PLEASE Tesco, can we have some more? A promotion by the supermarket boasting a family of four can be fed for under €90 a week contains portion sizes that provide as little as half the calories recommended for the average person.

The Cooking with Cash Savers brochure, endorsed by nutritionist Paula Mee, outlines a seven-day plan for three healthy meals a day, mainly using the store’s own-brand products. “Feed a family of four for a week for €89.65,” it says.

Sticking to the meal plan, however, would provide an average energy intake of less than 1,130 calories per day. Tesco Ireland's own website cites Department of Health recommendations showing the guideline daily amount (GDA) of calories a day for a man is 2,500 and 2,000 for women.

The meal plan for the week includes a “Friday Feast” page that seems more like a famine. Breakfast, lunch and dinner meal suggestions deliver only 929 calories, including a dinner of salmon with baby potatoes and vegetables providing 282 calories. Friday’s lunch — two slices of wholemeal bread and a bowl of soup — amounts to 285 calories, while the breakfast of porridge, an apple and a glass of orange juice gives 362 calories.

Monday’s menu is porridge, yoghurt and orange juice for breakfast, followed by sardines on toast for lunch, and chicken stir-fry with rice for dinner. It amounts to 1,068 calories per person. “Sumptuous Saturday” involves a dinner consisting of a cheese and mushroom omelette and 50g of grapes each — equivalent to 281 calories.

Safefood, the food safety promotion board, recommends an average GDA for an adult of 2,000 calories a day, with more active adults possibly requiring more. Marian Faughnan, nutritionist at Safefood, said: “About 1,500 calories for three meals would be low. It might be sufficient for somebody who is very sedentary.

“If sedentary people had some snacks along with this it would meet their needs. You might have two or three portions of fruit, a portion of yoghurt, maybe a small treat. That might make up another 300 calories.”

Mee said that she had informed Tesco that people would need to eat snacks in addition to the three meals. This information is not included in the final brochure.

“Some people will require more calories,” said Mee. “It’s not designed to be a meal plan for everybody because we cannot do that. Certainly, some people might need some snacks, other people might not. This is a general leaflet and is only meal suggestions.”

She said the menu was not aimed at a particular family of four with two children aged 13 and 15, but the leaflet does not state this. “We don’t know who the readers are so we put together what we thought were good options right across the board for people and then calorie counted what a serving would be. It’s not a prescriptive plan. It’s really to say you can eat well for under €90 and that these meal suggestions are nutritious and economical.”

Mee said the GDAs were guidelines for average active people, but most Irish people are inactive. “Over 50% of the general population is overweight or obese. It’s really up to the individual to say ‘I want two portions’ or ‘I don’t like the look of that so I won’t have it’, or ‘I really like that suggestion so I might try that with my kids because it is something that I might get them to eat instead of a pizza on Friday night’.

“It’s not to suggest that you follow every meal as a particular regime and manage to come in under €90.”

Tesco said: “The purpose of the Cooking with Cash Savers brochure is to demonstrate to customers that it is possible to make healthy and nutritious meals economically. The guide is intended to give people ideas about how they can eat nutritionally for less, and we do acknowledge that some other supplementary foods would be required for some people.

“This is not designed to be a one-size-fits-all menu meeting everyone’s requirements.”

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