LACK-OF-INSPIRATION-NATION

Brits spend 1 hour 13 minutes 16 seconds per WEEK standing in front of the fridge wondering what to cook and it is hampering our health efforts
Published 10 February, 2021
  • In January, a third of us (33%) look in our fridges and think everything looks boring
  • Half of us (48%) have tried and failed to stick to a new healthy eating regime
  • Almost two thirds of under 55s (59%) admit they buy healthy food then feeling guilty about not eating it

LONDON (20th January) - January has seen Brits’ pack their fridges full of healthy ingredients, then spend a whopping 1 hour, 13 minutes and 16 seconds a week staring at them. Healthy choices are a priority for many of us right now, but new research by WW (WeightWatchers) shows our good intentions are turning to mush, right in front of our eyes.

Items like bananas, broccoli and spinach are top of the chart of items bought with good intentions, but right now, 3.5 million heads of broccoli, 13.7 million bananas and 3.4 million bags of spinach are going off before we’ve had a chance to use them.

Why? The results from WW show that a third of us (33%) look in our fridges in January and think everything looks boring. Half of us (48%) have tried and failed to stick to a new healthy eating regime simply because it was too difficult to maintain. And a quarter who fail cite ‘not knowing enough healthy recipes’ as the key factor.

The desire to make healthier choices is being scuppered by a lack of know-how in the kitchen amongst the under 34s who are resorting to faking it when it comes to healthy cooking. Over a third (34%) admitted to putting healthy foods in their trolley to look good, even though they don’t know what to do with them, two in five (39%) say they feel good just buying healthy food, regardless of whether they eat it and a third (30%) even resort to ‘faking’ healthy food pictures on social media.

It is hard sticking to a healthy diet when you don’t have the inspiration or recipes in your toolkit and WW has the perfect one-stop solution to motivate the nation - the ‘What’s In Your Fridge’ tool on the new WW app. The tool cleverly offers thousands of healthy recipe suggestions at the touch of a button, inspiring people to make delicious healthy meals from scratch based on the contents of their fridge.

To celebrate this new feature, WW has partnered with expert celebrity chef and bestselling author, John Gregory-Smith. John has developed some new and exclusive recipes (and a clever hack) set to provide inspiration on how to use those top three ingredients Brits’ are buying in; bananas, broccoli and spinach. All are 10 SmartPoints or less on the WW Blue plan.

John Gregory-Smith said: “Healthy food shouldn’t be a chore, so I’m here to show you how to turn those everyday ingredients that you have lurking in your fridge into something fantastic. I’ve developed a range of dishes, packed with flavour, which you’ll want to revisit time and time again. The What’s in Your Fridge feature on the WWapp is super simple. It does the hard work for you so that getting stuck into a more healthy way of eating is a doddle. I’m excited for my recipes to join the line up”.

Anna Hill, GM and SVP at WW said: “Eating healthy does not mean you need to deprive yourself of the meals you love. When it comes to kick-starting a new health regime there is often a disconnect between buying healthy foods and finding the right recipes to use. The WW programme focuses on real food, with recipes and meal ideas for all tastes and budgets, so you can continue to enjoy the dishes you love using healthy ingredients. Our WW app offers our members the tools to help make their weight loss journeys even easier and more successful, and the What’s In Your Fridge tool is just another way to do this.”