Best Lunchtime "Meal Deal"

[Arglwydd Golau]

I make my own.

Agreed. It's the only way.

 

[ainsworth74]

that is very bad for you. eat your lunch, if only to have a break!

I have a break! No way would I work solidly all the way through the day!

 

[bb21]

For meal deals, Boots simply are the best value on the High Street, especially so with the £1 O2 Priority deals. Co-ops are also good but they are difficult to find in most places.

I don't buy pre-packed sandwiches unless they are in a good deal. Most of them have very little filling and are vastly overpriced. For £3 I can have a massive filled baguette from most independent cafés.

The Spanish place near work does a massive portion of paella for £3.50, more than I could finish for lunch most days. My lunch nowadays swaps between Boots meal deal, paella, home-made sandwiches (which I can get about four portions out of an 800g loaf), and street food.

 

[prod_pep]

Tesco's meal deal is a good one nowadays and it can give quite a saving depending on what you choose. Bought alone, the medium sushi and Naked smoothies are both well over £2 each (I think the smoothie is nearly £3), so you can end up saving £2.50 or more. A couple of their pasta options are quite decent too.

Our old offices were located right next to a Co-Op and I thought I'd miss the place a lot more than I do. Their sandwiches are very good as a rule but I'd rather save the 25p and have a wider selection at Tesco.

As for home made lunch, I try to bring mine in at least three days a week. It's nice to have a bit of variety though and 'splashing out' the odd £3 doesn't do any harm.

 

[Kite159]

Co-Op for me

(Although as I get 10% off helps)

Boots a close second, only beaten really by price.

I tried one of the new Sainsburys sandwiches yesterday and it is pretty much like the "Urban Eats" branch which used to be stocked by WH Smiths.

 

[trainmania100]

Id never survive a day without lunch

 

[Butts]

I have a break! No way would I work solidly all the way through the day!

Perhaps you should have a Kit Kat - normal one not those awful chunky efforts

 

[causton]

Perhaps you should have a Kit Kat - normal one not those awful chunky efforts

You have obviously not tried the Kit Kat Chunky Cookie Dough ones, lush

 

[Crossover]

It's not the same Brie and Grape any more either. Irrelevant on the basis that it's unlikely to be worth £2.50 on its own.

Boots has by far the best meal deal because everything they sell in each category is included, and the range is huge. Triple or specialist sandwiches (although there's a Jamie Oliver premium) and unique snacks such as sushi and cakes are included. I reccomend an Advantage card too, and you can occasionally get a voucher for your next meal deal for £3. However, I often find you can get a better deal than a meal deal. For example, you can often get your hands on a packet of sliced cheese for £1 and a couple of fresh bread rolls for 50p or less. Flavoured water in 1 litre bottles at Tesco, Sainsburys Asda or Co-op is also less than 50p. Elsewhere, a soup at Greggs is very filling and only £1.20, you can get a slice of cheese on toast and a sausage roll, including vegetarian sausage, from Pound Bakery (or 70p each). For nicer drinks, packs of chocolate or multipack crisps (tricky to carry I agree) Poundland is often a good choice. Aldi or Lidl have decent bakery items too that are very cheap indeed. Only this afternoon I was considering a £3.25 meal deal at the Co-op. I eschewed it for a reduced pain as chocholat at 19p and a pack of transform-a-snacks at 30p, then went to Sainsburys and bought a pack of two vegetable samosas for £1. Waitrose can also be excellent for reduced cakes, donughts and pastries in the afternoon. They have a decent range of sandwiches that are under £1.50 too, I think you can have cheese or egg. Egg and Cress is my preference and I think that's slightly more. If you can bear it, most 'local' supermarkets and all medium or large versions still stock rice cakes (or Sainsburys 'corn thins' which come in handy packs of 4) and a tub of cottage cheese. You can then take them home with you. Finally Morrisons is also excellent but frustratingly they closed down M Local. Of the ones that remain, such as the one on Piccadilly Gardens in Central Manchester, the salad bar and hot food counter is highly rateable. Baked potato with cheese and beans for £1.50.

Good point about Pound Bakery and the time we did the bread rolls and cheese in Fort Bill it did actually work quite well!

