Changing shape of microwave usage is lead by jacket potatoes

 Despite the strong ready meal culture in Britain, the humble jacket potato is the top food cooked in the microwave, reveals a survey of over 1,300 adults conducted for the British Potato Council.

Twenty six per cent of those with access to a microwave at home or work named the jacket potato as the food they are most likely to use it for, compared to 18 per cent who use their microwave for ready meals, 9 per cent who use it for baked beans, 8 per cent for porridge and 5 per cent who use it for reheating or warming foods.

For those that use the microwave for cooking jacket potatoes nearly a third do so once a week or more, with 10 per cent doing so  2-3 times a week and 20 per cent once a week. This is compared to just 11 per cent who use it once a week to cook other vegetables  

Aside from jacket potatoes, other carbohydrate foods were almost absent from the list of nominated foods cooked in the microwave – pasta and rice are only cooked in the microwave by two per cent.

When microwave ovens first appeared forty years ago this year, they were hailed as the quick solution for freezer-to-table cooking, yet only five per cent of those surveyed said they use the microwave to cook frozen vegetables and two per cent for defrosting food.  

The results would suggest that today’s user is looking for easy cook solutions and time saving is a key factor. A jacket potato cooked in the microwave only takes eight minutes, compared to over an hour in a conventional oven.

Rising electricity and gas prices can make the microwave a more efficient way of cooking single portion meals, as they use around a third of the energy used in a conventional oven.  Yet, the benefits of cooking by microwave can reach beyond the household as twenty four per cent of those questioned said that they had access to a microwave both at home and at work, yet usage at work tends to be limited to heating up soup.

Kathryn Race, marketing director at the British Potato Council said: “Those who have access to a microwave at work are missing a trick.  Jacket potatoes can provide a speedy, healthy and tasty lunchtime meal in less than eight minutes but the benefits can last right through the whole afternoon.  Potatoes are a good source of energy and many other nutrients including vitamin C and folate. Simply combine with chicken, fish, beans or cheese and a salad or green vegetables, for a complete meal on a plate.”

The survey revealed that the favourite toppings of choice for men are grated cheese (27 per cent), butter (15 per cent) and baked beans and cheese (12 per cent) and for women, grated cheese (31 per cent), tuna and sweetcorn (16 per cent) and baked beans and cheese (11 per cent)

For tips on potato varieties to use for baking and great autumn jacket potato recipes visit  HYPERLINK "http://www.britishpotatoes.co.uk" www.britishpotatoes.co.uk.
-ends-
David Gough and Lisa Woodman
Ceres Partnership                
Tel: 0118 947 5956                
E:  david.gough@ceres-pr.co.uk
E:  lisa.woodman@ceres-pr.co.uk

 
Editors notes

The British Potato Council is a non-departmental public body working on behalf of potato growers and purchasers to promote British potatoes.  It is funded through a statutory levy on 3,400 growers and potato purchasers and aims to stimulate, develop and promote the GB industry to consumers and customers.

The aim of the organisation is to increase usage of GB potatoes and ensure the GB industry remains competitive.

For more information on BPC visit www.potato.org.uk

A total of 1472 principal shoppers were interviewed across Great Britain between 12th and 16th October 2007 by the Oxford Partnership



Potato facts
With 3,000 potato farmers in Great Britain, you are never very far from a local home grown source
The maincrop potato season starts in August and runs through to the spring which is when British new potatoes start being harvested
Potatoes are the single largest source of Vitamin C in the British diet.   A medium portion of new potatoes contains more vitamin C than an apple.
The average 175g portion of boiled potatoes contains only 126 calories, that’s 112.4 calories less than a 180g portion of easy cook white rice or 102.8 calories less than a 220g portion of cooked spaghetti.
Plus a portion of cooked spaghetti contains more than six times the amount of fat than boiled potatoes
Serving roast potatoes gives you a natural source of folate (important for teenage girls and pregnant mums)
There is more fibre in a jacket potato than a bowl of bran flakes

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