Our main meals of the day are becoming less meaty, new research suggests.

More than a quarter, 29 per cent, of evening meals are now free of meat or fish, the latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel show.

Supermarket sales figures also reveal one in 10 shoppers bought a meat-free ready meal last month, leading sales to rocket by 15 per cent compared with the same time last year.

Trends such as Veganuary and "sustained interest" in vegan and vegetarian diets also led to sales of fruit and vegetables growing significantly on this time last year, such as spinach, cherries and aubergine up by as much as 43 per cent.

The research group says The biggest spike in veggie dinners over the past year, during which we ate an additional 200m meat-free evening meals.

Richard Allen, usage expert at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The surge in vegetarian evening meals over the past year is down to the wider availability of products which make eating meat-free more attractive and practical.

"Our ideas about what’s healthy are also changing – we’re more focussed on foods that are natural and less processed and eating a varied diet.

"High-profile celebrities and social media influencers are also raising awareness and promoting eating less or no meat as a healthy lifestyle choice.”

Have you been buying less meat or having more vegan/vegetarian meals? What's your motivation for going more meat-free - is it cost, health or some other reason? Let us know what you think in the comments below.