The Stantons Eat Well for Less?

-One of them?

-You really shouldn't let the three-year-old

do the shopping for you.

Gregg Wallace and greengrocer Chris Bavin are on a mission to

help families get their food spending under control.

Weekly shopping over the course of a year about £13,000.

Ah, oh, my God!

Finding out when you should save your pennies...

This is cheaper than what we usually buy

and we'll definitely buy it again.

..and when you might need to splash the cash.

I don't think the cheaper stuff tastes very nice.

They're challenging families to try new foods...

HE YELLS

..by transforming their kitchens...

Should I open it?

Ah! SHE LAUGHS

It's like a science fiction set.

..and investigating every day food.

Well, I certainly wouldn't fancy that

with some mash and onion gravy for sure.

The Great British public have their say...

That is a budget bean.

..will Gregg and Chris prove that you can eat well for less?

A healthy saving of £2.25.

If they don't like the food swaps,

then it's all going to go belly up.

This week we're with the Stanton Family...

Well done.

..who have a guilty secret...

I feel very wasteful throwing all of that food away.

..and a fear of the freezer.

It doesn't look very appetising when it's frozen.

-Looks too cold to eat?

-Don't they? THEY LAUGH

There's a lot of laughs...

HE SCREAMS SHE GIGGLES

..but not everything goes to plan...

-I quite like it.

-I don't.

..as Gregg and Chris try to get the family back on track.

-You can do something about it...

-Yes!

-..and we can help.

-That's what we want, isn't it?

-Yeah.

BAR CODE SCANS CASH TILL CLOSES

We're in Maidstone with the Stantons who are desperate to

change their ways and save money on their food shop.

If we saved loads of money and spent it better when we go

shopping, what would you like to buy, or what would you like to do?

I would like to buy chocolate.

Go!

Dan is in the building trade and Zoe is an accounts assistant.

Go on, baby. Go, go, go, go!

They have two daughters, three-year-old Sofia

and six-year-old Ava.

Family's the most important thing to us,

we do most things together. We spend a lot of time together

and we're really grateful that we have the opportunity to do that.

When it comes to buying food, Zoe and Dan are spontaneous shoppers.

-We don't plan our shopping trips.

-Don't plan our shopping trips,

whatsoever.

Sort of a spur of the moment, isn't it?

-It's like, "OK, you go or I'll go."

-Yeah.

-I might phone you if I'm at work and say...

-Yeah.

"..what are we having for dinner tonight?"

And you'll say, "Well, there's not really a lot, do you want me

"to go to the shops?"

It's not just their lack of planning that bumps up their food bill,

their love of pre-prepared fruit

and veg is leading to a huge amount of waste.

This is probably the worst thing that we throw away

cos you get quite a big bag, and it...it goes off

before you get to eat it. So, this one is the 23rd June,

so we definitely won't eat that one now.

I would say we're probably chucking away £30 to £50 a week,

which is obviously quite a lot of money.

That's over £2,000 a year.

I feel very wasteful throwing all of that food away.

That was just waste we just got out of the fridge.

Zoe and Dan aren't alone.

Every year in the UK, we throw away seven million tonnes of food,

the equivalent of six meals per family per week.

I feel really terrible,

there's quite a lot of nice fresh food that could have been eaten.

And it's not just fresh produce that ends up in the bin.

Zoe worries that food kept in the freezer for four weeks is no

longer fit to eat.

Chicken, leek and bacon pie,

we wasn't going to eat it by the use by date so we've frozen it,

but then when I'm looking at it I'm thinking,

"Well, it's still been in there for a month,"

so I'm not sure if it would be that appetising or not.

We're wasting money and wasting food.

I do think we need to change.

Us Brits are splurging more money on our food shop than ever before,

as 55 pence in every retail pound is spent in the supermarket.

Many of us hand over more cash than we intend to as we're

tempted into impulse purchases and multi-buy deals.

There's one thing that's guaranteed to increase the cost

of your shop and that's when the kids get involved.

Sometimes, it's really difficult because they're constantly

asking for things that have caught their eye.

We'll end up buying things that I didn't really need to buy or

want to buy because they really like the look of it.

Gregg and Chris have arrived at the local supermarket

and are waiting for the family's next big shop.

Some of the best-laid plans go out of the window with the introduction

of the lovely little people. You know, when you're bringing kids

shopping that really cranks up the pressure. You're on a budget,

you're up against the clock,

and they start to influence your decisions.

When you're shopping with kids it's stressful, you want to be in and

out the shop as fast as you can,

you don't always make the right decisions.

Especially when things are down here aimed at the kids

and the kids are grabbing and screaming, "I want, I want."

Brightly coloured with characters, it's the perfect storm.

And look at the price of this cheese spaghetti for the kids.

£26 a kilo, mate, you can buy Roquefort for that.

You know Roquefort? No, you probably don't.

No, that's beyond me, cheese and pickle, Gregg, I am.

GREGG LAUGHS

The Stantons have arrived at the supermarket to do the family

shop, and along for the ride is youngest daughter Sofia.

Get in the trolley, then?

HE GROANS You in?

Moments into their shop

and true to form they're drawn to the pre-prepared fruit.

-Want some mango?

-Go on, then.

Do you want some pineapple?

It might be convenient, but you're paying for the privilege.

Those pineapple pieces cost twice as much as a whole pineapple.

As the family top up their trolley...

-Do you want peppers?

-Do you like peppers, Sofia?

-SOFIA WHINES

-No.

..they don't notice two new sales assistants

watching their every move.

-Do you want to get some lettuce, darling?

-Yes.

Here we go again, this time pre-prepared salad.

To get a closer look, Gregg and Chris are hiding in the store room.

-Them ones?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

We've got packets of pineapple rather than whole fruit.

We've now got packets of chopped vegetables.

We've got packets of chopped salad.

The good thing is that, you know, there appears to be quite

a lot of nice healthy produce going in the trolley.

It's certainly healthy, but all this convenience is going to add up.

I'll get some coriander.

-What are you going to use it for, though?

-A curry.

-OK.

It doesn't look like either of them are in possession of a shopping

-list.

-Oh, they've got no list, you're absolutely right.

What do you fancy? Come on.

If you come in the shop without a list you are going to buy

more than you need.

-SOFIA: I want to get out.

-Do you want to get out?

