
A personal trainer has attempted to put Marks & Spencer’s very expensive reputation to bed after buying an entire week’s worth of food for just under 50 quid.
Sergio Alcover, an online fitness coach, regularly posts budget meal prep videos as well as client transformation pics to his Instagram page (@sergioalcover).
Taking to YouTube, the content creator was left ‘pleasantly surprised’ at how his recent M&S food shop only cost him around £9 more than what he spends in Aldi.
“£49 for this shop, which will last me a week. And I’m pleasantly surprised,” he said.
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“Every time I’ve gone into M&S, there’s always been some sort of protein reduced, some sort of carbs reduced. Combined with more expensive stuff like avocados, greek yoghurt or dark chocolate, that sort of balances it out a little bit,” he explained.

Sergio’s M&S food shop includes:
- Bananas (3) – 54p
- Chicken – £6.48 (reduced from £9)
- 5% British Aberdeen Angus mince – £5.47 (reduced from £7.50)
- Mixed peppers – £2.80
- Avocado – £2
- 0% fat Greek yoghurt – £2.50
- Organic sourdough – £1.89
- Pasta – £1.35
- Smooth peanut butter – £2.35
- Tuna – £2.80
- Black beans – 55p
- Dark chocolate – £3
- Lightly salted rice cakes – £1.65
- Grand total for the full shop – £49

Breakfast
For breakfast or snacks, he plans to use the 0% fat Greek yoghurt to make yoghurt bowls - the type of ones you see floating about on your TikTok feed.
He usually likes to add frozen blueberries but couldn’t buy them on this trip because the freezers weren’t working.
Lunch and dinner

His main meals look to centre around protein, carbs and vegetables, particularly different versions of chicken, rice and veg. The ultimate bro diet.
“I’d always do so many different variations of chicken, rice, and veg,” he says, adding that he likes finding ways to make those basic ingredients more enjoyable.
Notably, not every ingredient came from the £49 M&S shop - the jasmine rice was already prepped, and he says he already had oil and seasonings at home.
One meal he always goes to is a Mexican-inspired bowl where he seasons chicken with garlic, smoked paprika, all-purpose seasoning and black pepper before cooking it in an air fryer.
He then combines the chicken with peppers, onions, black beans and jasmine rice, finishing it with avocado and lime.
Sergio also portions his Aberdeen Angus mince into roughly 160–170g servings and freezes them for separate meals later in the week.
“If you want it to, this can last you a week and you can hit your protein goals, or I can at least. And like I said, I’m doing this for me. I could 100% eat just this for a week,” he adds.
“I’ll probably add some extra bits here and there, but that’s not the point of the video. The point of the video is to show that you can actually shop on a budget if you are strict with what you’re selecting.”
Topics: Lifestyle, Health, Food And Drink, Marks and Spencer