I'm not sure I have ever heard anything in this context as "highly rateable" though - i think you have been talking to Misters DBT a little much

 

[Clip]

Love the way that this thread always starts off asking which shop has the best meal deal then the self righteous jump in with make your own. I agree its better and cheaper but to stick to the question asked then its got to be the Subway 6 inch and a drink for £3



Or one of each from Greggs'

 

[prod_pep]

Popped into Sainsbury's earlier to have a look at the watered down meal deal and wasn't impressed. The newspapers had implied that just the 'Taste the Difference' sandwiches had been removed from the deal but they've taken a lot more out than those. The baguettes and a number of the larger ordinary sandwiches are no longer in the deal.

Frankly, £3 for a snack, a drink and a cheap sandwich in the egg and cress or cheese and onion mould is appalling value. Sainsbury's has gone from offering one of the best meal deals to the single worst in an instant. I'll stick with Tesco, the Co-Op and Boots from now on.

 

[CC 72100]

especially so with the £1 O2 Priority deals.

*nods in agreement*

The nearest place in the vicinity that participates in 02 priority Monday gets my vote (on a Monday).

I did used to enjoy it before the offer changed, you'd go to WHSmith, then Upper Crust, then Pumpkin - boom, 3 days covered for £3. You'd also tend to follow the same people around the station doing exactly the same

 

[DarloRich]

Love the way that this thread always starts off asking which shop has the best meal deal then the self righteous jump in with make your own. I agree its better and cheaper but to stick to the question asked then its got to be the Subway 6 inch and a drink for £3



Or one of each from Greggs'

whilst i enjoy being self righteous ( ) I felt i had to exclude Greggs as didn't think they did a meal deal.

OBVIOUSLY Greggs is the finest place in the world to fulfill your lard based lunchtime requirements. Now, if only they would sell a stottie down here..............

 

[Darandio]

OBVIOUSLY Greggs is the finest place in the world to fulfill your lard based lunchtime requirements. Now, if only they would sell a stottie down here..............

The Cheese Savoury stottie is something to behold.

Yes, I know it's wrong, a stottie for me should only include bacon, but it is nice.

 

[Bevan Price]

Personally I prefer the smaller outlets rather than supermarkets. Instead of a limited standard range of fillings, you can often get a choice of fillings, with sandwiches made while you watch. Good-sized, good quality filled barm cakes or sandwiches can often be obtained for £2 or less e.g. in several northern markets.

 

[greatkingrat]

It depends how you value your time. Spending an extra 10 minutes every morning making lunch to save a pound is valuing your time at less than minimum wage.

 

[DarloRich]

It depends how you value your time. Spending an extra 10 minutes every morning making lunch to save a pound is valuing your time at less than minimum wage.

surely it depends ho much money you have and whether, or not, you think nearly £800 per year on sandwiches is a sensible spend.

 

[Mojo]

I don't think the Greggs or Subways meal deal is very good, quite a limited range of drinks and also you get no 'snack.'

Sainsburys have been watering down their meal deal for some while, but even before the changes that started on September 4th, I'd have said without the doubt it was the best. They removed some drinks from the offer a couple of months ago. A few weeks later Tesco expanded their offering and added loads more drinks.

I think that the Tesco offering is now my favourite because they have added a lot of drinks. It's still £3 and I quite like their Salads; much better salads I'd say than any other store. Boots would be my second favourite, purely on price grounds because as others have said, it's more expensive.

The new offering in Sainsburys is now one of the worst.

It depends how you value your time. Spending an extra 10 minutes every morning making lunch to save a pound is valuing your time at less than minimum wage.

I don't buy this argument as I don't value my own personal time in terms of a financial cost, however some people are not fortunate enough to be able to make their own lunch and take it to work because they don't have the facilities at work to keep it fresh, so I would agree with the view that you shouldn't be expected to make your own.

 

[ComUtoR]

It depends how you value your time. Spending an extra 10 minutes every morning making lunch to save a pound is valuing your time at less than minimum wage.

I have a 30 minute PNB (break)

If I bring lunch to work it allows me to go straight to the crew room and open up my lunch and eat. If I have to go buy my lunch from Boots et. al then I have to factor in me walking to the shop, choosing lunch, queueing up, paying, going back to the crew room and then eating lunch.

It often take longer than 10 minutes to go buy my lunch

 

[dgl]

A mixture of one stop and morrisons for me. The local one stop has loads of locally produced sandwiches included and has a really wide range of snacks/drinks too.

Morrisons had the advantage that some stores have a hot cabinet that is included as well and being able to have a medium salad is good. Also like the strawberries and cream snack option, something I have not seen before.

