

The transportation of food can also produce greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.

"Preventing food waste is one way we can all reduce the impacts our diets have on the environment, and fight climate change as individuals," Sarah explained.