UK Shoppers Swap Meat for Beans as Tempeh Sales Soar 71%

British shoppers are filling their baskets with beans. Sales of beans, pulses, tofu and tempeh rose 7.3% by unit and 10.1% by value in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year, and tempeh sales jumped a whopping 71.5%.

The figures come from NielsenIQ retail data analyzed by campaign group Madre Brava for its new Britain Backs Beans briefing. Dried beans, peas and lentils were up 16.7%, tofu up 7.2% and canned and jarred beans up 6.4%, with canned and jarred butter beans the standout at 30.3%. At the same time, the volume of meat sold by UK retailers fell 1.8% year on year, according to Madre Brava's analysis of Euromonitor International data.

Price is part of it. Plant proteins went up just 1.6% over the period, well below average food inflation of 2.9%, so beans got cheaper in real terms while meat prices, especially beef and lamb, stayed under pressure. Shoppers are also going back to basics: products engineered to imitate meat dipped 4.3%, while simple whole foods won almost everywhere. Quorn held its ground, with mycoprotein up 2.4%, and oat milk grew 2.7%.

Chloe Mackean, Food Business Transformation Manager at The Food Foundation, said:

We aren't surprised to see the rise in bean sales. Beans are a triple win for health, sustainability and our wallets. They are a healthy and affordable protein source, high in fibre and emit far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than animal protein.

Beth Latham, head of category and strategic projects at jarred-bean brand Bold Bean Co, which Madre Brava credits with driving much of the premium growth, said the category "was previously a dusty, highly commoditised aisle in the store that lacked innovation. However, over the last few years, the premium end of the category has reshaped how consumers think about beans, proving they are delicious and can be the hero of a meal."

The briefing renews a call from Madre Brava, The Food Foundation, WWF, ProVeg and the Eating Better alliance for supermarkets to set targets that bring plant proteins to 30% of their protein sales by 2030. Of the 11 big UK retailers, only Lidl GB has such a target so far. The Bang in Some Beans campaign, launched last year by chefs including Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is also aiming to double UK bean consumption by 2028.

Your heart will thank you for it. The American College of Cardiology's journal JACC found that plant protein is better for heart health than animal protein, and research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed plant protein builds muscle just as well. Beans bring the fiber too, and meat never will.

This fits the long slide in meat that we've been tracking for a decade, from bacon sales slumping by £123 million after the WHO cancer warnings to Americans eating 20% less meat and Germans eating less meat than at any time since records began. In 2019 the EAT-Lancet scientists put legumes at the heart of a healthy planetary diet. This year 30 million people took part in Veganuary and 35 UK hospitals put plants first on their menus.

Full of beans, and full of hope.