The big Christmas food shop takes nearly two hours – and three separate trips to the supermarket

THE big Christmas food shop takes nearly two hours – and three separate trips to the supermarket, research has revealed.

A poll of 2,000 adults who celebrate Christmas found despite their best efforts, they will still end up forgetting something.

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With many having had to dash out for milk (19 per cent), bread (15 per cent) and potatoes (12 per cent) at the last minute.

It also emerged almost half of Brits (47 per cent) find the in-person supermarket food shop over Christmas a stressful experience, with 18 per cent claiming they would prefer to scrub the bathroom floor.

Laura Harricks, Ocado chief customer officer, which commissioned the research, said: “It’s fascinating to see the results of the research and just how much of a difference it can make to seasonal stress levels.

“We all know this can be a busy time.

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“However people choose to shop this Christmas, we hope this research will help them recognise and avoid some of the biggest festive shopping stress triggers and so find a little more peace this holiday season.”

The most stressful part of the festive food shop includes having to deal with long queues (63 per cent), big crowds (60 per cent) and empty shelves (39 per cent).

Forgetting something on your food shop (38 per cent) and battling with other shoppers for a parking space (37 per cent) also caused stress levels to rise above normal.

Other worry-inducing tasks included making sure you stayed within budget (32 per cent) and carrying heavy shopping bags (29 per cent).

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The research comes after Ocado teamed up with Professor Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, to measure the effect the festive food shop can have on your heart rate.

The experiment found heart rates spiked by 44 per cent on average, reaching 115 beats per minute (bpm) when food shopping – the same levels of stress as watching a horror film (110 bpm), sitting an exam (up to 115 bpm), or having a job interview (up to 115 bpm).

It also found the heart rates of online shoppers’ peaked at 82bpm – 29 per cent lower than those in-store – and comparable to practicing yoga (80bpm) or stroking a cat (77bpm).

The same study found doing your Christmas shop online can cut your main shopping time in half, from 30 minutes to just 15.9 minutes.

Professor Charles Spence from the University of Oxford, said: “Heart rates increase when we encounter stress, as adrenaline pumps through the body — and there’s nothing like the chaos of Christmas shopping to get it going.

“Our experiment showed that in-store shopping during the festive season can send heart rates and stress levels soaring, while online shopping offers a much calmer experience.

“As further consumer research highlighted key triggers like long queues and crowded aisles, it's no surprise that so many Brits would rather scrub their bathroom than brave the supermarket.”