I can see little Sofia starting to get restless,

I think she wants to get involved.

-Are you going to help us do some shopping?

-Yeah.

-GREGG:

-Sofia is now out of the trolley. Let's see what happens.

-Sof, do you want some bananas?

-Throw them in, quick, quick, quick.

-No, but that's too many, we don't need...

-That's all right. Oh!

Oh, OK.

Do you want to pick some grapes up?

Do you want some strawberries as well?

You really shouldn't let the three-year-old do the shopping

-for you.

-No, not if you want to save money.

Fia, come here. Oh, they're two for a fiver, do you want...

Oh! She likes that apple juice as well. Yeah.

They're 'buy one get one free.' Sofia?

Sofia's done a runner and she's gone straight for the cheese display.

Sofia's absolutely delighted,

they had no intention of buying that and then suddenly there it is.

SOFIA: I want these, Mama.

Lunchables, but you don't eat them all, do you?

She ate half of them the other day.

-GREGG:

-Mate, that's mad.

She pointed at the juice, they bought juice.

While they were doing that, she ran off round the corner

and picked up something else.

Do you want some dough balls? She likes them.

-Does she?

-Yeah, she does, yeah.

-OK, go on, then.

-GREGG:

-They are buying whatever Sofia points at.

-Yeah, yeah.

I hope she don't point at a new car on the way out.

CHRIS CHUCKLES

Mum and Dad might not have a list,

but Sofia certainly knows what she wants on this shopping trip.

Do you want to choose some biscuits and some things, Sofia?

-HE SIGHS

-Sofia is out of the trolley

in the chocolate aisle.

Do you want them? Yeah?

Go on, then.

To be fair to Sofia, she has been as good as gold.

Well, so would I be if you let me buy whatever I wanted.

-LAUGHING:

-That is true.

And everything is up for grabs.

-Do you want two packs?

-Go on, then.

-Yeah?

-Put them in.

One of them?

-Go on, then, put that in, then, darling.

-Good girl.

Do you want some waffles, darling?

Ohh, there you go.

They've bought whatever it is Sofia has put her hands on.

She must be responsible for about £100 worth of gear that's

gone in that trolley.

With Sofia safely back in the trolley, hopefully Dan

and Zoe can now focus on what they actually need.

Do you want to get an apple...just a small apple sauce?

I thought you bought a new jar the other day

-when we had our parents round?

-I don't think we did.

Just get one, then.

There is no reference at all to any lists or any meal plan.

-This is spontaneous shopping.

-They don't appear to be too

sure of what they've actually got at home as well.

-Get them chicken nuggets?

-Yeah.

-GREGG:

-That is a very expensive way of shopping.

With their trolley fit to burst, the Stantons head to the checkout.

They've been lured by big brands, multi-buy deals

and pre-prepared foods.

What else?

And let's not forget all of Sofia's goodies.

But as they empty the trolley, they're in for a surprise.

-What you got?

-Hello, Zoe.

-Chris, how are you?

-Hello.

-Hello, how are you?

How are you, and this is lovely Sofia?

-Sofia, yes.

-It is, yes.

-Hello.

-Little Sofia.

-How are you?

-Say hello.

-Are you OK?

We were watching you.

-We were watching you choosing things.

-Choosing everything.

-All the way round, yes...

-Oh, my God!

-..the three of you.

I can honestly say, I don't think I've ever seen anyone shop like it.

Could I have a look at your shopping list for today, please?

-We haven't got one.

-No list.

-You haven't got a list?

-We never have a list.

-If you haven't got a list,

then let's see your meal plan.

No meal plan whatsoever.

-Whatsoever, is there?

-We just make it up we go along.

It's the first time I've ever seen a three-year-old

-in charge of the shopping.

-We're ruled by her, aren't we?

Yeah, definitely.

Well, I wonder if you actually know how much you've spent, do you?

I'd say about 1...135, 140?

'There's only one way to find out, let's get scanning.

'Make yourselves useful, boys.'

-Can we have some bags John, please?

-Some bags.

-Thank you.

I can't believe they're packing our shopping.

You'd better make sure you get it in the right bags.

Oh, yeah, is there a system?

I don't suppose you've ever thought about buying a pineapple or a mango?

No.

'Dan guessed they'd spent £140 on this one shop,

'and now it's the moment of truth.'

-I don't know if I want to know the damage.

-Hang on. Ooh!

Do I want to know?

Mate, that's a lot of money there.

You have spent £196.96.

-That's a lot of money.

-That is a lot of money.

-200 quid you've just done.

-Oh, dear.

We need help.

On this one shop, Zoe and Dan have spent more

than double the national average. Just as well help is at hand.

We were really surprised when Gregg and Chris came over,

we wasn't expecting that at all. So, it's a big shock.

Delving through all of our groceries and all of our goods,

yeah, a bit of a shock definitely,

even more of a shock at the amount of money we spent.

Daddy, can I have some ham on the side?

Of course, you can, darling.

Zoe and Dan might give Sofia control of the supermarket shop,

and give in easily when she's asking for treats,

but there's a reason why they find it hard to say no.

Sofia is just a sort of a normal three-year-old girl,

she wasn't really poorly until April last year.

She was tired all the time, so we actually took her to A & E one

day and she had a lump on her neck and after the X-ray the doctor

sort of took us to one side and said she had a collapsed lung.

We were rushed to our local hospital which has a children's ward

and it wasn't until we got there that they said she had leukaemia.

So it was just absolutely devastating, heartbreaking.

The first few months were obviously horrendous being in hospital

up in London for sort of two months.

With me and Zoe it was hard work, especially with Ava as well

because Ava was at school.

Yeah, it's been...been a tough time, but she's getting through it.

She's good. She's really good at the moment.

Sofia's on the road to recovery and once her treatment's finished,

Zoe and Dan can't wait to treat the girls to their dream holiday.

If we saved up some money Ava, where would you like to go?

-Disneyland.

-Yeah?

-I want to see Disneyland.

We'd love to take Ava and Sofia to Disneyland because we were supposed

to go the month after she got diagnosed with leukaemia, wasn't it?

-So we had a big family holiday...

-Yeah, we had to cancel our holiday.

And we've promised her and Ava we'll go to Disneyland.

To get the holiday they've always dreamed of,

there are a number of issues they need to face up to,

but first Gregg wants to get to the heart of it.

