Sales of the humble vegetable peeler almost double during lockdown

Sales of the humble vegetable peeler almost double during lockdown

  • Sales of the humble vegetable peeler almost doubled during lockdown
  • Figures from homeware specialist Lakeland show that the veg scraper is now the fourth most popular culinary tool
  • Sales of the firm’s £5.99 julienne peeler are now up 83 per cent


Lockdown spelt disaster for many businesses, but one area appears to have flourished – kitchen gadgets, with sales of the humble vegetable peeler almost doubling.

Figures from homeware specialist Lakeland show that the veg scraper is now the fourth most popular culinary tool – as recently as 2018, peelers ranked a lowly 17th in the league table of utensils.

Sales of the firm’s £5.99 julienne peeler are now up 83 per cent. Its Pro Chop and Dice Vegetable Chopper profits – which retails for £29.99 – have increased by 90 per cent.

The rise in popularity suggests a move away from pre-prepared veg, whose sales were down by 8.8 per cent while green vegetables increased by ten per cent over the past year, research found. It added that the popularity of parsnips soared by nearly a quarter, with leeks and cabbage up by 23 per cent, cauliflower consumption up 21 per cent, while the appeal of sweet potatoes rose by nearly a fifth.

Lockdown spelt disaster for many businesses, but one area appears to have flourished – kitchen gadgets, with sales of the humble vegetable peeler almost doubling

Meanwhile, it hasn’t all been hair shirts and wholesome veg.

Working from home prompted a 134 per cent rise in sales of outdoor cooking accessories, including barbecues and pizza ovens. There was a 57 per cent increase in the sale of air fryers, which allow users to cook chips and other tasty treats using up to 80 per cent less oil than a deep fat fryer.

Lakeland’s Philippa Simons said: ‘It’s fascinating to explore how the events of the last 18 months have shaped our cooking habits.

‘We’ve embraced healthy eating, although we still can’t resist a home-baked cake, and spent more time cooking from scratch.’

Dan Parker, chief executive of VegPower which carried out the research into our eating habits, advocated a more simple approach: ‘The world is full of Saturday night recipes that say they can be cooked in 30 minutes, but use every pan and utensil you’ve got and take an age. None of us wants to do that on a Tuesday night.’

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