Sainsbury's £50 meal plan for the week

Nassy

I don't think the Sainburys meal planner is that amazing given that as others have said there are no toiletries, cleaning stuff, drink, snacks, puddings, store cupborad ingredients (that occasionally need topping up). A little bit misleading as I always get these things as part of my shop and see this as my "shopping budget".

It is still quite cheap on meal items alone but then I heard that the products for the meal planner are artificially put on promotion and also the plan involves white bread and jam every day for breakfast which in my eyes is a bit of a desperate way to keep the cost down.. and it is not exactly nutritious. It is nothing spectacular.

I personally shop at Waitrose and this planner won't make me switch and actually puts me off Sainsburies. It doesn't really convince me that Sainburies are good value as the planner is often relying on poor quality ingredients (which would be cheap anywhere). And I also feel it is worth spending just a little bit more for better quality and more ethical produce ie I don't buy battery chicken and prefer to eat chicken less often as it is admittedly very expensive to get free range.

As discussed already, if people want to eat cheaply then forget supermarkets and buy veg at markets, spices from Indian stores, soy sauce etc from Asian stores etc. You can probably get this stuff online too. Also eat less meat and if you do eat meat, then look at pork as its very cheap. Another tip I have is to make curries and stews as I find the meat goes a lot further, cheaper cuts are actually tastier and also great for freezing. As for veggie options I make stir fries, lentil dahl (very cheap if you get ingredients from asian store) and make my own pasta sauces with tinned tomotoes etc.

Finally I try to (though I am not always successful if I am honest) eliminate waste of perishable ingredients by planning meals and working out likely waste and using the same ingredients in next day's dinner eg if I made spaghetti bolognaise, I might convert remaining sauce to a chilli con carne and server with Jacket Potatoes for the day after! Also salads are very good for throwing things together with whatever is left over from vegetables etc

Kiwisaver_2

I was really interested in this, more from the point of view of comparing food prices over here to what it is 'back home' I always look back with envy. :rotfl: It appears that not a great deal of thought or effort was put into that plan, who seriously would consider serving up both mince and sausages twice in the same week? It is pretty poor and is obviously a marketing gimmick to get people to click the button and give it a go.

There's loads even a newbie old-styler could do to improve both the menu, the quality, the cost and variety of food on offer. It's not in Sainsbugs interest to be telling folks to stretch the Sunday chicken to another meal; I would have added some stuffing and Yorkshire puds to boost up the Sunday roast, so we could save some chicken for another meal such as in the stir fry or pasta dish shown. They could have so easily have saved a quid by avoiding the 'expensive' branded shredded wheat and offered something cheaper; porridge or 'Basic' cereals. They then could have at least added a bag of flour and some sugar as the ingredients for a cake or a treat of a few fruit buns, flapjacks or biscuits. Not even considered a cup of tea or hot drink - what were they thinking?

Worst of all, they lied; it comes to quite a bit more more than 50 quid and doesn't make the best use of the offers available.

donnajt

Has anybody tried any of the recipes?

threemuttleys

No pud
No Chocolate
No Haribos
No Tea.

Plus, I cant actually use this planner, as it is not suitable for children under 4 (so I wonder if its ok for bf'ing women?)

Kiwisaver_2

CH27 wrote: »

Is this going to be a regular thing & if so, how often are they going to change their menus?

There's a second menu today but even less inspiring, I feel.

http://www.sainsburys-feed-your-family.co.uk/MealPlan/Detail/2/0

and another expected on 15th June

donnajt

thx for link, i was looking for inspiration and there it was am going to do something similar to this for tea, never heard of roasting chick peas before! But other than that i completely agree, bland bland bland

http://www.sainsburys-feed-your-family.co.uk/MealPlan/Recipe/24

CH27

Kiwisaver wrote: »

There's a second menu today but even less inspiring, I feel.

http://www.sainsburys-feed-your-family.co.uk/MealPlan/Detail/2/0

and another expected on 15th June

Thanks for the link.
That's bland & boring.

CH27

threemuttleys wrote: »

No pud
No Chocolate
No Haribos
No Tea.

Plus, I cant actually use this planner, as it is not suitable for children under 4 (so I wonder if its ok for bf'ing women?)

I doubt it. There doesn't seem to be a lot of fruit & veg.

threemuttleys

Dull or what..I actually think that menu planners like this make folk more likely to fail at menu plannning...This not interesting, and its certainly not using up leftovers.

And still no pud!

ash28

bramble1 wrote: »

I wouldn't buy meat from an asian supermarket/butcher because i don't agree with the way in which their animals are slaughtered. Plus i don't think we have any round here.

If you buy New Zealand lamb from anywhere you will be eating Halal meat as it is all Halal slaughtered - some British Lamb is too.

If you ever have Dominos Pizza with chicken topping it will likely be Halal

Some chicken in Pizza Hut is Halal

KFC - some chicken is Halal

Nando's - some chicken is Halal..

You probably are already eating it but don't realise it.

If I wanted Halal or Kosher meat I would expect to go to a specialist butcher or specialist section in the supermarket - but hey ho, such is life.