Your little girl Sofia hasn't been very well at all,

is it hard to say no to them?

-I think you've probably seen that today.

-Yeah.

The horrendous time she's gone through I think

we just want to make her happy, don't we?

I don't think there's a parent in the land that would do

anything different either to be fair.

-Really, very, very fortunate, Sofia's getting better.

-BOTH: Yes.

-Maybe, you can start to shop differently?

-Yeah.

We probably need to not take her shopping with us, that might help.

Now, you've got it all laid out on the table at home,

it looks like quite a bit, doesn't it?

It does look like quite a lot, yes.

-There's quite a bit of fresh food, which is really nice.

-Yes.

-Do you eat it all?

-We do throw some away.

The problem is it's just that it doesn't last all week,

so it might go out of date before the end of the week.

For me, there seems to be the potential to save money in not

buying already pre-washed salad bag, which shortens the shelf life.

As soon as you wash something

and prepare it, you're up against the clock already.

If you were to buy things in their whole format, so lettuces or

pineapples or mangos or whatever, you'd find they last a lot longer

and then hopefully you'd end up throwing a little bit less away.

What are you like at freezing stuff?

And also freezing leftovers, has it crossed your mind?

We'll freeze leftovers and then get it out three weeks later

and think, "Nah," and chuck it away.

We've done that occasionally and then not eaten it

-because we didn't like the look of it.

-Wh...

Because it doesn't look very appetising when it's frozen

-and it's like in a bar.

-Looks too cold to eat?

THEY LAUGH

'Despite having nearly £200 worth of food and drink on the table,

'Dan and Zoe will also top up shop around five times a week.'

-This isn't your only shop, is it, either?

-There might be a few

more in the week if we don't know what to have for dinner.

'Chris and Gregg have another surprise in store.'

We've got your bills from the last seven days.

OK. HE CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY

Erm...get ready for this.

325 quid.

Mm...

That's roughly about £17,000 a year.

-Oh, dear.

-That's a huge amount of money.

That's over three times the national average.

-That's quite shocking, isn't it, really?

-Yeah.

It's also not just the money, it's the waste of food.

It's disgusting the amount that we are throwing away, I feel so bad.

Don't feel bad, you're not alone, you're not the only one.

-It happens all the time, all right?

-Yeah.

-But you can do something about it...

-Yes!

-..and we can help.

-Good. We definitely... Yeah, that's what we want, isn't it?

-Yeah.

You know what we are going to do?

Some of these brands, we're going to swap some of them.

-OK.

-Some we're going to swap, some we're not.

-We're going to put them in plain packaging, so you don't know.

-OK.

How do you feel about that?

-Quite scared.

-THEY CHUCKLE

The boys hope that swapping some of the Stanton's products

will show them that it's good to try new things

and hopefully it will save them money.

What do you see as the biggest issues

and how would you go about putting them right?

There's far too much fresh produce being wasted.

You know, buy things that aren't pre-prepared,

therefore you're going to extend the shelf life.

The fact that they don't know what they can freeze

and the fact that they then freeze things to throw away...

I mean, if we can change that,

that will offer huge savings.

Zoe is nervous...nervous of the freezer.

She's got to learn how to get the best from it

because it can be a very, very good friend.

It comes back to planning

and sticking with what you've planned to eat.

That is the key to minimising your waste.

How much do you think we can save them?

I think we could save them...

well over £60 a week.

I find it really difficult to sit back

and watch good people spending money they don't need to spend.

We are all creatures of habit.

Bad habits are hard to break, you're still here.

HE LAUGHS

While the Stantons were out, we gave their kitchen

a bit of a makeover, leaving most of their cupboards out of bounds.

-ZOE:

-Oh, I don't think we can open our cupboards.

What does that mean? No go, I reckon.

Oh, look. HE CHUCKLES

What's in there?

Their usual brands have been taken away and replaced with

a range of alternative products,

all disguised in plain packaging.

Most products will be cheaper, some will be more expensive,

and others won't have been swapped at all.

-What are you after?

-It's a tomato.

-It's a tomato, isn't it?

Tomato sauce.

-We can't live without that.

-Oh, what do you think that is?

Peanut butter.

-That's mine.

-Is that yours?

What is this?

Cereal. I quite like seeing it in the packaging like that.

-Oh, look, got some rice noodles.

-Oh, you don't know what they are,

-do you?

-Tuna.

Shall we go and have a look in the fridge?

-Wow.

-SHE LAUGHS

Oh, no!

What we got?

-Bacon, ooh.

-You like bacon.

Sausages.

And what unexpected goodies are lurking in the freezer?

Oh! Look, kids. Oh, look what we got?

-SOFIA:

-Peas, peas!

-Peas.

Someone's excited.

How can we miss them ones? Ice lollies. What's this one?

-Do you think some of... You two like chicken nuggets?

-Yeah.

-Chippos.

-Chips!

Wow, look how many nuggets we've got, kids.

If there are any branded products there I think when you taste

some of them I think we'd be able to tell. I don't know, and the...

I don't think you will be able to tell.

I think baked beans, I definitely think you'd be able to tell

if they were the same ones that we normally buy.

Now, there's a challenge.

During their mealtimes, the family will be scrutinising their food,

guessing what's been swapped and what hasn't.

What do you think?

-Some they're sure about...

-The same.

You think it's the same?

-I know, you can tell...

-They don't look as salty, do they?

No, I think you can tell.

..others leave them confused...

Does it taste similar to ones that we normally buy?

Does the chocolate taste nice?

..but the more they like the bigger, the saving they'll make.

Duck surprise. If this has been swapped and this is cheaper than what

we usually buy, I think we'll definitely buy it again.

-That's the same.

-I like the carrot.

With the girls away, Dan and Zoe make a start on breakfast...

Do you want some baked beans?

..and on the menu today are Zoe's all-important beans.

They look the same colour I think.

They just look like baked beans.

You have to taste them I think.

I'm not sure if they look the same or not.

We've swapped Zoe's branded beans for a tin half

the price at just 32 pence.

I would never consider buying any other baked beans.

If they're not the same, I think I'll know straightaway.

Fighting talk from Zoe.

She's been buying the same brand of beans for over ten years,

but can Gregg and Chris get these ones past the bean queen?

I hope the bacon's not a let down.

