PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.

Sainsburys and Jamie Olivers Feed your Family for £5 Chat Thread

moo2moo
moo2moo Posts: 4,694 Forumite
First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
in Old style MoneySaving
Respecting Martins wishes that the original thread should be for recipes only
I thought I'd start a discussion thread.

The feed your family for a fiver campaign is for a single main meal. So thats £150 a month for main meals only. No breakfasts, no lunches, no drinks and no toiletries. How many of you would notice a significant increase in your shopping bill if you were to spend £5 on each evening meal? More to the point if you were to spend £5 on a meal surely you'd want something with a bit more pizazz than Sphagetti and Meatballs (the dish of choice for the campaign launch).

The Debt Free Wanabees are striving to achieve a "live on £4000 for a year challenge". At £5 a main meal they would spend £1825 on this alone.
Saving for a Spinning Wheel and other random splurges : £183.50
«134567…10

Comments

  • newlywed
    newlywed Posts: 8,255 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    I agree it would be an increase in our food budget.

    On the other hand, pre-MSE we used to spend more than that sometimes on two of us, not to mentions meals out, take aways.

    So if it is aimed at those who often eat out and buy take aways then it could be a big reduction for their budgets.
    working on clearing the clutterDo I want the stuff or the space?
  • weezl74
    weezl74 Posts: 8,701 Forumite
    is this the right place to ask a question about the challenge? I don't understand if it has to cost less than a fiver at sainsburys or if you can use another supermarket to cost it up?

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • mrdexter
    mrdexter Posts: 51 Forumite
    weezl74, some people posted recipes priced at other supermarkets, some at sainsburys as per Jamie's. I guess it depends on if you want to show Jamie up or just want to show how cheap it can go.

    moo2moo, I agree with newlywed, a lot of people are probably spending much more than this whether they can afford to or not. Credit to Sainsburys for at least bringing the issue to the public.
  • all_hours
    all_hours Posts: 684 Forumite
    £5 is expensive for meatballs + spaghetti.

    500g of fresh mince is £2 - you can get a 1.5 kg frozen bag for under £3 in sainsburys. pennies on herbs, onions + pasta. how is he spending £5 :confused:
  • comping_cat
    comping_cat Posts: 24,006 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    moo2moo wrote: »
    Respecting Martins wishes that the original thread should be for recipes only
    I thought I'd start a discussion thread.

    The feed your family for a fiver campaign is for a single main meal. So thats £150 a month for main meals only. No breakfasts, no lunches, no drinks and no toiletries. How many of you would notice a significant increase in your shopping bill if you were to spend £5 on each evening meal? More to the point if you were to spend £5 on a meal surely you'd want something with a bit more pizazz than Sphagetti and Meatballs (the dish of choice for the campaign launch).

    The Debt Free Wanabees are striving to achieve a "live on £4000 for a year challenge". At £5 a main meal they would spend £1825 on this alone.


    I think most people wouldnt have 3 courses for their main meal everyday, also i use a lot of leftovers up in my meals (for example, today im making a stew, but using the left over meat and gravey from Sundays roast, so its about a pound for the veg, and the whole dish will serve us 2 days, so 50p for a meal isnt bad!!!)

    I spend about £35 a week on our shopping (1 adult, 2 children, but DS eats more than me, so you could say 2 adults, 1 child) and that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus all cleaning/toiletries/petrol etc and if we ate less fresh fruit and veg, i could prob knock £10 off that, but we like to eat healthily!!!

    The good thing about the thread being started, is that people now have a lot of recipes, all costing well under a fiver to try (not just Jamies spag and meatballs) so giving a lot more variety - and if people are a bit more 'flush' maybe they can have 3 courses a day!!! If not, they also have some good ideas for the occasional starter and pud!!!
  • celyn90
    celyn90 Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    That honestly would splatter my food budget. But then I guess I don't shop in Sainsbury's if I can help it.

    This weeks meal plan has: green lentil dahl, simple pasta and tomato sauce, fishcakes, pastryless quiche, jacket potatoes, slow-cooked chickpeas with ginger and kidney bean patties. All of which come in at way under £5 and do enough for the two of us plus leftovers for lunches the following day.

    I don't think I'd eat that differently if I had that amount of money to spend though. I think spagetti and meatballs is a dull dish to choose as a campaign launch - but I guess they are starting with something like that to make the challenge look do-able and it has to be something not to wierd with general appeal. I tend to only cook pasta if I'm shattered as I really don't like it very much (OH loves it though). On the other hand though, anything that encourages people to have a shot at cooking when they might not normally is a good thing as is showing options to people who want to reduce their food spending but who already exceed that level.
    :staradmin:starmod: beware of geeks bearing .gifs...:starmod::staradmin
    :starmod: Whoever said "nothing is impossible" obviously never tried to nail jelly to a tree :starmod:
  • pipkin71
    pipkin71 Posts: 21,821 Forumite
    I haven't read the other thread yet, but I'm interested in this, so will have a look back later, when there's more time.

    Pipkin xxxx
    There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you - Beatrix Potter
  • searching_me
    searching_me Posts: 18,414 Forumite
    i shop at sainbury as i order online and every other one ive tried have been rubbish... i spend about £100 for everything eg. food and holdhold and the dog... so £5 for A meal is silly.... what dear lovely jamie oliver forgets is... he dont have to worry about money... coz hes got it x
    :)Still searching .....:)
  • sammy_kaye18
    sammy_kaye18 Posts: 3,656 Forumite
    Homepage Hero Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    searchign me - I agree - its easy to spend that when you ahve it but for us who dont it can be alot of hard work to make something nice, nutricious and appealing to all family members.

    Our budget is £100 too - for everything in the house (food,pets, household stuff). This month however we have over spent a bit and brought compost, pots and seeds in the hope that we can grow some of our own veg which - ok will nto save us a fortune but will save us some especially as the prices of everything are going up significantly lately.

    Theres no way i could spend £150 a month on food for just main meals, that would be a luxury month for us which is currently what we spend on our christmas shop with the treats. I hate the idea that we have to be so tight but we have to budget what we have and yet we are still getting a nice belly full of food and our fruit and veggies each day (ok maybe not all 5 portions but enough to keep us happy and for me to know my 3 years old had some!)
    Making Changes To Save My Life
    April step goal ~ 25,021 of 130,000 steps complete so far
  • all_hours
    all_hours Posts: 684 Forumite
    i dont think sainsburys is expensive compared to tesco - most products are around the same price.

    sainsburys have good offers on fresh mince + chicken. 2 packs of beef or lamb mince for £4. there is always an offer on one of the fresh chicken portions. for a few weeks theyll have bogof on the legs/thighs - the next few weeks 2 packs of fillets for £7.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173K Life & Family
  • 247.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards