A Manchester family learnt they could save an impressive £350 a year by ditching ready meals and making their favourite tikka masala from scratch on BBC One’s Eat Well For Less. The family of four were in the habit of splitting up meal times, feeding their two children at around 5.30pm in the evening and then eating a ready meal as a couple at around 8pm or 9pm.
However, splitting up these timings mean they get to spend less time together as a family - and the family have gotten used to buying what they need on a daily basis, meaning they lose time here as well. But they could see that by investing this time in cooking, and trying to move to a weekly shop they could save lots of time and money every year.
The couple preferred to go for the more luxurious ready meals, which they felt tasted better but it was shown that they are not always the best from a nutritional point of view in a taste test from Jordan Banjo. The cheapest frozen ready meal tikka masala was actually shown to be better for you nutritionally, as going by the traffic light system.
Read more: Eat Well For Less suggests ingenious pick ‘n’ mix snacks for unhealthy kids
Other habits the presenters wanted to tackle was community worker Gaz not eating breakfast, which they dealt with by making breakfast bars which cost around 45p a pop. They cut down Amina’s sugary malt drink to a healthier version, but this appeared to be less of a hit.
Presenter Chris Bavin also wanted to prove to mum Amina that they could make a fish pie from scratch in the time it would usually take to heat up one of their favourite ready meals. They made a pie that both of them were very happy with within the time limit, and offered up four portions meaning they could feed the entire family in one go as well.
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