What Britain logs

Britain’s 50 most-logged foods

Ranked by people, not entries: each food’s share is the share of UK members who logged it at least once between February and August 2026. Pick a time of day, a group or a food category, or search the whole list (every food logged by 50 or more members).

Time of day is when the item was logged (UK time), which is usually, but not always, when it was eaten. Breakfast is 5am to 11am, lunch 11am to 3pm, afternoon 3pm to 5pm, dinner 5pm to 10pm, late evening 10pm to 5am.

What each supermarket’s own label puts in the diary

Own label means the supermarket’s own brands and sub-brands (Brooklea and Cowbelle at Aldi, Milbona at Lidl, Finest at Tesco, Taste the Difference at Sainsbury’s and so on). Shares are of the members who logged at least one own-label item from that store. Only foods and products logged by 50 or more members are shown, so the smaller stores have shorter lists.

• Tesco31.3%
• Aldi22.0%
• M&S21.4%
• Sainsbury's20.4%
• Asda16.3%
• Lidl13.6%
• Morrisons11.5%
• Co-op11.2%
• Waitrose8.4%
• Iceland3.6%

Share of UK members who logged at least one own-label item from each store.

Protein league for the same stores: Supermarket Protein Wars. One store at a time: Tesco’s most-logged own-label foods and each supermarket’s favourite.

The brands in Britain’s diaries, day by day

Brands here are everything that isn’t supermarket own label. Shares are of members who logged at least one branded item (55.7% of all members). Warburtons tops the year; pick a day to see how the order changes.

Weekend-leaning brands. Saturday and Sunday make up 20.8% of the days members logged a brand. These brands lean furthest into the weekend (brands logged by 200 or more members):

• Hovis24.8%
• Warburtons25.0%
• Jason's Sourdough24.0%
• McCoy's23.6%
• Cadbury22.6%
• McVitie's22.3%

The high street in the diary

Chains are matched on the brand of a database item or the name in a voice or text log (“Greggs sausage roll”). 45.2% of members logged at least one chain item.

Coffee, tea, wine and the diet-cola habit

Alcohol appeared on 12.2% of all fully logged days. Food diaries are known to under-record drink, so these are floors.

Bananas lead the fruit bowl; five a day is rare on the record

We counted the different fruits and vegetables on each fully logged day (3 or more items, 800 to 6,000 kcal). Only 11.5% of days had 5 or more, 32.1% had 3 or more, and 26.0% had none. The typical day had 1.

Per member (7 or more full days): 3.9% reached 5 on most of their days and 62.4% at least once.

How we count five a day. Each different fruit or vegetable counts once a day, whatever the amount. Potatoes don’t count; juice and smoothies count once; beans and pulses count once; dried fruit counts once. The diary doesn’t record 80 g portions reliably, so this is variety, not the official portion count. Mixed dishes (a curry, a salad bowl) count as no fruit or veg, so the true figure is higher.

Dinner carries the day

On fully logged days, dinner (logged between 5pm and 10pm) held 41.4% of the day’s logged calories and was the biggest meal on 46.5% of days. Lunch was biggest on 26.2%, breakfast on 10.0%.

The typical fully logged day came to 1,660 kcal: 1,620 on a Monday and 1,740 on a Saturday. More in the weekend effect.

KitKat, Walkers and a digestive

53.6% of members logged chocolate, 46.1% crisps, 42.9% biscuits and 31.2% ice cream or a lolly. A treat appeared on 57.9% of logged days, from 56.6% of Mondays to 60.7% of Sundays.

“Walkers” includes its sister snacks logged under the Walkers name or brand (Quavers, Wotsits, Monster Munch, Doritos). Seasonal chocolate is in the seasons chart.

From Creme Eggs to ice cream: the diary by month

Each month’s share of members who logged the item at least once, out of members who logged anything that month (from more than 2,500 in August to more than 4,000 in February).

Ice cream went from 16.6% of members in February to 32.1% in July. Mini Eggs peaked at 6.1% in March, and soup fell from 23.9% in February to 9.3% in July.

Months are different mixes of members (fewer members logged in summer), so read the shape, not small steps.

The weekend has a menu: Yorkshire puddings and prosecco

Saturdays and Sundays make up 23.7% of the days members logged anything. Foods far above that line belong to the weekend; foods far below it belong to the working week.

Rosé and matcha; Guinness and energy drinks

How many times more likely one sex was than the other to log each item at least once (items logged by 50 or more women and 50 or more men).

For example, 7.8% of men logged Guinness or stout, against 1.9% of women.

Where the protein comes from, and how it’s logged

Meat and poultry supplied 22.1% of all the protein members logged; protein shakes, powders and bars 7.5%. Fruit was 13.6% of logged fibre and vegetables 15.7%.

Across all items, 12.5% were matched to a food-database entry (a barcode scan or a search), and the rest were written by ParrotPal’s AI from a voice note, a message or a photo. Packaged foods (protein products, supplements, yoghurt) lean on the database; fresh food is mostly spoken or typed. The data we hold doesn’t separate voice from photo from text, so we can’t split those three.