W. Somerset Maugham once said, “To eat well in England, eat three breakfasts”. Although the idea of shovelling fried bread and various pork products into your belly thrice a day is no doubt an appealing concept to most, it’s this kind of thinking that has led to rates of heart disease and obesity in Britain being some of the highest in the Europe. Also taking into account that the current financial crisis has left most people living in a state of Charles Dickens-esque poverty, it’s about time we all started to think about the best way to make our pennies stretch whilst keeping ourselves well fed this winter.
Budget supermarkets like Netto, Lidl and Aldi have really taken the bull by the horns, slashing their already rock bottom prices in a bid to undercut the mainstream retailers and make everyone start eating canned goods with strange Germanic sounding brand names. In response high street favourites such as Marks & Spencers have stepped up their advertising campaigns, promising two ready meals, pudding and a bottle of vino in a sexy Irish accent for around a tenner.
Morrison’s have also gotten in on the act, with a string of frankly bizarre B-list celebs rhapsodising over the assorted bargains available at their stores. Whoever thought that Alan Hansen flogging tins of Quality Street to a soundtrack of Take That was a good idea deserves to be fired, or promoted depending on whether or not the intension was to make a staggeringly bad promo clip.
The most undeniably freakish attempt to jump on the credit crunch bandwagon has to be Sainsbury’s ‘Feed Your Family For a Fiver’ ads in which the ubiquitous Jamie Oliver accosts housewives doing their weekly shop, follows them home and helps them rustle up a meal for their disbelieving kin. In a genuinely spooky twist Oliver simply disappears out of a back door as the family get stuck into his grub. You half expect the patriarch of the family to say, “Thanks Jamie”, only for his ashen faced child to pipe up, “But Jamie died three years ago in a car accident, Dad”.
One thing seems to be certain though. As grocery outlets across the land continue competing for our hard earned buck it’s we the consumers who will reap the benefits. So stay chilled friends, weather the financial storm and before you know it we’ll all be eating croissants, truffles and caviar sandwiches like nothing ever happened.
