Third of Brits Chuck Out Christmas Dinner

After all the hard work and numerous hours that go into buying, preparing and cooking the Christmas dinner, the moment that you serve it to your family is always a bit of a triumph. But are you happy with everything you put on your family’s plates or do some of the goodies you’ve whipped up not even make it that far?

It seems that one in three people in the UK actually throw away the food they’ve cooked for the Christmas feast before it manages to make it to the table, because they aren’t sure if it can be eaten. The lack of skills in the kitchen is meaning that more food goes to waste than normal, according to new research from Sainsbury’s.

While Wrap reported earlier in the year that homes in the UK throw away around seven million tonnes of food every year, this looks set to increase over Christmas as people buy things they don’t know how to prepare or cook. Even if they do know how to cook what they’re serving up on December 25th, it seems that the designated family chef is still worried about getting it right.

Around two out of five people of the 2,000 surveyed by the supermarket admit to worrying about having to cook Christmas dinner in case they burn it or undercook something. This goes up to three in five among those aged between 16 and 24, with over half (57 per cent) of those aged 25 to 34 having similar fears.

When it comes to the part of Christmas dinner that causes the most sleepless nights, it’s probably no surprise that most of us are perfectly willing to run away scared from the turkey. In fact, one in ten have actually chucked the whole bird in the bin because it wasn’t up to scratch. The favourite roast potatoes and controversial Brussels sprouts were other areas that people aren’t overly confident about and so often don’t make it as far as the dining the table.

In terms of kitchen faux pas, most of us – 60 per cent in fact – are most concerned about the possibility of undercooking food, possibly because we all know how dangerous undercooked turkey can be. However, this doesn’t mean that burning items isn’t also a worry!

via GIPHY

Paul Crewe, head of sustainability, engineering, energy and environment at Sainsbury’s, said: “Food plays a huge part in making the perfect Christmas, but for many of us, due to a lack of kitchen confidence, it’s not just the turkey that’ll end up being completely stuffed.

“Over a third of us will face a festive food fiasco and, whether you’ve spoiled the sprouts or toasted turkey, it’ll be both food and money in the bin.”

Rather than facing a kitchen disaster and having to scramble through the freezer to find an alternative to the turkey or pigs in blankets this year, make cooking your Christmas dinner easier with your favourite Tefal appliances.

From perfect roast potatoes in an ActiFry to almost anything you can think of being ready in as little as 30 minutes in the Cook4Me, you could save yourself the embarrassing task of serving up brussels sprouts that are as hard as bullets while also making the whole experience easier.