The best meal deal has long been a topic of great debate among Brits but some neutral Americans gave popular supermarket offers a try to determine what the fuss was all about
An American couple tried British supermarket meal deals for the first time – and there were clear winners and losers.
The husband and wife, who run The Magic Geekdom YouTube page, visited Tesco, Sainsbury’s M&S, Waitrose and Boots to try the popular deals that are so often debated by Brits.
Travel enthusiasts Jeremy and Cara enjoyed most of the food they bought but one meal looked “sad” and another was left only half-eaten.
Posting a video on YouTube this week, Cara told their 72,400 subscribers: “We are Americans that have travelled all over the UK but one thing we haven’t done while we are here is try supermarket meal deals and what better place to start than maybe the biggest Sainsbury’s we’ve ever seen.”
Sainsbury’s (£3.75 meal deal)
Cara: Seasonal Brie and Cranberry sandwich. Vegetable samosas. Coconut water.
Jeremy: Chicken shawarma wrap. Cranberry Christmas cracker (or “essentially just a sausage roll” as he put it). Fanta orange.
The duo had never stepped foot inside Sainsbury’s before and they concluded that the £3.75 meal deal price was reasonable.
Commenting on his wrap, Jeremy said: “It looks pretty good. The tortilla pita thing is nice and soft and it has some nice seasoning. There is a little bit of a spicy kick to it on the end. That’s pretty good.”
Giving her own judgement, Cara said: “My sandwich is a little light on the cranberry sauce but overall I really like the combination of the brie and the cranberry and the rocket and I guess mayo. All round nice sandwich. The samosas are good but I don’t know if I would get them again. They leave a little to be desired, especially not being heated.”
Marks & Spencer (£6 meal deal)
Cara: Nutty Super Wholefood salad. Mixed olives and cheddar. Flavoured peach and raspberry water.
Jeremy: Smoked ham and farmhouse cheddar roll. Black truffle and olive oil crisps. Diet Orange Crush.
After a take it or leave it kind of experience in Sainsbury’s for Cara, she was much more impressed by the “fancy” options M&S had.
And commenting on a difference between American and British food, she said: “What I do love about sandwiches in supermarkets here is that they put butter in them. We don’t do that in the US. It is a shame.”
But as for her salad, she said: “This is exactly what I wanted it to be. The ginger soy dressing is so tasty and it gives it that nice Asian flavour. But also it is light and refreshing. It is really nice and I would 100 percent get this again. I haven’t even tried my side but I already think this is a better situation than Sainsbury’s.”
They agreed that the increase in price was “worth it” given the quality of the food. Jeremy meanwhile got a Colin the Caterpillar bar for the first time outside the meal deal and outrageously concluded: “I can tell that it is good quality but I think I am a weirdo and this might be a situation where it is like too chocolatey for me.” Disagreeing, Cara responded: “I don’t know, I find that kind of delicious.”
Tesco (£3.60 meal deal)
Cara: Southern fried chicken wrap. Thai sweet chicken McCoys crisps. Dr Pepper.
Jeremy: Christmas Cracking CurryWurst roll with sausage and onions. Sausage roll side. Dr Pepper.
Tesco is where it all started to go wrong for the couple. Cara was less than impressed after digging into her wrap to find “empty pockets” with no chicken in sight.
But she admitted it was still “really tasty” and paid homage to the red pepper mayo.
Jeremy, however, could not finish his CurryWurst roll, saying the food was “not overly impressive” and he added: “It is not a huge winner for me. It is not bad but I think I have had some other sandwiches from other meal deals and things like that I think are better than this. I would probably skip this if you saw it but it is not terrible.”
Cara meanwhile said her M&S grub was “top notch” and “hard to top” but that her Tesco lunch was equal to what Sainsbury’s had to offer where she said the prices and quality were on par.
Boots (£4.99 meal deal)
Cara: All day breakfast sandwich. Hula Hoops crisps. Naked Blue smoothie.
Jeremy: Turkey sandwich. Max Walkers cheese and onion crisps. Naked Gold Machiner smoothie.
The duo were recommended Boots by fans who suggested it was the best choice.
Both agreed that the food and smoothies were “very nice” and Cara, making another comparison with the States, added: “I got all the all day breakfast. I feel like it is my go to here. It is something that we don’t get in the US, especially we don’t have the sausage that tastes like this in the US.”
Waitrose (£5 meal deal)
Cara: Spiced falafel and feta wrap. Vegetable gyoza with sweet chilli sauce. Iced coffee.
Jeremy: Teriyaki salmon rolls. Chicken katsu bites. Lucozade Sport.
Waitrose was a big hit for Jeremy and Cara with the former praising the meal as being “pretty good for grocery store sushi”.
They also said Waitrose and M&S had more meal deal options as opposed to just sandwiches for a main.
Commenting on her wrap, Cara, unable to resist another dig at Tesco, said: “It seems pretty substantial, the last time I got a wrap at Tesco it seemed kind of sad and this looks like it has more happening.”
She added: “I would say so far M&S is still my favourite but I think this is probably my second favourite. I know it is a little bit more for these meal deals and maybe it wouldn’t be something I would get every day because that £1 or £1.50 could add up quickly but these are really that good and they have the quality factor in their favour.”
Jeremy agreed that £5 was worth it and that M&S deserved to be ranked number one while Waitrose was a close second.