It hasn't got any of the fat on it.

It might be quite good because it's probably healthier.

Spot on, Zoe.

We've replaced their supermarket smoked bacon with smoked

bacon medallions.

It's healthier, with 50% less fat, and as they enjoy a bacon

breakfast once a week, it'll save over £33 a year. Win-win.

Thank you, darling.

I'm going to try the beans first.

Try the beans first, come on, you are the bean expert.

Some beans are disgusting that are really cheap.

What do you think?

-Oh, I really don't know.

-SHE GIGGLES

I thought I'd be able to tell straightaway.

They do taste like the beans that we normally buy.

-They're definitely not.

-I think they're the same, darling.

I don't know if they are.

I think the beans are the same,

I can't tell the difference whatsoever.

They taste really nice.

They get through two tins a week, a yearly saving of nearly £40.

It's just bugging me that I don't know they're definitely

the ones because I thought I'd just eat them and straightaway

and I'd be like, "Yep, they're the beans that I normally buy."

Oh, I can't wait to see if they are different.

Zoe and Dan aren't the only ones who are brand loyal

when it comes to beans.

Two million of us feast on beans every day

and brand leader Heinz enjoys a hefty share of the market

with 1.5 million cans of Heinz beans sold every day in the UK.

We want to see whether you can spot the brands from the bargains

when it comes to beans.

Who better to challenge than some cost-conscious students.

Our group are from Brunel University.

Up for analysis -

Sainsbury's Basics, the cheapest at just 30 pence a can,

ASDA at 32p,

Simply Marks and Spencer's costing 41p,

market leader Heinz at 50p,

Branston at 56p,

finally Biona Organic

costing more than six times the value brand at £1.84 a can.

First up for scrutiny, the most expensive.

It's nice, sweet.

Quite thick, isn't it? I like them, really nice.

-These ones are all right.

-These ones are probably the ones that we

-probably... Normal Heinz ones.

-The beans I probably have.

Nope, they're definitely not.

When I buy baked beans generally I'm a slave to the brand.

These should go down a treat, then.

I think that's like a supermarket brand.

That one tastes more bland.

And the value range?

Tastes a bit like what you used to get in like school dinners.

That is a budget bean.

When I'm buying baked beans, supermarket basic value

-is just not the way to go.

-But what bean is best?

First place, drum roll, please.

THEY DRUM

-Oh!

-What the hell?

Organic.

No wonder they're shocked,

they've picked the most expensive bean on the menu,

Biona Organic.

Branston came second, in third place was Heinz, fourth was ASDA.

In fifth place was Sainsbury's Basics

and in sixth place was Simply Marks and Spencer's.

And I was actually quite surprised that number one wasn't Heinz

cos I just assumed because that's like the biggest

brand for beans that that would probably be my favourite one.

Definitely try some new baked beans and maybe change it up a bit now.

These students with their expensive tastes seem to think you get

what you pay for when it comes to beans.

But it's always worth trying new things, you never know,

something cheaper might just take your fancy.

It's dinner time at the Stantons' and on the menu for the girls

tonight is chicken nuggets and chips.

The girls really like chicken nuggets, yeah.

They eat those quite a lot.

Like most kids, Sofia and Ava can be fussy when it comes

to their food, especially if they think it's different from normal.

It's quite hard to get them to try stuff, isn't it,

both of them, to be fair?

I'd love her to eat more different varieties of things, so we'll see.

Oh, look!

The chicken nuggets, I think

they might look a bit nicer than the ones we normally buy.

Sounds promising, but it's our two taste-tasters

that we need to convince.

Fia, you ready for dinner, darling?

Here you go.

Dinner is served,

and what's the verdict on the swapped chunkier chips?

Chips taste better because they're big.

-We normally buy thin crispy ones.

-Good move.

Those chips are 82 pence cheaper and healthier with less fat

and more fibre.

Do you think that's the same tomato sauce as you usually have?

In a different bottle?

And tomato is made out of tomato sauce.

That's why it's called tomato sauce.

Genius, aren't you?

She sure is. This ketchup is £1 cheaper than your favourite.

A bottle a month would save you £12 a year.

How's your chicken nuggets, they taste better than the usual ones?

-Good.

-Sof, what do you think of your dinner, darling?

-Good.

-Do you like the nuggets?

Brilliant news for Mum and Dad, they're £1 cheaper and have

almost 50% more meat content than the ones you usually have.

Chicken nuggets and chips-wise, has been quite a result really.

This meal is a weekly favourite

and if they decide to keep the swapped foods, they'd save £2.77.

That's a yearly saving of nearly £145.

Definitely a winner. I'd definitely say so.

Chicken nuggets are a quick and convenient dinner for the kids,

but when it comes to nutrition,

what should you be looking for?

Gregg and Chris have met with dietician Lucy Jones

to examine four different types of nugget.

The brand leader, a supermarket own brand,

a premium brand of bite-size nuggets and a supermarket value range.

What is in them?

A lot of them now clearly state that they are only using chicken breast.

A lot of brands have been changing their packaging to suit

consumer desire to know what's in their food, so you can see here

that this is clearly stating it's from chicken breast.

Again, these are using chicken breast

and these again are saying 100% chicken breast.

Should we feel guilty feeding our children these?

Most of the nutritional concerns with chicken nuggets

come from the salt content.

Our value nugget, and the most expensive are the lowest in salt,

and actually the branded product is the highest in salt.

This has one gram of salt per 100g.

100g is the equivalent of five chicken nuggets,

and one gram of salt is half the daily maximum recommended

intake of salt for a three-year-old like Sofia.

In terms of nutrition, the more expensive ones

are the ones to buy, are they?

For me, these sit in a class of their own and this is where,

in people's weekly budget, actually we should be looking to spend

that bit more because typically you get a better quality meat product.

However, my favourite is getting people to make their own.

So, let's get cooking.

After chopping the chicken into nugget-sized chunks,

Lucy dips it in egg.

She then has two different coatings for the boys to try.

The first is simply breadcrumbs, the second is crushed cornflakes.

There was absolutely nothing to that,

and the beauty of doing it yourself is you know exactly what goes in.

Yeah, super quick and it's a great thing to feed your kids.

I can't wait to see how they taste.

Finally, bake on an oil-brushed pan at 190 degrees.

Pop them in the oven.

20 minutes later and voila.

