Discover Britain’s favourite sandwich

from Bristol Weekly Magazine 5th May 2022

Out and about

This year, Britain’s best-loved sandwich is the bacon butty.

Other popular fillings include cheese and pickle, chicken and bacon, and even a filling of crisps. We know the sandwich is still a national treasure and the most popular meal in the UK, accounting for 5.9bn meal occasions1.

Interestingly, this time last year, cheese topped the chart, closely followed by ham and cheese, which has now slipped to sixth place with the nation favouring sausage and egg mayonnaise a year on. When it comes to preparing the perfect sandwich, the research revealed ‘white medium sliced bread with the crusts left on and cut into squares’, as the top choice.

But it’s not just sandwiches being enjoyed more by the nation, a third of adults are eating more toasties now than they did before the lockdown, with cheese the most popular filling. As well as toastie fillings, the research identified the condiments most enjoyed with sandwiches to be pickle (40%), ketchup (37%) and mayonnaise (55%). Others choose to spice up their sarnie with a splash of sriracha (6%), a drop of tabasco (6%) or a spread of English mustard (34%). The research also found that almost half of the nation (43%) are eating more bread and toast (34%) since lockdown. The average person will enjoy four sandwiches and two toasties during a typical week – but a fifth of the nation will eat more than seven sandwiches in a seven-day period whilst social distancing continues.

Also, the average household is getting through two loaves of bread a week – with a quarter consuming more than three loaves a week (24%). Nearly a third of Brits said the reason they’ve had more bread is because they aren’t buying as many meals away from home, and 29 per cent put it down to having lots of other food in the house which goes well with it.

Lunch is still the most popular time to enjoy a sarnie or toastie with 82 per cent doing so, while a quarter of Brits (23%) frequently indulge by snacking on a sandwich. More than a third actually prefer sandwiches for lunch over a hot meal, and 24% would even struggle to go a day without enjoying a slice of bread.

In fact, sandwiches account for 56% of all carried out lunches and 32% of all in home occasions2.

However, no longer are people creatures of habit as 73 per cent of the nation try to alternate their sandwich fillings, and one in 10 have been more experimental with fillings during lockdown.

The research revealed the weird, whacky and unusual creations put together by the UK where one person admitted to enjoying a chocolate spread and salami sandwich. Another confessed to eating a chocolate biscuit sandwich, with corned beef and peanut butter also among the inventive combinations.