A poll carried out by Opinium for Tesco, found 38% of adults questioned felt too overwhelmed by the prospect of cooking a lengthy roast, while 36% said the cost of living crisis had made them reconsider a homemade roast dinner at the end of the week.

The figure was highest among those aged 16 to 34, with nearly half (47%) saying they have avoided cooking roasts.

The news comes as Ofgem announced that the energy price cap will fall to £3,280 from April, although households will be protected by the government energy price guarantee which means annual bills should be no more than £3,000 for the average home.

More than a quarter (28%) of the Tesco survey respondents said they would cook a Sunday roast more often if they had an air-fryer, while almost half (46%) said they would like to find a more cost-efficient way of doing a roast.

Research by Which? in December found that air fryers are up to three times cheaper to run than conventional ovens.

Cost a pub roast set to soar

Jamie Robinson, the executive chef at Tesco, said: “The rise in energy costs is understandably leading many of us to look for the most efficient ways of cooking, from using existing store cupboard ingredients, cooking from scratch, and looking at alternative cooking methods to an oven.

“However, whichever way you cook it, the core components of any Sunday roast – a tender cut of meat, perfectly risen Yorkshire puddings, crispy roast potatoes and delicious vegetable sides, can be easily achieved.”

The cost of going to a pub for a roast is set to rise by nearly £10 in the next 20 years, according to separate research.

A study by credit card company Aqua found that by 2042, a pub roast dinner is predicted to increase in price by almost £10 to cost £22.46.