• With 60% of Brits booking a holiday destination based on the quality of the buffet, and more than a quarter (26%) admitting they’ve had to delay their day’s holiday plans due to overindulging at the breakfast buffet, Asda Travel Insurance is determined to help Brits conquer the breakfast buffet this summer for the ultimate experience
• Oxford University’s Dr Tom Crawford has developed a unique mathematical formula to help Brits have the best breakfast buffet experience and get the most breakfast for their money
• The formula is released as part of Asda’s ‘Beat the Buffet’ guide containing expert buffet-eating tips and a comprehensive list of the top twenty breakfast buffet destinations in Europe

Following new research from Asda Travel Insurance revealing 60% of Brits have booked a holiday destination based on the quality of the buffet available, and over a quarter (26%) admit to having to delay their day’s plans due to ‘breakfast buffet stuffing’ Asda Travel Insurance joins forces with two buffet bods to create a step-by-step ‘Beat the Buffet’ guide to help savvy holidaymakers get the most bang for their buffet buck this summer.

Enlisting the help of Oxford University’s Mathematician Dr Tom Crawford and self-proclaimed buffet king, YouTuber Tim Lee (@TimLeeLetsGo), the strategic buffet eating guide contains a ground-breaking new formula that reveals what order you should eat a buffet, the optimum amount of plates, and menu items, along with how long to leave between return visits, after the research revealed buffet-loving Brits consume an average of 2.9 plates of food in one sitting, despite admitting feeling full at 2.4.

Using the research, Dr Tom Crawford’s formula provides a method to calculate how to achieve your best buffet experience (B), based on 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 Tom Crawford comments: “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, holiday goers 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…!”

“There are 6 key elements 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.

A snapshot of the top locations include:

See the full top 20 list of European all-inclusive breakfast buffet destinations and view the full Beat the Buffet guide, including Tim Lee’s top tips for the best breakfast buffet experience.

Neil Foster, Head of Asda Money commented: “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, 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 offers both travel insurance and travel money, which can be easily ordered online and delivered to your home or picked up from one of the Asda stores through its Click and Collect service.  

For further information, please visit https://money.asda.com/travel/.