Almost a fifth of every roast dinner ends up in the bin, equating to 1.8million full roast dinners every month in the UK, according to new research from the Sainsbury's Waste less, Save more campaign.
Britons prepare 108million roast dinners on average every month, eat one per week, and half of people rank it as their favourite autumn meal. But despite the UK's love affair with the roast dinner, a fifth (17%) is wasted for every one made. We throw out double the amount vegetables (27%) compared to meat (13%).
Over the last four weeks, Sainsbury's has seen demand for roast ingredients rocket with potatoes perfect for roasting up 21%, beef joints up 12%, Horseradish sauce up 37%, and Yorkshire puds have soared by 38%.
The roast dinner ingredient we're least likely to bin is the good old Yorkshire pudding, with 72% of people saying they eat all of their Yorkshire pud every time. With eight out of ten (81%) agreeing, it's Yorkshiremen and women who are most likely to eat all of their Yorkshire puddings compared with other areas of the country.
Paul Crewe, Head of Sustainability Energy, Engineering & Environment at Sainsbury's said, ''Rediscovering the roast dinner is one of the joys of autumn, especially since 43% of people say it's the meal they're most likely to eat with their families. But we need to be careful that our enthusiasm for the British dish doesn't leave us with more than we can eat - becoming a nation of 'Roast-Binners.'
'And it's not just food we could save - the average roast dinner for a family of four costs around £14, meaning we're throwing away £2.80 in leftovers. That's £145.60 a year that families could pocket.'