A NEW survey has found that nearly three-quarters of office workers in the North-west no longer take a full midday meal break.

Most say they skipped lunch simply because they were too busy.

Even though many of those who took part in the study, which was conducted on behalf of butter and cheese brand Anchor, get something to eat, nearly 10 per cent said they never left the office in order to have lunch.

More than half (56 per cent) of the people from the North-west who were questioned said they made sandwiches to take to the office because they wanted to save time and make sure they had something to eat in the middle of a busy day.

The survey revealed that people in the North-west spent an average of £612 on their lunches during the course of the year.

Anchor Brand Manager, Stuart Ibberson, said he wasn't surprised that Britain's workers were losing their lunch breaks. However, he said it was important that a significant proportion of people understood the importance of preparing something to eat in the middle of the day.

"People need a proper lunch, otherwise they go from morning to evening with nothing to eat and that, nutritionally, is not a wise thing to do," he said. "If they fail to prepare a lunch themselves, it means they don't have the food to keep them going throughout the day."

Seventy-one per cent of those people from the North-west who took part in the Anchor Lunchbreak Survey admitted skipping lunch because they were simply too busy at work. Sixteen per cent also said they had missed meals either because they were sticking to a diet or trying to get in shape for a summer holiday.

Six per cent said that they deliberately avoided lunch in order to save money to pay for their vacation. Giving up lunch all year round would mean they could afford an exotic summer break.

The survey revealed that people in the North-west spent an average of £612 on their lunches during the course of the year -- enough to pay for a fortnight in Cape Town, the Jamaican resort of Montego Bay or Florida.

Those who decide to make a DIY lunch not only save money but time thanks to Anchor. Its dairy product range includes Anchor Spreadable, which is made using only natural ingredients and is free from artificial colourings, flavourings and emulsifiers and spreads straight from the fridge.

In addition, Anchor has this month launched sliced packets of its Mature and Extra Mature Cheddar to make it even easier and quicker for people to make their own tasty sandwiches before they head off to work.

Anchor Cheddar is slow matured for months at its own pace in the traditional way, for a superior taste. The maturation times range from nine months for the smooth rounded taste of Mature and 14 months for the full-bodied flavour of Extra Mature to 24 months for the crumbly texture and savoury bite of Vintage.

And there is a flip-side to the popularity of the packed lunch. The Anchor survey discovered that the heyday of the pre-packed sandwich may have peaked. Of the 42 per cent in the North-west who said they didn't prepare their own lunches, less than half (43 per cent) said they bought off-the-shelf packet sandwiches to eat.