Sainsbury's - Feed your family for £50!!

hongkongfooey1970

Hi,
Brand new here, so hope I do this right! I started out a few months ago by buying the 5 meals for £20 from Sainsbury's and having never shopped there before, was pleasantly surprised at the prices, In fact, on one occasion I put my shopping list into a comparison site and Sainsbury's did work out the cheapest.

Having said that, last week I decided to try out this new menu for £50 and whilst I got a lot for my money - my family got through the bread in the first couple of days, the milk within 3 days and I still had to buy other food for me and my youngest (fussy eaters!!).

I cooked the cottage pie with veggie mash the other evening and it only fed my Hubby and my middle child (good appetites) and my hubby keeps telling me that maybe it's not as economical as it appears to be.

Being rather unimaginative when it comes to cooking, this did seem like the perfect solution for me, but I'm not so sure now.

smokey112

Middy wrote: »

I work for a small store - about 18,500 sq ft. As per usual we get ignored.

I work for Sainsburys also (just over 18 months) and we have had a few "freebies" mostly at the monthly briefings.
On Sat we got 2 vouchers for 12 Eggs and a pack of the frozen sausages that is in the meal Plan
Also has Chocolate muffin mixes and vouchers for other bits n pieces.

Ang
xx

Middy

smokey112 wrote: »

I work for Sainsburys also (just over 18 months) and we have had a few "freebies" mostly at the monthly briefings.
On Sat we got 2 vouchers for 12 Eggs and a pack of the frozen sausages that is in the meal Plan
Also has Chocolate muffin mixes and vouchers for other bits n pieces.

Ang
xx

I do miss out on a lot of the briefings due to being on checkouts. Last year, I must have only been to 3. Other colleagues on other depts go to almost every one.

ailuro2

floart wrote: »

how do sainsburys suppose active children and adults can get by until the evening meal on just toast and a sandwich?
i am a bit on the squashy side so could afford to lose a few pounds,.

just worked out the Monday food on weightwatchers, the points are 39 for one person for that day having 1/4 of all the food allowed. 43 points are what a middle aged 12 stone man should be eating to lose weight, so I agree the portions are on the stingy side for an adult who is a reasonable weight and doesn't want to lose some.
The portions are OK for kids though, as long as they get 1/4 of the food and their hungry parents don't nick it all.:rotfl:

*Jelly_Tots*

meg72 wrote: »

Asda have a biggish bag, think about 400 grams for 1.79. Also summer berries,

ASDA Frozen Cherries (350g) £1.75 (50.0p per 100g)
SAINSBURYS Frozen Cherries (480g) £2.25 (46.9p per 100g)

However, Sains. cherries are 3 for a fiver so work out only 34.7p for 100g, if anybody wants the cheapest.

anna-marie

Sainsbury's are being a bit misleading in their promotion of this. This menu plan is meant to be supplemented with store cupboard ingredients, snacks, desserts and drinks - so essentially £50 will not cover the family's weekly food bill. e.g. for Wednesday's dinner 5 x store cupboard items are needed, also it is only 85% of an average persons daily calorific requirements meaning that the majority of people would need to eat more, and some people would need to eat a lot more.

Also the breakfast and lunch meals are quite repetitive. I thought that with all of their professional dieticians and chefs Sainsbury's could have come up with a far more interesting plan. It's nothing amazing to those of us who are practiced in the art of family food on the cheap!

I still manage to provide a healthy Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Pudding, Snacks, Drinks AND store cupboard ingredients for my family of 5 for £30 a week when I have to, which is quite an achievement lately as food prices have increased so much! I tend to stick with Asda for most ingredients as there are only a few items are that are better/cheaper from Sainsbury's (eg Basics fairtrade teabags, english breakfast muffins)

On the plus side the main meals are nice economical ideas for budgeting/culinary beginners!

*Jelly_Tots*

I'd be surprised if Asda were always cheaper as whenever I shop I put my list into Mysupermarket (and my shopping list is made up of basics, not junk) and Sainsburys mostly comes out cheapest. However, only by a little, and Asda and Tescos always are only pennies more. So all in all, I always find the price comparisons much of a muchness.

smokey112

Middy wrote: »

I do miss out on a lot of the briefings due to being on checkouts. Last year, I must have only been to 3. Other colleagues on other depts go to almost every one.

I work on checkouts too Middy - our store always makes a point of
all staff attending at least one weekly meeting and defo a monthly
briefing

sexylulubelle

anna-marie wrote: »

Sainsbury's are being a bit misleading in their promotion of this. This menu plan is meant to be supplemented with store cupboard ingredients, snacks, desserts and drinks - so essentially £50 will not cover the family's weekly food bill. e.g. for Wednesday's dinner 5 x store cupboard items are needed, also it is only 85% of an average persons daily calorific requirements meaning that the majority of people would need to eat more, and some people would need to eat a lot more.

Also the breakfast and lunch meals are quite repetitive. I thought that with all of their professional dieticians and chefs Sainsbury's could have come up with a far more interesting plan. It's nothing amazing to those of us who are practiced in the art of family food on the cheap!

I still manage to provide a healthy Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Pudding, Snacks, Drinks AND store cupboard ingredients for my family of 5 for £30 a week when I have to, which is quite an achievement lately as food prices have increased so much! I tend to stick with Asda for most ingredients as there are only a few items are that are better/cheaper from Sainsbury's (eg Basics fairtrade teabags, english breakfast muffins)

On the plus side the main meals are nice economical ideas for budgeting/culinary beginners!

I cant aggree with you more, having worked in the food and catering industry and cooking for my family i am very used to working with a tight budget and yes £30 a week for a fam is not impossible and you can make some delicious meals, I prefer asda myself as they always have roll back on items i normally use, one of their best frozen food items is their SP Frozen chicken portions 1kg for £1.39 you can make delicious stews, casseroles, soups and it doesnt cost the earth!

Smidster

Think Sainsbury's could have done well to go to real people (Just look at the OS boards here) as to the recipes and Meal Plans people concoct for less than £50. While what they have put together has been passed by the Nutritionists it doesn't look appetising to me and think improvements could be made such as having a single breakfast of cereal (perhaps with different fruits for variety) and getting rid of stuff like 'toast with jam' or 'bacon sandwiches'