Roast potatoes top the charts as the most vital element of a roast dinnerRoast potatoes top the charts as the most vital element of a roast dinner

11 November 2020 - A survey looking into our love of roast dinners has found that roast potatoes are the most vital ingredient in a roast dinner. In fact, two thirds of Brits (68%) are not able to live without them.

Commissioned by Too Good To Go, the food app with an environmental conscience, and the UK’s leading pub company and brewer Greene King, the survey found that almost half of Brits (40%) enjoy a roast dinner every week.

When it comes to gravy, Brits are lovers, not haters. Almost two thirds (62%) can’t live without it and when we have it we really go for it. Over a third of Brits (39%) apply enough gravy so that their roast dinner is “swimming in it”.

What divides the nation is the choice of meat, with 26% respondents preferring chicken and 25% preferring beef. Lamb came in at third place, while turkey, pork and nut roast, all fell below 10% of the vote each.

Broccoli is the most wasted element in the UK, with 1 in 8 Brits (12%) saying it’s the most likely to be left over at the end of the meal. And less than half of Brits (45%) always use up their roast dinner leftovers, with 25-34 year olds the least likely with only a third (38%) claiming to.

However, over half of Brits (58%) would consider a takeaway roast dinner of surplus food from their local pub at the end of the day. Of those, half (51%) would do so to prevent food from going to waste, whilst over one third (37%) would do so to support their local pub if they are unable to visit due to the pandemic.

Paschalis Loucaides, UK Country Manager at Too Good To Go said: “The love for roast dinners is very much still burning in the UK. As we make our way into the winter months we wanted to understand what makes the country tick when it comes to preferences about their roasts. There are some elements that divide the nation more than others, but what is clear is that there is a strong desire to support local pubs and reduce food waste by rescuing surplus roast dinners from going to waste. Our partnership with Greene King does just that and we’re proud that together we have saved over 100,000 roast dinners from going to waste since 2018.”

Vance Fairman-Smith, Greene King’s supply chain director, said: “We were delighted earlier in 2020 to hit our long-term target of becoming the first pub company in the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust’s Zero Waste to Landfill Standard.

“We hit our target of our managed pubs sending zero waste to landfill through a variety of projects and Too Good To Go played a big part in helping our carvery sites ensure that we prevented as many unsold roast dinners as possible from going to waste. Our teams are passionate about supporting the environment and it’s their commitment that allows us to make this happen.

“Although our pubs are temporarily closed, we can’t wait to be back open and continue looking at how we operate more sustainably to reduce food waste.”

Too Good To Go lets people buy surplus food and drink from pubs, restaurants, retailers and producers to stop it from going to waste. Greene King has been a partner of Too Good To Go since July 2018 through its Farmhouse Inns and Pub & Carvery brands. Consumers simply download the free Too Good To Go app and search for nearby businesses with unsold produce. They then purchase a ‘Magic Bag’, collect it at an allotted time and enjoy it.

For more information on Too Good To Go visit www.toogoodtogo.co.uk.

ENDS

Survey of 2,000 nationally represented consumers conducted by Markettiers on behalf of Too Good To Go and Greene King between 26 October - 2 November 2020.

ABOUT TOO GOOD TO GO

Too Good To Go has a simple mission: to make sure all food gets eaten, not wasted.

In 2016, a group of entrepreneurs witnessed restaurant staff throwing away fresh food. The food’s only problem? It hadn’t sold in time, and no one was around to take it off the restaurant’s hands. The group pioneered a seamless solution: an app that lists businesses’ unsold food so local diners can find, buy and enjoy it.

Now, thousands of Magic Bags are rescued from businesses such as supermarkets, restaurants, and bakeries every day. The success of the app powers Too Good To Go’s wider efforts to drive a food waste movement, working with schools, industries and governments to build a planet-friendly food system.

Too Good To Go by numbers:

15 countries

51 million meals saved globally

28 million app installs globally

60,500 partner stores globally

2020 became a registered B-Corp

Find out more at www.toogoodtogo.co.uk, or visit us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

PR Contact:

Belinda Hallworth - PR Manager

bhallworth@toogoodtogo.co.uk

07519993364