The Surveys Are In!
Many thanks to those who took our Meatless Monday Survey! We received 49 responses, which is 27% of all participants (183 individuals or households).
In answer to the question, “During the 12 weeks of the Meatless Monday Needham Campaign, how often did you go meatless?”, all 49 responders indicated a least once a week, including every Monday (24%), most Mondays (18%), at least once a week (41%), or stopped eating meat entirely (16%).
We learned that 15 (31%) participants had a lasting reduction in meat consumption when comparing frequency before the pledge to current frequency (mostly post-pledge), with none reporting an increase. Of note: two reduced from every day to 3-5 days per week, six went from six days to 3-5, and five reduced from 3-5 days a week to never, rarely, or once a week.
Turning to the present, usually after the 12-week pledge period, no one responded that they eat meat every day, and one (2%) responded that they eat meat every day except Monday, while 55% responded they eat meat 3-5 days a week, 20% once a week, and 22% rarely or never.
The top three resources that responders found most useful were the monthly newsletter, Meatless Monday with Dave Becker, and the website.
Suggestions in the comments included requests for recipes, cooking classes, restaurant suggestions, hosting meatless potlucks, a Meatless Monday club at Needham High School, and more information on the health and environmental aspects of plant-based food choices.
We recognize that there is non-response bias that may favor the more interested and successful participants, and we don’t know what the other 75% would have reported. Even so, we feel we can effectively use these results to guide us in our future programming.
What Does the Survey Tell Us and What’s Next?
We are making a difference in reducing meat consumption, which encourages us to continue the program and try to expand in some of the ways indicated by the survey. As a start, we are working on testing and recommending recipes in every newsletter, starting with this one. If you have a recommendation, please email us at info@meatlessmondayneedham.org. Meanwhile, we will continue to highlight recipes every Monday on our Facebook page.
Stay tuned for more new programming involving Dave Becker and other local restaurants!