RSS Feed

Related Articles

Related Categories

Jamie Oliver and Sainsbury's team up to feed cash-strapped families

31st March 2008 Print
Jamie Oliver and Sainsbury's team up to put affordable nutritious meals for four on the table for a fiver."Feed your family for a fiver" drive, fronted by Jamie Oliver, offers hearty, nutritious recipe ideas for families of four. Sainsbury's offers fresh meal ideas with ingredients at better than 100-year-old prices.

As Britain tightens its budget this year, Sainsbury's is offering hungry families all the ingredients they need at better than century-old prices. Archivists at Britain's favourite supermarket chain have confirmed that the prices of many of the raw ingredients for Sainsbury's budget-busting recipes are lower in real terms than they were in the early 1900s.

The first recipe in the "Feed your family for a fiver" campaign is meatballs and spaghetti. Analysis of materials from the Sainsbury's archive at the Museum of London reveals that a pound of beef from a 1903 Sainsbury's price list cost 1/6, or £4.28 in today's terms. A 1920 price list shows a packet of spaghetti costing 11d, or 97p in today's money, and a tin of tomatoes 10½ d, or 88p in today's terms.

In today's money, that adds up to £6.13, excluding the cost of the other ingredients for the meal - onions, garlic and peas, making the cost of Sainsbury's meatballs and spaghetti substantially lower today than it was in the early 1900s.

Jamie Oliver and Sainsbury's are joining forces to put affordable, healthy, hearty meals within reach of even the most cash-strapped British families this Spring, backed by a range of start-from-scratch recipes that will feed a hungry family of four for a fiver.

Jamie Oliver said: "I've always been concerned about families trying to eat well on a budget and this initiative by Sainsbury's goes a long way to helping those who are counting the pennies."

Judith Batchelar, Sainsbury's Director of Own Brand said: "We're determined to offer good quality, fresh food for our customers at an affordable price. These prices are lower in real terms than they were before World War 1 and our £5 feasts will satisfy a hungry family of four. Britain may be tightening its belt this year, but the family members who enjoy our £5 feasts won't be left
hungry."