Get cheap Avios via the Nectar ‘Great Fruit & Veg Challenge’

Yes, we’re in those dead days of August when there isn’t much real news to write about and we find we have too much time on our hands.

Which is how I came to look at the Nectar ‘Great Fruit & Veg Challenge’ and managed to get myself some cheap Avios ….

If you open the Nectar app, you’ll see details of the Sainsbury’s ‘Great Fruit & Veg Challenge’. Running to 17th September, it aims to encourage you to buy more fruit and vegetables.

The challenge works best for people who never buy fruit and vegetables in Sainsbury’s, because you should have very soft targets.

You may, like me, have had a quick look at the challenge and written it off as being too difficult. You may be wrong. It looks trickier than it is.

This is what Rhys and I both have:

• buy 10 portions of fruit and vegetables and get 500 Nectar points

• buy another 10 portions of fruit and vegetables and get 500 Nectar points

• buy another 10 portions of fruit and vegetables and get 500 Nectar points

…. for a total of 1,500 Nectar points.

1,500 Nectar points is worth:

• 938 Avios

• £7.50 to spend in Sainsbury’s or with another Nectar partner

• almost (if you get to 1,600 points) four free coffees in Caffe Nero, worth at least £13

The key point is the definition of ‘portion’

Where I went wrong, when I initially saw this offer, is that I assumed a ‘portion’ was a packet of fruit or vegetables.

It isn’t.

A ‘portion’ is 80g of fruit or vegetables, excluding potatoes. There are some other niche exclusions but the main one is potatoes.

This means that, if your target is 30 portions, you only need to buy 2.5kg of fruit and vegetables.

I popped into the Sainsbury’s Local near our office and they had 500g bags of carrots reduced to 49p from 60p, so I bought five. My wife will be pleased.

Carrots appear to be the best ‘price to weight’ product that isn’t excluded, although this may change depending on what is on offer.

For a total spend of £2.45, I triggered the full 1,500 Nectar points in one go. We also get carrot soup for a couple of days, I suspect. The Nectar IT is surprisingly good and you will have the bonus points in your account within a couple of minutes of leaving the store.

Regular shoppers at Sainsbury’s seem to be getting very high targets, eg 600 portions. However, if you rarely visit, or rarely buy fruit and vegetables when you do, you may well get the ’30 portions for 1,500 Nectar points’ offer that seems to be the baseline.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (July 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.