By Michael Moran

Copyright manchestereveningnews

A YouTuber who challenged himself to live on nothing but Iceland ‘s £1 Value Ready Meals was stunned by the effect it had on his body. Sam Wilder , who has previously tested other popular food outlets such as Greggs and Toby Carvery, outlined the rules he had set himself before embarking on his week-long adventure. He explained: “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.” Because Sam was restricting himself to Iceland’s budget £1 range , he was unable to include some of the more popular items such as branded pizzas or Greggs’ sausage rolls in his diet. Sam thought that, in some ways, the first meal was going to be the hardest. He explained: “I think breakfast is going to be the hard thing. I don’t think they do any one-pound breakfasts. “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 added wryly, didn’t feel like the best choice. Eventually, Sam plumped for Iceland’s bacon and cheese turnover – which at £1 for two immediately meant that he was well within budget. Sam pointed out that, despite the fact that the UK has been in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis since 2021, with prices rising across the board, Iceland had held the prices of their ready meals down to £1. “I think it’s pretty much a miracle,” he said. While expressing some concerns that a full week of ready meals might not be the healthiest choice, he was delighted with his breakfast choice. “I tucked into my 50p turnover and oh my God, wow, it was genuinely fantastic,” he declared. “The pastry was flaky and tasty. The cheese was gooey and flavourful. And the amount of bacon bits in there was actually pretty, I was really happy.” He was off to a great start and lunch followed in much the same vein. He had gone for Chinese chicken with rice, and while Sam felt that rice didn’t really freeze too well, there was a significant consolation. “There were plenty of peas and carrots,” he said, “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.” As well as testing the meals for taste and value, Sam was also keeping an eye on his health, and had weighed himself before embarking on his challenge. He explained: “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!” Adding to the difficulty of Sam’s challenge was the fact that his wife wasn’t taking part. He went on: “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.” While he admitted that his £1 ready-meal wasn’t a patch open the homemade version, it somehow grew on him as he was eating it. By the end of day one, he said: “I had eaten £2.50 worth of food and was in a calorie deficit by 39% of my recommended intake.” Sam added that, given that he had put on a little weight on his recent honeymoon, losing a pound or two might not be the worst thing. As his challenge progressed, another of Sam’s concerns – that things might get a bit boring – was also put to bed. “There’s a surprising amount of variety in this range,” he said. “Snacks, pastries, pizzas, full-on dinners…” Some of the £1 range items were quite hard to come by though. Sam said it took quite a while before he could snag Iceland’s elusive fish pie – and when he eventually got one it was something of a disappointment. The fish pie contained a relatively small amount of fish – only about 15% – but the other ingredients came out of it well. “The mash is very creamy,” he said, adding that it was similar to the mash that had topped dan Iceland cottage pie he’s eaten earlier in the week. “Yes, it’s reconstituted potato,” he said, “but it’s creamy and it’s tasty. The sauce is nice as well.” Despite being one of the most sought-after items in the range, the fish pie was “nothing to write home about,” Sam said, but at just £1 he was still “pleasantly surprised.” Another pleasant surprise for Sam was, that by restricting himself to Iceland’s £1 range for a whole week, he’d lost some weight as well as saved some money. “It was cheaper than my normal food shop,” he said, “so that’s a win.” He’d managed to come in well under budget, spending only £17 on food over the week. But the most lasting impact of the experiment was that he’d lost about a kilogram over the seven days. To sum up, Sam said that there was really only one major negative. “Some frozen meals are good, some frozen meals are bad,” he said “but I mostly just miss fresh food.”