Change 4 Life

Healthy Meals on a Budget
An effort to convince families in England that they can eat healthily on a budget is being launched.
Four million recipe leaflets will be mailed to families already signed up to the government's Change 4 Life public health campaign.

Three supermarket chains have also agreed to offer discounts on products such as fruit, vegetables and fish and recipe ingredients - Asda, Co-op and Aldi.

Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott has helped devise a cookbook promoting healthy dishes, with recipes that can be created for under £5. He has also been filmed performing cooking tutorials which will be posted on the Change 4 Life website.
Ainsley Harriott said "Sometimes the thought of making meals from scratch can seem a bit daunting, but I have always tried to assure people that cooking at home can be really quick, easy and doesn't need to break the bank."
Among the meals being promoted are vegetable soup, fish pie and sweet and sour chicken.

Shadow public health minister
Public health minister Anne Milton said: "The new year is a good time to think about losing weight. The Supermeals campaign will give us all some great ideas for balanced meals on a budget."

Health benefits
Dale Rees, a spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said "the initiative was a positive step because the recipes would help those who wanted to cook but did not know the ingredients involved, the steps needed to prepare them or how to cook adhering to a budget"

"Evidence shows that people who eat a diet low in fat, added sugars and salt are less likely to develop chronic diseases in later life. You can protect against heart disease, for example, plus you're less likely to be obese and have weight-related health problems," said the dietician.