More British people than ever are choosing to forgo the stress of cooking this Christmas by eating out, a new report has found.
The team behind smartphone app getWaiter! reports that many of us who don't fancy a home-cooked meal are instead planning to visit restaurants and eateries that will remain open on the 25th, with most favouring either a traditional roast turkey dinner, Indian cuisine or steak.
"More people than ever are ditching their aprons in favour of eating out this Christmas to minimise the stress of cooking the festive feast," says getWaiter! co-creator Paul Tombs.
"Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for restaurants."
Research estimates that it takes 47 years to perfect cooking a Christmas dinner without any mistakes, with a third of women saying that they cannot cook a festive meal without something going wrong.
Ten per cent of us struggle to get the tasty gravy right, while almost the same number have accidentally forgotten to defrost the turkey.
The people at getWaiter! predict that the number of us who choose to eat out at Christmas rather than attempt a home cooked meal will increase in the future, leaving the stress of cooking to the professionals.
