How to get an extra £18 to spend on your food shop

A popular supermarket has launched a scheme to give customers an extra £3 a week to spend on their food shop in the run-up to Christmas.

Sainsbury’s is offering eligible Healthy Start customers £3 vouchers every week for six weeks, meaning a potential saving of £18.

The money can be spent on fruit, vegetables and pulses in a bid to get the nation eating more fibre and healthy food.

But not everyone can apply. Healthy Start is a government scheme that helps eligible pregnant women and families with children under four pay for healthy food and milk.

Who can get the extra money?

The scheme which provides a nutritional safety net to disadvantaged families is available to low-income households in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NHS Healthy Start supports families with young children to buy more healthy food through a free prepaid Healthy Start card that is automatically topped up with money every four weeks.

Those on Universal Credit, have a take home pay of less than £408 and who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under 4-years-old can apply for the NHS scheme.

To get the extra £3 a week customers on the scheme must have used their Healthy Start Mastercard and Nectar card together in the same Sainsbury’s transaction between 20 October 2025 and 20 October 2026.

How to register for the healthy start scheme

The money won’t automatically be added to existing Healthy Start cards, so customers need to register for the offer on the Sainsbury’s website by midnight on Monday 9 November.

Each week the £3 eGift Cards will be sent by email for six weeks starting from 18 November.

But each £3 gift card must be used within seven days of receiving it, meaning customers can’t save up the vouchers for a big Christmas food shop.

What can you spend the money on?

The gift card can be spent on fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses, including fresh, frozen, tinned and dried products.

The vouchers can be used in Sainsbury’s stores or online.

“It's great to see Sainsbury's adding such a generous top up to Healthy Start, and being the first mover in what we hope will be industry wide support to those on the scheme,” Anna Taylor, Executive Director, The Food Foundation, said.

“This scheme reaches the most disadvantaged babies and toddlers in the country - and provides a vital nutritional safety net - but too many miss out on its benefits currently which is why we think the scheme should be urgently expanded.”