Asda, bless 'em. On the eve of the UN summit on food shortages and with all this fuss about the credit crunch, the country's second biggest supermarket has revealed its solution: a £1.57 meal for a family of four.
It's bangers and mash: a 2.5kg bag of potatoes is 73p, a 1.5kg bag of carrots 68p and - for two weeks only - eight sausages are reduced from 54p to 16p. "Food prices have increased but Asda is committed to continually offering customers great value products at an everyday low price," says the supermarket. What could be wrong with a 2p sausage?
Well, it probably depends on how much money you have. I haven't read the ingredients on a pack of Smartprice sausages recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if our old friends added water, rusk and a few strange-sounding (but perfectly harmless) chemicals make an appearance.
Life is tough for millions of hard-pressed families in Britain. It's still possible to eat cheaply, but sometimes you get more than you bargained for.
Shame that we can't get smartprice loans, energy and fuel.
Posted by: Michael | Tuesday, 03 June 2008 at 11:19 AM
Martin - the addition of rusk is what makes british-style suasages the most tasty and best in europe (far better than awful chorizo or greasy german-style ones) though I would never eat the 'value' sausages from anywhere (it's never been a good idea to ask too many questions about what goes in sausages). I LOVE sausages - top quality, locally made bangers which are superb.
Anyway, who in their right mind eats only TWO sausages with nbangers and mash? A portion? Well, for me it's four at least, probably six. And there must be fried onions too. I would also be very surprise if the kind of gal who shops in asda knows how to peel a potato let alone cook one...
Posted by: cookieman | Tuesday, 03 June 2008 at 11:46 AM
Thats very good of Asda. I wonder if United Utilities will reduce the charges for hard pressed families with some of their 677.2 million pounds profit. Oh I forgot United Utilities don't have any competition so why should they!
At least the families of united utilities directors won't feel the pinch.
Posted by: Gesmond | Tuesday, 03 June 2008 at 12:34 PM
What an amazingly ignorant comment...what exactly typifies the 'kind of gal' who shops at Asda in your mind? Surely that category is limitless; many of those who shop at Asda will be people whose homes are located closest to one. Does proximity to an Asda store now automatically cause you to forget how to use a vegetable peeler?
Obviously a much better option would be to drive further to another store. Im surprised the 'kind of gal' who shops at Asda has not yet thought of that petrol wasting solution to her potato-peeling woes!
Posted by: meztes | Tuesday, 03 June 2008 at 12:39 PM
>>>What an amazingly ignorant comment...what exactly typifies the 'kind of gal' who shops at Asda in your mind?
Not at all, last summer, I was in the customer services queue (Asda Eastleigh) and the 'gal' in front of me was returning a disposable barbecue, she told the shop-worker manning customer services she wanted a refund because "it didn't have any meat in it".
She got her refund and announced that on her next visit, she'd be returning 2 more that were currently in her freezer.
Posted by: David | Tuesday, 03 June 2008 at 10:31 PM
Cookieman: Your mum shops at ASDA
Posted by: hahaha | Saturday, 23 August 2008 at 07:38 PM