Sent from my Lumia 625 using Tapatalk

 

[richw]

.

The new offering in Sainsburys is now one of the worst.
.

Whilst the deal only includes basic flavours, the non deal stuff is without question the best quality in my opinion. I had a sainsburys chicken fajita wrap yesterday, it had more filling and better flavour than any other pre packed fajita wrap lunch product from any supermarket.

I bought a 1litre sparking flavoured water (50p) and 1 loose banana (10p) added to the £2.20 for the wrap. So for £2.80 I got in my opinion better choice than the £3 deal offered, and for 20p less. Let's look beyond what's marketed as a deal and the wider picture the deal may not be such a deal.

A loose piece of fruit is 10-20p by weight. A 2 litre bottle of lemonade is cheaper than a 500ml bottle that came in the meal deal (40p roughly for a mid range own brand 2litre lemonade)
I used to buy a meal deal because the marketing suggested it was a deal, without the deal I can customise more to my own taste and it's actually cheaper!

 

[Kite159]

I suspect Sainsburys might introduce a "premium" meal deal to include some of the items they have removed, probably at a £4 price point.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Used to quite like Sainsbury's, however they always seemed to run out of stock rather quickly, and obviously with the recent changes it isn't worth bothering with. These days I go for Boots (though I've noticed the price limit increases at some station outlets, Euston is £3.79 IIRC) if I can, or you can't really go wrong with Tesco. I've also not yet see anyone mention Pound Bakery's £2 offer: not the most filling or comprehensive, but certainly good if there's nothing else about.

As a Northerner I believe this comment counts as treason but I don't care for Greggs at all, rather expensive and the food isn't that amazing.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I dont rush to greegs iether, in fact Id say it was my last choice when theres not really anything else.

 

[DarloRich]

I suspect Sainsburys might introduce a "premium" meal deal to include some of the items they have removed, probably at a £4 price point.

similar to the M&S one?

 

[Kite159]

similar to the M&S one?

I was thinking similar to the "Jamie Oliver" deal in Boots or the premium offering in some WH smiths.

 

[Mojo]

I've also not yet see anyone mention Pound Bakery's £2 offer: not the most filling or comprehensive, but certainly good if there's nothing else about.

Ah yes that one is really excellent! Think it was with you last time I had one?

Sandwich, crisps, cookie AND a drink for £2

 

[Crossover]

Whilst the deal only includes basic flavours, the non deal stuff is without question the best quality in my opinion. I had a sainsburys chicken fajita wrap yesterday, it had more filling and better flavour than any other pre packed fajita wrap lunch product from any supermarket.

I bought a 1litre sparking flavoured water (50p) and 1 loose banana (10p) added to the £2.20 for the wrap. So for £2.80 I got in my opinion better choice than the £3 deal offered, and for 20p less. Let's look beyond what's marketed as a deal and the wider picture the deal may not be such a deal.

A loose piece of fruit is 10-20p by weight. A 2 litre bottle of lemonade is cheaper than a 500ml bottle that came in the meal deal (40p roughly for a mid range own brand 2litre lemonade)
I used to buy a meal deal because the marketing suggested it was a deal, without the deal I can customise more to my own taste and it's actually cheaper!

I was kind of thinking that when someone mentioned the apparent saving at Boots. Prices can of course be inflated to be discounted...

Ah yes that one is really excellent! Think it was with you last time I had one?

Sandwich, crisps, cookie AND a drink for £2

Aye, probably Llandudno!

 

[Starmill]

I was kind of thinking that when someone mentioned the apparent saving at Boots. Prices can of course be inflated to be discounted...

I bought a 330ml drink at Boots the other day that would have cost £2.75 by itself. I wonder who would actually pay that much for it though!

The problem is a 2l bottle, especially of something carbonated, is really not that great to have with your lunch.

In the height of summer I don't even carry 2l of water at a time. It is frustrating that it is so often much cheaper.

I'm for some reason reminded of someone I know who once, upon arriving at their British holiday town, bought 2 2l bottles of water because they were on offer at 2 for £1, and it was thought that one wasn't to drink the tap water

 

[causton]

I dont rush to greegs iether, in fact Id say it was my last choice when theres not really anything else.

I do like the Greggs baguettes but the mayo (last one I had was a prawn mayo) gets all over the bag as it has been inevitably squashed at one point and coats everything in a 5 mile radius when you try to get the baguette out!