OK, do you want to dig in and let me know your thoughts?

I want one of the cornflakes ones.

Nothing wrong with that.

Crispy on the outside, moist in the middle and a quality bit of chicken.

-I like that.

-That's ideal, literally all you can taste is the coating

and the chicken. If you're going to give your kids chicken nuggets,

this is the absolute ideal one to give them.

When it comes to chicken nuggets, home-made takes first prize

because you know exactly what's gone into them.

Gregg and Chris don't just want to save the Stantons money,

they also want to help them change their eating habits,

and they've got a plan.

I'd like to get those little girls in the kitchen cooking.

That is definitely key, isn't it?

Getting the kids involved in the preparation and the making

of food will give them a healthier relationship with food.

But in case they don't like what you're cooking, I've got

a little plan up my sleeve just in case to try and get them to try it.

What are you talking about? Everybody loves my cooking.

We're quite excited, Gregg and Chris coming back.

-We're not sure what to expect really, are we?

-No.

A bit nervous.

Be really interested to see what they're going to do this time

cos obviously last time they took all our food away

and swapped loads of things around, so I don't know what to expect.

The Stantons have gone through some tough times

and Sofia's illness has impacted on all aspects of their lives.

-A lot of parents find mealtimes challenging.

-Yeah.

Yours has been ridiculously challenging.

Mealtimes have been slightly different since Sofia's been unwell.

Her taste buds have changed.

When she's on steroid week, it's quite difficult

because she will be eating from the moment she wakes to the moment

till she goes to bed for four or five days.

Sometimes it can be crisps and she could have eaten like four or

five bags of crisps before it's even lunchtime.

It is hard because obviously you want her to eat a nice healthy meal,

but she's just wanting to eat what she's craving.

Treatment with Sofia, the steroids make her really hungry,

so I mean we had obviously like the first month of her

not eating anything at all and she had to have a night feed.

She's craving things after that, so she's up at night eating

in the middle of the night and the doctors have said to us

-to just give her whatever she wants.

-Yeah.

I mean, we know that we've got a lot of bad habits, which we've

picked up from during that time, so we need to make some changes.

Sofia is getting better.

Yeah, she's really, really getting better now

and she's doing really well.

-Time to make some changes with the meals?

-Yeah, definitely.

I mean, this would be great to Sofia to start trying different foods

because I think she'll be really up for it.

Gregg wants Zoe and the girls to make a meal that all

the family will enjoy.

Who fancies getting a little bit messy?

Yeah, me too.

And on the menu today is this...

Don't look so worried, kids, he knows what he's doing.

You're making home-made burgers and sweet potato wedges.

Those hands won't be clean for long.

Squish it up, squish it up, get in there.

GIRLS GIGGLE

-What does it feel like?

-Sludgy.

Onions are added and then the eggs.

Go on, then. Sofia first, that's it.

-Oh, splendid!

-Good girl.

-A bit harder Ava, that's it. Bit of that.

-Yeah!

-Now, who's going to stick their hands in there first?

-Me.

Go on, then! Up to your elbow... Oh, lovely.

Squish it about.

Yeah, yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

HE YELLS SHE GIGGLES

I'm not sure who's having more fun.

Now to customise their burgers.

Ava's going for a squirt of tomato ketchup

and for the grown-up burgers, Zoe's opted for paprika, garlic

and chilli paste.

That's it, take it out, make it into a ball. All right!

Check out the chef.

Look at that one.

Wow.

While they're slaving away in the kitchen, Chris is hard at work

catching up with Dan over a cuppa.

-We know kids can be fussy eaters.

-Yes.

And I completely appreciate, you know, how hard it's been for you

and, you know, the situation that you've been through.

Yeah, the girls are probably not the greatest at trying new foods,

probably should be a bit more forceful with them because they're

just eating chicken nuggets and pizza and pasta, and that's pretty much it.

We've got to that stage where we've realised

-we've got to do something about.

-One thing we could maybe try

and sort of implement with the girls is like a reward chart.

-I've got one here, well, two...

-What, you made this?

Here's one I made earlier, that's it.

So, we've got the days down the left here

and then 'I tried something new' and then we've got some stars here.

Whoever gets the most, gets a reward.

Chris' master plan is that whenever the girls try a new food,

they're rewarded with a gold star on their chart.

They like competition, so they're always trying to...

trying to beat each other. Obviously, seeing a rewards chart

and seeing more stars next to their name,

I think they'll definitely go for that.

If you put the hard work in and, you know, do the ground work,

it falls into place after that,

and I think before you know it, it'll be the norm.

-You're entitled to have an easy life.

-Yeah.

You've worked all day,

the last thing you want to do is have another battle at meal time.

Yeah, and I think that's it.

You come back in a week's time there'll be nothing on there.

They might just surprise you, Dan.

Back inside, Gregg and Zoe are preparing the sweet potato wedges.

-BELTING:

-Chiiips!

-Now, we're going to drizzle them. Who wants to drizzle?

-Me!

-Oh.

-Nice.

-Nice, yeah, just throw...throw some over, great.

The wedges go into a preheated oven for 35 minutes at 180 degrees,

followed by the burgers ten minutes later.

I had loads of fun today, it's been really good.

The girls have absolutely loved doing all the cooking

and mixing all the ingredients together.

I thoroughly enjoyed that and I've got a feeling the three

ladies did as well. I mean, that was a lot of fun.

Grub's up, time to get stuck in.

Oh, look! All your hard work, slaving away in the kitchen, here we go.

-Look at that.

-Dinner. Dinner made by the girls.

What do we say? Look at that.

-It's fantastic.

-Yeah, looks nice, well done.

Well done, guys. Zoe, how was that?

-It was really good, I enjoyed it.

-Thank you very much.

-That looks good, doesn't it?

-Yeah, that looks really good.

And it's a nice... A proper burger.

-Mm.

-That's lovely, well done, girls.

Yeah, they are. Well done, ladies. Well done.

You made some good burgers.

-The stars in the kitchen are these two.

-Definitely.

I've never had so much fun cooking, honestly.

-I'm going to eat it.

-That's it, break a bit off, it's lovely.

Do you like it, is it nice?

Really like it?

But what do the girls make of the sweet potato wedges?

I don't want them on mine.

-No?

-They're chips, darling.

You going to try them?

-Daddy, I licked one.

