Sainsburys feed the family for a week for £50 - challenge?

[Jonny69]

I thought I'd start a thread on this as the campaign appears to be widely mis-reported and the press have been keen to pick up every detail and give it a slating. If you haven't seen the campaign it's here.

The types of misleading reporting I'm referring to are the likes of here and here. The main comments revolve around there not being enough food. For example, the lunches are reported as being a 'Lunch is a ham, cheese and salad sandwich. Two pieces of bread, halved' which is completely misleading because it omits the fact that a piece of fruit and a yoghurt are included. Admittedly, I'd probably eat more than that but I'm quite active.

That aside, I don't think it's far off. In fact, I think with a little more effort the quantities could be increased, it could be done with free-range meat and eggs, and the general quality of the food could be increased. I'm up for the challenge, if anyone else is?

So I'm going to put together some planned weekly menus, based on two adults sharing for a whole week, for around £25. The tricky bit is that I'm a meat eater and t'other half is veggie, so our bills tend to include a lot of cheese which is more expensive than the meat I buy. I also make a lot of my own stuff like yoghurt, bacon and bread which saves a few £££ each week, so I'll point out where this is the case and allow for the financial difference.

I foresee this will go in a number of directions:

1. I get a reality check and stand no chance
2. I starve to death
3. I get scurvy
4. Everyone sees how bad my diet really is

I'll try and keep the manual labour to a minimum, though this will always save a few £££. The other tripping point is the amount I actually eat: as I'm quite active I do need to eat a fair bit. I'll be starting on Sunday, as this is a good opportunity to have a roast and get a carcass on the go for leftovers and stock. Lets see how it goes. Please join in too!