You’ve been consuming breakfast buffet unsuitable – scientific components to do it correctly

With war in Europe, Donald Trump eyeing the White House and a decidedly dodgy England central defence, you could be thinking things couldn’t get any worse.

Well, they are. You’ve been doing the breakfast buffet. But don’t worry there’s good news.

New research from Asda Travel Insurance has revealed that 60% of Brits choose their holiday destination based on the quality of the buffet, with over a quarter (26%) admitting to delaying their day’s plans due to indulging in ‘breakfast buffet stuffing’.

To help holidaymakers maximise their buffet experience, Asda Travel Insurance has teamed up with Oxford University Mathematician Dr Tom Crawford and self-proclaimed buffet king, YouTuber Tim Lee to create a step-by-step ‘Beat the Buffet’ guide.

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The guide, based on the research, includes a revolutionary formula devised by Dr Tom Crawford that outlines the order in which you should approach a buffet, the ideal number of plates and menu items to have, and the perfect interval between return visits. The study found that Brits typically consume an average of 2.9 plates of food at a buffet, despite feeling full after 2.4 plates.

Dr Crawford’s formula calculates how to achieve the best buffet experience (B), taking into account time spent at the buffet (T), the number of plates of food (P), the optimal menu identified by combining how filling items are (S), the cost of items (C), and meal ranking (R), and finally the waiting time between plates (W). It considers the most popular breakfast items, alongside the most expensive, and the most satisfying (satiety index) as reported by Brits.

Dr Crawford said: “There are 6 key ingredients to the buffet experience, including the obvious elements (such as the type and amount of food), but also the time of arrival and the amount of time spent digesting your meal.

“Each of the variables is represented in the formula, with the optimal solution based on the habits of the average British holidaymaker.To achieve the best buffet experience and a maximum score of 10, holidaymakers must arrive at 8:17 am and consume two plates of food.

“The first being a hot plate with one piece of toast, a portion of eggs, a helping of beans, two pieces of bacon and two sausages (veggie or otherwise). The second plate, which is to be eaten 16 minutes after the first to aid digestion, should include two slices of smoked salmon, two servings of fruit, one pastry, one yoghurt and a bowl of cereal. Who knew eating breakfast could be so complicated…! “.

The guide also unveils the top twenty European destinations for an all-inclusive buffet according to Brits. A glimpse of the top ten includes:.

Neil Foster, Head of Asda Money said: “Our research has proved we’re a nation of breakfast-buffet enthusiasts, but we’re going about them wrong, resulting in post-breakfast power naps or disappointment that we didn’t get round to that delicious-looking muffin. At Asda Money Insurance, we’re serious about helping our customers get the most out of their summer. We hope this guide helps banish common breakfast-munching mishaps and enables anyone and everyone to get the very best out of their holiday experience.”

Asda Money provides both travel insurance and travel money, which can be conveniently ordered online and delivered to your home or collected from one of the Asda stores via its Click and Collect service.

• For the full top 20 list of European all-inclusive breakfast buffet destinations and to view the Beat the Buffet guide including Tim Lee’s top tips for the best breakfast buffet experience visit here

How the formula works

The time of arrival is represented by T, with the score ranging from 0-3 depending on whether you arrive at the last minute (10:32 onwards) to find all of the good stuff long gone (T=0), or 45 minutes (the average tie spent at a breakfast buffet) either side of the optimal arrival time of 8:17 as determined by the survey results (T=3).

Despite Brits enjoying an average of 2.9 plates of food, they admit to feeling full after 2.4, which is why this number is represented in the formula. The optimal number of plates is two (P=2) which will add a solid 2.5 to the overall score due to the inverse relationship. This means eating too much will give a negative score (P=3), whilst eating too little means you’re not making the most of the food on offer (P=1).

The next three variables, R, C, and S, all relate to the items chosen to fill your plates. Each item form a typical breakfast menu is scored out of 10 on its popularity with Brits (R), the cost of a typical serving (C), and how filling the item is according to the scientifically verified ‘satiety index’ (S). The maximum obtainable score over two plates of food is 224 which would add around 3 to the overall buffet score.

Finally, the wait time between plates of food is included as the last variable W, which is scored as the number of minutes you set aside to aid digestion. Longer is better here, but of course you have to factor in how that will affect the time you spend at the buffet, and therefore how early you arrive.