Saturday Kitchen star Matt Tebbutt is asking people across the Highlands and Islands to give up one £4 supermarket meal deal and help feed 40 hungry children instead.

The television chef has joined forces with Highland born charity Mary’s Meals for its Meals Deals campaign, turning the familiar sandwich, snack and drink into something capable of travelling much further.

Mary’s Meals says a £4 donation can provide 40 nutritious school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest communities.

The charity began in a shed in the Scottish Highlands in 2002 and now provides meals to more than three million children every school day across 16 countries.

Its model combines food with education by providing meals in places of learning, encouraging children into classrooms where hunger might otherwise keep them away.

Mary’s Meals says it costs £19.15 to provide one child with school meals for an entire academic year, equivalent to around 10p for each meal.

Tebbutt, also known for Food Unwrapped and MasterChef: The Professionals, believes sacrificing something as ordinary as a supermarket lunch makes helping particularly simple.

He said:

“We all have busy lives and it’s so easy to quickly grab a meal deal when we’re on the go, I’ll often seek out my favourite sandwich, crisps and a drink in between cooking and filming.

“But it’s incredible to think that by skipping just one meal deal and instead donating £4, you could help to transform the lives of 40 hungry children by providing them with food, education and hope.

“It’s easy to feel a bit helpless when we watch the news and see everything going on in the world.

“There’s so much sadness out there and you don’t know how to respond.

“But when I heard about the Meals Deals campaign and the simplicity of it, I loved it and had to get involved.

“They have a lovely line of ‘school + food = hope’, and I think that’s something we can all get behind.”

Among the children receiving Mary’s Meals is Samar, a primary school pupil in South Sudan who lives with her mother Medina.

Samar said:

“When my mother has some money, we can have two meals a day.

“However, when there is not enough money, we may only have tea in the morning and then wait until evening to have a meal.

“When there is not enough food at home, I simply endure the situation.”

Her school meal now provides something she knows she can depend upon each day.

She said:

“I feel happy to come to school every day because I know that I will receive a meal.

“Even when I do not have anything to eat at home, I know there will be food at school.”

Tebbutt said Scotland’s generosity made it no surprise that a charity which began so modestly in the Highlands had grown to reach millions of children.

And the proposition behind the campaign remains deliberately simple.

A regular supermarket meal deal gives you a sandwich, snack and drink, but Meals Deals offers so much more.

Could you help to transform a child’s life by swapping a meal deal for a £4 donation to Mary’s Meals?

Help support children like Samar today: www.marysmeals.org.uk/meal-deal