When you’re at work, sometimes your lunch hour is what you live for. It divides up your day and often gets you out the office. A breath of fresh air and grabbing a sandwich from the shop can be the highlight of the day. How much are you spending on meal deals every day? Every week? How about every month? Let’s look at how to get cheap meal deals instead of paying pricey pounds.
The Meal Deal
Let’s take Tesco as an example, somewhere I used to visit when I worked in the corporate world. It was just round the corner from the office, far enough to relax on a walk but close enough to get back should I need to crack on. For £3 you can get a sandwich, sub, pasty or salad + a snack + a drink. This includes brands such as Walkers and Pepsi. Sainsbury’s do something similar for the same price. I haven’t noticed that sometimes certain sandwiches aren’t included in the meal deal. This was annoying at Christmas when I went into Sainbury’s wanting a meal deal when I was doing a craft fair stall. The festive sandwiches weren’t included in the meal deal, so I got something else instead to keep the price down.
Meal Deal Alternatives
A while ago when I was going to a meeting to film some videos, the building I was going to was next to an Aldi. Well, just across the road, a short walk should we say. I had half an hour to spare and needed some food so went into the shop and made my own which is when I came up with the idea of cheap meal deals. There are so many shops that don’t do meal deals, so making your own, with things you actually want to eat is ideal. Aldi have sandwiches for about £1. I then opted for a bottle of fizzy flavoured water for about 35p. I finished things of with a tube of Pringles-esqe stacking crisps for 80p. So for under £2.50, I got a full stomach of tasty food. With leftover drink for during the meeting and some crisps for the way home.
Try Something New
Not sticking to the list of meal deal labelled items frees you up to try new things. Fizzy water comes in a variety of flavours, often contains less sugar than branded soft drinks and you get more for your money. Bigger bottles, cheaper prices! Maybe you fancy some sushi instead of a sandwich on a Tuesday. Budget supermarkets like Lidl sell a decent sized packet of delicious sushi for between £1 and £1.50. You could take advantage of offers on fruit. Maybe a pack of apples which you can snack on at your desk throughout the rest of the week, or a punnet of blueberries to ensure you’re getting one of your five a day!
Peckish?
Another meal deal alternative I spotted was Domino’s Pizza. Our local ones offer a personal pizza for £1.99. They also do 99p coffee. So for less than the price of a supermarket meal deal you can get a tasty pizza and hot drink to warm you up. Perfect for during the winter months! Maybe you could head to a local independent shop once a week? There’s a place near us that make their own scotch eggs. Much better than a packaged sandwich made by supermarket factory machines! Of course, you could always use leftovers from home too! Get tasty and create your own cheap meal deals. Let me know your favourite lunchtime hacks over on Instagram.