-You licked one.

Why don't you try and eat one?

Sofia's not convinced.

Chris, this is the perfect opportunity to put your star

chart to the test. No pressure.

-I've got something for you.

-Oh, look.

This is Ava's and Sofia's reward chart, and every time you try

-something different or new you get a gold star!

-Wow.

You excited about that?

And then after you get a few gold stars, Mummy and Daddy are going

to give you a special treat.

So, Ava, I think you've tried your burger

and your sweet potato already, haven't you?

So you get two gold stars. Does Mummy want to put two gold stars

on there? And, Sofia, you tried your burger.

Would you like to try your sweet potato

and get two gold stars like Ava?

-Good girl, well done.

-Brilliant, good girl,

so Daddy, do you want to get two stars on it. Well done.

I think the reward chart is going to work really well.

The girls will be really excited to get all of their stars,

and it's given us a reason to get them to try things as well.

We'll probably give them a nice family day out at the end of it

as a nice reward.

-Two gold stars for you.

-Brilliant.

Two gold stars for you.

Well done. Good girls.

-What a great start.

-Mummy can have one for being in the kitchen cooking.

Well done.

There's one big issue that Zoe and Dan struggle with and that's waste.

Chris has a solution to make sure that the home-made burgers

don't end up in their bin.

I've got you something. We've printed you out some stickers.

All you need to know when you're freezing something is

when you put it in there and how long is the

life expectancy of that product once it's been frozen.

So if you want to just fill one of these lovely labels out for me,

I'll pop these in here.

When you don't have time, you know, things are hectic

and you're really busy, these are absolutely ideal.

-So can you cook them from frozen?

-You could cook it from frozen,

but obviously, you have to take that into consideration

-with the cooking time.

-The burgers can be cooked straight

from the freezer or defrosted first,

just ensure they're cooked all the way through before serving.

So what should we put for the use by date?

So with something like this that's been freshly prepared,

-three to six months easily.

-Six months, oh, my God!

Never eaten anything that's been in the freezer for six months.

-After a month you'd just throw it away, wouldn't you?

-Yeah.

Seeing as you're a little bit sceptical, I think

if we err on the side of caution, just put three months to start.

-We've got the first label, if you put that on.

-Lovely.

I'm going to give you a shout on the 18th of November and see

if you've got these out and enjoyed your delicious, home-made burgers.

So don't be afraid of your freezer, use it, it's your friend.

You've got nothing to worry about in terms of freezing food.

As long as you do it properly, it'll be fine for three to six months.

It'll taste exactly the same and be perfectly safe.

No more freezer fright.

Exactly that, no more freezer fright.

As the swaps continue, Gregg and Chris put them to the

test with some frozen broccoli, as they prepare a Thai green curry.

We would never use frozen broccoli.

I've tried it a few times.

I found it was quite watery once it was cooked before.

Swapping fresh broccoli for frozen saves 60p

and hopefully won't end up in the bin.

We've always bought fresh broccoli and probably used half of an actual

broccoli and then chucked the other half away, so...

No, but if you buy it fresh it will go... It'll be...

The use-by-date will be within a couple of days of buying it

and then if you want some more at the end of the week

-you've got to go to the shop again.

-I would say definitely by using

frozen vegetables is a really good way of us saving money

in terms of throwing food away.

Oh, yeah.

Thai curry paste smells really nice.

That's good because it's what you usually buy.

The coconut milk is 89p, that's a saving of £1.10 a tin,

over £57 a year.

Dinner is served.

Looks delicious.

I'm going to try some of mine.

Moment of truth. How's the broccoli going down?

-The broccoli's quite nice, isn't it?

-Oh, it's not too bad.

It doesn't taste as fresh though, tender.

If it works out that much cheaper and you can keep some in the

freezer, have it there all the time, I don't think it's that much

of a difference between the frozen broccoli and a fresh broccoli.

No, I think you're right. If we were making a Thai green curry again,

I think we probably would stick with this.

Excellent news, making this curry at least once a week

and keeping all the swapped ingredients saves nearly £70 a year.

I need to practise football.

When I saw the frozen broccoli I thought it was going to be

disgusting, but the broccoli just tasted like normal fresh

broccoli would, so I think we definitely would buy that

frozen broccoli again and I'm really surprised with that.

Eh, two headers!

We like to test your taste buds to show you

that sometimes it's worth trying new things.

In the UK, we throw away 2.7 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables.

One way to tackle this is to buy frozen.

It's cheaper and the good news is, it's just as nutritious.

Place UK is a soft fruit supplier in Norwich

where they grow and process fruit for the fresh and frozen markets.

Chris is meeting operations director Andy Shepherdson to find out more.

Andy, hello, mate.

We've got some lovely strawberries here. They smell great. Is there a

difference between the strawberries you use for fresh and frozen?

If you're buying the fresh strawberry, it'll ripen...

The transition from farm to the supermarket.

Basically, this strawberry will be picked now

and it'll be frozen today,

so we try and retain all the freshness of the strawberry.

We're capturing the flavour and the essence of the fruit today.

Once the strawberries are picked, they're immediately

taken to the factory.

These are the strawberries we picked this morning, Chris,

so what we're going to do now, we're going to wash the strawberries.

This is just water? There's no preservatives added?

No, we don't use anything apart from a low level of chlorine to

clean the strawberries, that's it, nothing else.

Chlorine is added to the water to destroy germs and bacteria.

Anything like an insect or anything like that would be washed off,

then we have inspection people looking for any defects.

Not every single strawberry will be good enough to be frozen.

-What's happening here?

-Basically, anything that looks a bit odd,

we can take off and what we do with that we'll make puree from that,

so nothing's wasted.

The strawberries that make the grade are frozen within

three hours of being picked.

Andy and Chris are braving the freezer.

It's minus-26 degrees in there.

So you freeze each strawberry individually?

You'll see where the strawberries virtually hover on the conveyor belt.

Jets of air are blasted underneath them,

allowing the strawberries to hover and rotate in mid air,

ensuring that the surface of every strawberry is evenly frozen.

These strawberries were picked at their ripest, retaining all

the flavour and nutrients you would expect in a fresh strawberry.

Finally they're packed,

weighed and ready for delivery to supermarkets and local wholesalers.

But once the frozen strawberry is defrosted,

how does it compare to the fresh?

