Top chef cooks 30p meals to prove Tory MP’s food claims are ‘a load of rubbish’

Chef Gareth Mason has put recent comments made by Conservative MP Lee Anderson to the test by making a series of meals for just 30p – and says his claims are ‘rubbish’

Conservative MP Lee Anderson sparked fury last week when he claimed that poverty-hit Brits forced to rely on food banks “cannot budget” and “cannot cook properly” as he stated it’s possible to “cook meals from scratch” for as little as “30p a day”.

Now, a top chef has decided to put the MP’s claims to the test – and has found them to be “rubbish”.

Gareth Mason, 34, branded the MP’s comments as “tone deaf” and set about proving him wrong by challenging himself to cook seven basic meals that would fit within the 30p budget, Hull Live reports.

And while it was possible to create a meal within the restrictions, the portion size and nutritional value of the food Gareth served up would see grown adults struggle to meet the recommended allowance of 2,000 calories a day.

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The chef cooked meagre portions of crab stick salad, burgers, spaghetti Napoli, beans on toast, a jacket potato with beans, and a ‘spam fritter’ made from cheap luncheon meat.

He said: “I’ve come to the conclusion it’s a load of rubbish. These meals I’ve done, as soon as you put any protein or dairy into them, it’s not feasible to do it for 30p.

“If you eat beans on toast for every meal, it might work, but even if you did cheese on toast, the cost of cheese would be more than 30p on its own. And you have the cooking cost on top of the cost of the food.

“Even if this MP is talking about batch cooking army food, even the smallest amount of spaghetti Bolognese is going to go above 30p.”

Gareth – who has 19 years of experience as a chef and is currently the head chef at Absolute Bistros in Westhoughton, Lancashire – also insisted that none of the meals he prepared were balanced, and many had high salt, fat, or sugar contents.

After facing backlash for his initial comments, Mr Anderson defended himself by claiming he was trying to “educate people” to make their lives “a little easier”.

But Gareth says that while Mr Anderson’s 30p figure would be possible with batch cooking methods, there aren’t many average people who have the kitchen or storage space needed to make it work.

The chef added: “Has this guy ever eaten a 30p meal in his life? I doubt it. He’s contradicted himself by having chefs cook the food in a big kitchen with an industrial oven. Where does he expect the average person to cook all this food and then freeze it all?

“It takes a trained and experienced chef to work out the precise cost of a meal to the penny like that, how is the average person supposed to do that?”

Gareth previously created 15 days of lunches for a child for just £20, but he believes 30p per meal is far too low a budget for a healthy meal for the average adult.

He explained: “You could just about feed yourself, but it’s not going to be healthy or nutritious or get anywhere near the number of calories an average adult needs to function each day.

“He’s treating people like peasants. Energy prices are going up, people are struggling, the cost of living is on the rise, and what’s their solution? Eat for 30p?

“The cheaper you go, how much rubbish is in the food? It will be full of additives and preservatives and all sorts of junk. It’s not fresh, nutritious food that people need to have a healthy diet.”

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