Question 1 - The amount consumed

In an inquiry as this, it is difficult to arrive at the exact amount consumed by a person in a given time. The informants could only give rough estimates of how many pounds of potatoes they used per week. Taking these approximate statements as a basis for calculation, it would seem that the average consumption is round about 6 lbs. per person in a week.

The number of housewives who do not serve any potatoes is so small that it is disregarded throughout the report.

Question 2 - The meals at which potatoes are served

The overwhelming majority of women serve potatoes regularly for the midday meal, and more than half for the evening meal. Regularly Occasionally Never No answer

Analysis by income

Slightly more housewives in the upper than in the lower income group serve potatoes for breakfast.

Over half the housewives serve potatoes more than once a day.

Question 3 - The ways in which potatoes are served

The outstanding facts which emerge from this table are the relatively small number (29%) who cook potatoes in their jackets, and who use them in made up dishes other than stews (17%). A surprisingly large number (53%) made potatoes soup, and a relatively large number (62%) served chips, although this includes bought chips. It should be emphasised that the table does not show the frequency with which potatoes were served in different ways during the week.

Analysis by region

All housewives in the north and north-east boil their potatoes, but fewer do them in their jackets or make chips than elsewhere.

In the south-east more housewives use potatoes in soups, stews and made-up dishes than in other regions.

On the whole, housewives in the south-east use more varied methods of serving potatoes than do those in the other regions, especially in the east.

Analysis by families with and without children

Families with children serve more chips, stews with potatoes and potato soup than those without children. There are no differences between these two groups in other ways of serving.

Analysis by working and non-working housewives

Chips are more often served by working housewives, bought chips are included here whereas all the ways of preparing potatoes which involve more work are more often used by non-working housewives.

Analysis by family size

Housewives with larger families serve potatoes as chips and cook them in soup more often than do those with smaller families, which confirms the results given in the table on this page for families with and without children.

Question 4 - Which kinds of potatoes are liked best

Golden Wonders are clearly the kind liked best .Kerrs Pinks are the only other brand of any popularity.

Question 5 - was the quality of this year's potatoes considered good or bad?

The majority of women considered that the quality of last year's potato crop was good. As there is no comparable material available, it is impossible to judge whether this figure indicates high or low satisfaction.

Question 6 - Was the Government's publicity on “Use More Potatoes” noticed? If so, was their advice followed?

The Government was very successful in getting across its message to use more potatoes. Nearly everybody had noticed its publicity. Whether people have acted on this advice cannot be properly estimated by means of such an investigation as this, and could only be shown by consumption statistics. However, in order to have some indication as to how people reacted to the Government's suggestion, the following question was asked:-

About half of the people who had any opinion on this question thought that it is possible to eat more potatoes, the others did not think so.

Of those who did not think they could increase their potato consumption, half gave as their reason the fact that they already used a great amount of potatoes, or that they used very little bread in any case. The others said that they did not like potatoes much, that they preferred bread, that they had not time to cook potatoes, they could not eat them due to health reasons, or that they had to take packed lunches with them for which potatoes were unsuitable, etc.