And can our greengrocer tell the difference?

OK, Chris, what we have here, we have some frozen

strawberries that we defrosted, and we have some fresh strawberries.

They're very, very similar. So let's have a taste.

That's beautiful, that is absolutely gorgeous.

That's actually slightly sweeter. I mean, it comes down to a guess.

I'm going to go with this as the fresh and that as the frozen

and I'm potentially just about to sign my death warrant on my career.

You're actually correct, but I think you...

CHRIS SIGHS AND LAUGHS ..you know, everything you said...

That's more luck than judgment because...

You're right in what you said. If you look closely, you can see

that the follicle and the hairs of the strawberry are more prominent

-on that one.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And look slightly more subdued on

that one. I wouldn't say they're completely flat.

I'm absolutely amazed by that because they are almost identical.

And with fresh fruit sometimes being double the prize of frozen,

it's great to find a cheaper and equally nutritious alternative.

I've had my eyes opened today.

I think there is a real place for frozen alongside fresh,

and if that increases consumption and minimises waste,

that can only be a good thing.

Back in Maidstone and it's breakfast at the Stantons',

and Zoe's usual fresh fruit has been swapped for frozen.

Never used frozen fruit before, so I'm quite looking forward to

seeing what it tastes like.

Fruit is probably one of the biggest things that we do throw away

because we end up not using it within the use-by-date.

Could be a good idea, couldn't it, frozen? Just grab out a handful of

-what you actually want for the day.

-Yeah.

Loving your thinking, Dan.

We've also swapped your natural yoghurt and at 90p cheaper

than you usual brand, it would save you over £46 a year.

But what's the verdict?

I think the yoghurt and the berries are really nice.

Sounds promising. Have we got a fresh to frozen convert?

I actually think it might taste a little bit nicer,

and you've got more of a variety and then you've got a bit of

a juice that's come out of the berries. I think it's quite tasty.

If Zoe wanted to buy the fresh equivalent of these four

different berries, it would cost her more than double the price.

I think it's the texture, a bit slimy and a bit...

I think I'm a bit more sceptical.

-I quite like it.

-I don't.

Frozen berries have divided the Stantons.

I'm a fan, I really liked that. That was nice.

I definitely would buy those again.

Keeping the swapped yoghurt and the frozen berries could save them

a whopping £163.80 a year.

-Who's on the other end?

-Hello?

Meal times at the Stantons' have been full of surprises.

Ooh, ooh, that's enough!

We swapped most of the food they'd been eating, but to keep them

on their toes, some things weren't swapped at all.

-There you go, Ava.

-Do you not like the bread?

-No.

The bread does taste different, it tastes quite dry.

It does taste really dry, doesn't it?

I definitely think the bread has been swapped.

Sorry, Dan, but it's exactly the same as what you always have.

Thankfully, most of the food has gone down a treat.

They had the same at the hospital.

They are the same ones as the hospital, are they?

Those fish fingers would save Mum and Dad over £26 a year.

-Ave, do you like them waffles?

-Yeah.

-Are you sure?

I think the waffles are a definite hit.

Thumbs up for the waffles.

That's another saving towards the final bill.

They're 70p cheaper, plus you get two extra waffles per pack.

It's the final day of the food swap

and Zoe and Dan are preparing a pasta bake, a mealtime favourite.

I think it looks a bit like the mince from the butchers

because that's how they package it, isn't it?

-You know your mince, darling.

-You're spot on.

We've swapped your usual premium supermarket mince

for mince from your local butcher, which is 62p cheaper.

Let's get that sauce out.

To keep them on their toes,

we haven't swapped their premium brand pasta sauce.

Definitely doesn't look like the pasta that we'd usually buy.

If me and Zoe are going to have a pasta dish

we will probably go to the shops and buy a fresh pasta, won't we?

Well, tonight we're saving you a trip as you've got dried pasta

at almost half the price.

The mince is looking good, time to add the pasta sauce.

Going to chuck the peppers in now.

But before he does, Dan's adding chopped fresh tomatoes and chilli.

Have you not read the label, Dan?

Smells nice. Can really smell the chillies in it.

Shall we put the tinned tomatoes in it as well?

So Dan has made his own sauce and then he's added a jar of sauce,

that's an expensive way to make a pasta bake.

Made an absolute mountain of mince

as per usual.

They've doubled up on ingredients,

but at least they're not wasting the leftovers.

Since my last chat with Chris and Gregg, they'll be very,

very pleased to know what I am actually doing with this mince,

and instead of throwing it away, we've actually bought some

Tupperware, putting it in the freezer.

-It looks quite nice, doesn't it?

-Yeah, looks good.

I really like the mince, it was really lean.

There wasn't much fat coming off it when you cooked it.

No. I really like it.

The pasta's like a little bit more al dente.

Where the fresh pasta's not as firm,

so yeah, no, I'd definitely use the dried pasta.

The sauce is lovely.

Making the pasta bake once a week and keeping all the swapped

ingredients would save Dan and Zoe over £100 a year.

The boys are on their way to Maidstone to meet

the Stantons for the final time.

So how are you feeling? We're going to see the Stantons.

This is the moment of truth. Are you nervous?

Be interesting to see out of the foods that we've swapped,

which ones they would like to keep.

I can't wait for Gregg and Chris to come back and show us

what things have been swapped and what things haven't.

We can save this family a fortune, but if they don't like them

and they reject them all what can we do?

We've enjoyed quite a lot of it and if they're going to save us

lots of money, it'll be brilliant.

God, I hope it's been positive. Ohh!

I hope it's more positive than your driving.

Dan, Zoe, how was it?

The swaps were really good actually. Yeah, quite a lot of the stuff

we were quite surprised that we really enjoyed.

The girls, how did they get on?

-They were brilliant, weren't they?

-They're really very fussy,

-very fussy eaters.

-We noticed that they were eating a lot more than

they normally would do. On the first day, sat down

and tried all the stuff that you gave us, I was quite surprised.

Do you think removing the packaging gives you a real opportunity

to actually taste the food without any sort of preconceptions or

-ideas about what it is?

-Yeah! How much is in there.

It was nice to look in the fridge and actually see all the fresh

products rather than a load of, you know, labels and slogans.

-Have you noticed the difference in how much you're throwing away?

-Yeah, definitely.

