New film examines why 43% of mums don’t serve fresh potatoes!

43% of mums don’t serve fresh potatoes as they take too long to prepare and cook. New film examines why.

When a recent survey revealed that mother’s aged 25-45 are the lowest consumers of potatoes, the Potato Council realised that it had to find out why.

However it decided to take a rather unconventional approach using a ground breaking study where a farmer swaps jobs with a mum and her young family, which it captured for a new, vibrant online film campaign.

The Potato Council’s pioneering initiative aims to help farmers gain a closer understanding of their key consumers, young families, and encourage growers to develop products that respond better to their lifestyle needs.

The Farmer: Farm manager Matt Spanton (31) was born into farming and following agricultural college joined T.G. Redsell in Faversham, Kent.  He now runs a 3,000 acre farm supplying all the major supermarkets with local produce.  Brought up on potatoes he couldn’t understand why families are not eating as many as they used to which is why he volunteered for the project.

The Family: The Havers of Kingston upon Thames (Dad - Steve, Mum - Catherine, Monty – nearly six, Charlie just three and Daisy – two going on princess) were chosen from hundreds of families who registered to take part via the online parenting website www.netmums.com.  Catherine had found a bag of potatoes that she hadn’t used for at least three weeks (actually dated Best Before: February 2009) and thought to herself ‘Wow! I don’t really use them for family meals anymore.’

The Swap:  In June the Havers joined Matt on his farm where he put them to work in the vast fields to tend and learn all about the skills and passion he feels are needed to grow potatoes. At the end of a long but rewarding day, Catherine threw down the challenge – could Matt spend a day looking after her family to see if he could do everything needed to keep the kids and the household running as well as prepare and cook the family’s tea?  See if Matt can make it as ‘mum for a day’; view the full film here.

The engaging and informative film will also be featured on www.netmums.com. The Potato Council is now rolling out the project across the UK including Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, the North West, the Midlands and the South of England. To take part click here

Notes to Editors

Matt’s Favourite Recipe: Mediterranean Potato & Chicken Stir-Fry – cooked fresh in record time by Matt for Monty, Charlie and Daisy’s tea, so no need for Catherine’s microwave pasta back-up!

Prep time: 10 mins    Cook time: 10 mins    Cost: less than £5 for 4

• 350g new potatoes thickly sliced
• 1 tbsp oil
• 400g chicken breast cut into thin strips
• 500g pack of pre-sliced vegetables
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste

1.    Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes until tender. Drain.
2.    Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken for 5 minutes, add the vegetables and potatoes and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
3.   Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and stir-fry for 1 minute before
      serving.

Catherine’s Take Home Tips

1. New or salad potatoes take little or no preparation time and cook in just 10 minutes.
2. Use leftover salad or new potatoes cold for lunch the next day.
3. You can use potatoes in any way that you would cooked pasta
4. You get a lot of potatoes for your money!

Potato Council is part of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board www.ahdb.org.uk working on behalf of British potato growers and purchasers to promote potatoes.  Potato Council is funded through a statutory levy on 3,000 potato growers and potato trade purchasers and aims to support the British potato industry.

Tell us what you think...