There was enough variety to keep Sam interested for a week(Image: YouTube/SamWilder)
YouTuber Sam Wilder, known for his food challenges involving popular chains like Greggs and Toby Carvery, embarked on a new experiment surviving solely on Iceland‘s £1 Value Ready Meals. He was taken aback by the impact this diet had on his body.
Setting out the rules of his week-long challenge, he stated: “The rules are; Number one, I only have a maximum of £1 to spend per meal, which means my full budget is £21. And number two, I have to eat at least three different products a day.”
Sam’s self-imposed restriction to Iceland’s £1 range meant that he couldn’t include more desirable items, such as branded pizzas or Greggs’ sausage rolls, in his meals. He anticipated that the first meal of the day would be particularly tricky.
He commented: “I think breakfast is going to be the hard thing. I don’t think they do any one-pound breakfasts.
Sam was a little envious of his wife’s home-cooked meals(Image: YouTube/SamWilder)
“Before I went shopping, I did have a little look online and whilst there are plenty of one pound options, there’s really not very many breakfast options.”
Starting the day with a lasagne, he quipped, didn’t seem like the best choice. Ultimately, Sam chose Iceland’s bacon and cheese turnover – priced at £1 for two, it ensured he stayed well within his budget.
Sam pointed out that despite the UK being in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis since 2021, with prices skyrocketing across the board, Iceland has managed to keep their ready meal prices at a mere £1. “I think it’s pretty much a miracle,” he expressed.
While he had some doubts about the nutritional value of a week’s worth of frozen meals, he was delighted with his breakfast choice. “I tucked into my 50p turnover and oh my God, wow, it was genuinely fantastic,” he exclaimed.
The fish pie was surprisingly hard to track down(Image: YouTube/SamWilder)
“The pastry was flaky and tasty. The cheese was gooey and flavourful. And the amount of bacon bits in there was actually pretty good, I was really happy.”
His day started off on a high note, and his lunch followed suit. He chose Chinese chicken with rice, and although Sam thought that rice didn’t freeze particularly well, there was a significant upside.
“There were plenty of peas and carrots,” he noted, “which is great as I was genuinely worried I wouldn’t get any veg throughout the next week. So, it was good to see these on my first full meal.”
Besides assessing the meals for taste and value, Sam was also keeping an eye on his health, having recorded his weight before starting his experiment. He elaborated: “A week on frozen ready-meals probably isn’t very good for you, so to counter any potential bad side effects, I’ll be spinning, cross-fitting, or walking the dog every single day. Sometimes all three!”.
Making Sam’s trial even trickier was the fact that his wife wasn’t joining in. He continued: “While I had my frozen spaghetti bolognese, my wife decided to rub it in by making her own one, which looks so much better than mine.”
Although he admitted that his £1 ready-meal paled in comparison to the home-cooked alternative, it somehow grew more palatable as he tucked in.
Sam was a little concerned about what the challenge might do to his health(Image: YouTube/SamWilder)
At the close of day one, he disclosed: “I had eaten £2.50 worth of food and was in a calorie deficit by 39% of my recommended intake.”
Sam observed that, given he’d put on a bit of weight during his recent honeymoon, dropping a pound or two wouldn’t necessarily be unwelcome.
As his experiment progressed, another of Sam’s concerns – that meals might become repetitive – proved unfounded. “There’s a surprising amount of variety in this range,” he remarked, before adding: “Snacks, pastries, pizzas, full-on dinners..”
Nevertheless, tracking down some items from the £1 range proved rather challenging. Sam revealed it took ages before he managed to locate Iceland’s hard-to-find fish pie – and when he eventually did, it proved rather disappointing.
iceland(Image: undefined)
The fish pie featured a fairly modest amount of fish – merely around 15% – though the remaining components performed better. “The mash is very creamy,” he noted, explaining that it resembled the mash which had crowned an Iceland cottage pie he’d sampled earlier that week.
“Yes, it’s reconstituted potato,” he confessed, “but it’s creamy and it’s tasty. The sauce is nice as well.”
Despite being amongst the most sought-after products in the selection, the fish pie was “nothing to write home about,” according to Sam, though, at merely £1, he remained “pleasantly surprised.”
He had managed to stay comfortably under his budget, splashing out only £17 on his weekly shop. “It was cheaper than my normal food shop,” Sam remarked, “so that’s a win.”
An unexpected perk for Sam was realising that by restricting himself to Iceland’s £1 selection for seven days straight, he had lost weight whilst cutting costs.
Sam found that he had shed roughly a kilogram over the course of the week.
Ultimately, Sam admitted there was truly just one major downside. “Some frozen meals are good, some frozen meals are bad,” he explained, “but I mostly just miss fresh food.”