There wasn't anything that's past the use-by-date,

and then the amounts of food that we're cooking like you said,

it's going in the freezer if we'd already prepared it.

'Wow, cutting out their food waste could save them over £2,000 a year.'

Can I ask you what you might have learned from that?

I think if we actually sat down on a Sunday or whatever day it is

and actually wrote out some...

some shopping lists, then it's got to save us money and give us

-structure to our dinner times, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'All sounding positive so far.'

Right, come on, then.

'It's crunch time.'

Oh, look!

-Right, well, look.

-Yes.

I'd like to start off with the biggest story

-as far as I'm concerned, the beans.

-Yes.

-Now, you know your beans, don't you?

-Yes.

There's a famous baked bean... You won't eat anything else, will you?

-No.

-Did you enjoy the beans we gave you?

-Yes.

-Oh, Zoe.

Look.

Ohh, Zoe, bae!

Oh, dear!

-These are 38 pence cheaper a tin.

-That's big.

I'm taking it for granted you're going to keep these beans.

Can we just put a different label on it?

-So we're keeping the beans?

-Keeping the beans.

-I'd say keep the beans.

'Cracking start. They buy two tins of beans a week,

'so substituting the brand saves them over £39 a year.'

Dan and Zoe, talk to me about mincemeat. So did you like it?

Yes, we did. I thought it looked like it was a better quality mince.

-So you think we did change it?

-Yes.

-We think you did.

You're absolutely right. It is lean mincemeat from your local butcher.

So you think it's going to be more expensive?

It is probably more expensive.

It's 62 pence cheaper.

That's really good to know.

-So are we going to keep the mince?

-Yes, we will, yeah.

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

'Well, Zoe, you buy it once a week, so going with the butcher's

'mince slashes another £32 off the yearly bill.'

-We obviously swapped your fresh fruit for frozen fruit.

-Yes.

I really liked the frozen berries, quite nice to have all

the different berries in there. Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

-It was obviously frozen fruit that we gave you.

-Yeah.

And it is a fairly healthy saving of £2.25.

Like to keep the frozen fruit over the fresh?

I would like to keep the frozen fruit.

The point with this is obviously with frozen you don't get any waste.

I don't eat the same thing for breakfast every day, so I might only

have the yoghurt and berries like a couple of days during the week

and obviously a whole punnet of berries just for me, the use-by-date

would go, so I'd end up throwing them away. So this is probably

ideal for me to just keep in the freezer and have it when I want.

'Good move, that will reduce your waste and save you £117 a year.'

Can I ask you how you got on with the bread we gave you?

-We didn't like the bread, did we?

-No, the bread was quite...

-We were...

-Like, it was really dry.

The bread does taste different. It tastes quite dry.

It does taste really dry, doesn't it?

I definitely think the bread has been swapped.

You didn't like that at all, then?

I've preferred other breads that we've had before.

Strange that because that's one of the things we didn't change.

SHE GIGGLES

-I know.

-Oh, Zoe!

-I'm shocked.

Listen, if you're not sold on it, can I suggest you just

go in the shop and see if there's a cheaper one you might like more?

-Yeah, we should.

-I think we've got to, haven't we?

-Yeah.

I can't believe that.

'Well, boys, you got them with that one.'

So what did you think of the pasta sauce?

Yeah, pasta sauce was lovely in the bake, wasn't it?

-You put a jar of ready-made sauce into your bake...

-Yes.

And then you added to it.

I've always sort of added stuff to it, haven't I?

Cos I've never really liked it too dry.

You added tinned tomatoes...

-Yes.

-..and different flavourings.

-Yes.

You made your own sauce. Yes.

And added it to a jar of sauce.

-Yes.

-That's mad.

You're sweating onions, you're adding tomatoes,

-you're adding garlic...

-Yeah, yes.

..you're adding chilli. That's a sauce!

-You don't need to buy the jars.

-Yes, you're right.

'Dan loves his branded pasta sauce.

'Have you done enough to convince him?'

-Shall we just...

-Let's get rid of the sauce.

-Do away with the...

-Yes.

I think I'm going to make my own sauces from now on.

'That's what we like to hear.

'Ditching the jars will save another £78 a year.'

No, go on, throw it.

'Not everything was a success.'

The tuna was horrible, maybe just don't like it in brine.

Righto.

'But they loved most of what we gave them,

'keeping 86% of the food we swapped.'

-That was a big hit, wasn't it?

-Yeah, they liked them.

'These five products alone save them a whopping £457 a year.

'The strategy was to get them to plan more, freeze leftovers and

'reduce waste, and most importantly save them money, but how much?'

When we first met you,

you gave us your weekly shopping receipts

and they came to £327.

Mm...yes.

So would you like to have a guess at how much you think

we could have saved you?

I reckon somewhere around between 50...

-50?

-About 50, £50.

-Based on these food swaps...

-Yes.

..we reckon your bill would go

from £327 that you were spending...

..down to £224.

Wow.

You will save over £100 a week.

-That's a lot of money.

-It's a massive amount of money.

I mean, I'm sure some people that's probably what they spend on

their shopping per week, so to be able to save that amount of money

and put it away is just brilliant, isn't it?

Five grand a year. What would you do with that?

-We would always like to take the kids away and go on holiday.

-Yeah.

Especially with like obviously Sofia's illness and whatnot, so.

Yeah, I think she's got about a year on her treatment to go,

but once she's done with that I think we'd like to plan,

you know, a really special holiday for the girls. Yeah.

If you save that money for a year until she can get on a plane

and go on holiday it would be fantastic.

-Yeah, definitely.

-I think it's going to be like...

like a trip of a lifetime and we're going to make it so special

-and we're not going to tell her anything about it, are we?

-No.

Just going to wake up one morning and say,

"We're going to Disneyworld."

Saving of that sort of money is going to make such

a difference to our lives, isn't it, just for just for things

like holidays and obviously saving for the kids for their future.

You know, it's a massive amount of money, five grand a...

five grand a year, ten years is £50,000, isn't it?

You know, so much money.

Guys, you've done fantastically well.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for help, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations, well done.

-Thank you.

I don't think that could have gone any better.

Mate, they're making enormous savings, I think that's fantastic.

Five grand a year. This family's going to have a holiday

-of a lifetime.

-I'm chuffed, you know?

I'm really, really pleased. Fancy a pint?