Waitrose sees surprise spike in winter dishes despite heatwave

Supermarket giant Waitrose has reported a surprise increase in certain meals during the heatwaves scorching the UK.Somewhat surprisingly, sales of winter comfort foods, such as cottage pies, gratins and red wine are on the rise.The grocer said sales of cottage pies were up 110% while chicken and ham gratin and South African red wine were both up 68% over the last month.Meanwhile, recipe searches on Waitrose.com for spaghetti bolognese, toad in the hole and mac ‘n’ cheese were up 91%, 67% and 57% respectively.The results come as fresh heat health alerts have been issued in some areas of England as the fourth heatwave of the year looms.The supermarket said customers were showing clear signs of “feta fatigue”, bypassing traditional summer salads in favour of cold-weather comfort foods.Stephen