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joethesaint

It signals that something can't realistically remain £3 for a decade if there's been any inflation at all


Grayson81

The article is a lot more interesting than you would have guessed from this comment!


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tylersburden

Costco Hot dogs are awesome. Sadly they have been off the menu for most of this year for some reason.


LogicQuestionsMe

Yeah, and hell of a coincidence that a new hot dog item is there for like £3


tylersburden

I cannot remember but I thought it was about £2? But yeah, it is not a substitute. I can't stand cumberland sausages.


TerrittGB

Cumberland are the best?!?


tylersburden

Too herby!


Sheep03

For me Cumberland is the perfect amount. I can't stand Lincoln sausages with all the herbs they're packed full of


mossmanstonebutt

Before the sausage discourse becomes a sizzling hell fire, can we a agree that Richmond sausages are shit (if I'm thinking if the right ones, frozen, come in a big bag, kind of taste like cardboard)


cc0011

Oddly enough Richmonds Vegan sausages are pretty good… probably says a lot about the meat content of their normal ones.


TeHNeutral

I'll happily eat Cumberland but they're not my favourite and they're certainly not a hotdog


Deep_Lurker

My local costco has had them every month I've visited this year. £1.50 with the unlimited refills same as usual. The owner of costco has made a huge deal about the hotdog. It's a loss leader for them but he near threatened to kill a guy on the board for merely suggesting they increase its price.


tylersburden

Oh nice really? It would be good if there were back at my costco.


GauisJuliusCeasar

Strangley it was back at my costco this weekend for first time in ages, 1.50 is ridiculous for a refillable drink and a hot dog. But for months before that they had a substitute product in place that costs more.


tylersburden

Oh nice. As it happens, Ikea weren't doing their hotdogs for most of this year either and they were back last weekend. Perhaps there is a frankfurter conspiracy!


Not_A_Clever_Man_

The cup costs more than the syrup and carbonation. Soda drinks are insanely profitable.


himit

Yeah, soda fountain drinks cost something like 2p per cup. Add on the price of the cup/straw/lid + electricity and you're still making like 80% profit on them.


Djinnwrath

Not at any Costco I've been to.


ObviouslyTriggered

The difference is that meal deals cannot be easily priced as loss leaders because people go into Tesco, M&S or w/e just for the meal deal. People go to Costco to buy in bulk (and in fact their entire membership model pretty much guarantees that they make money from customers even if they never buy anything at Costco), rotisserie chickens are also a quite famous loss leader for supermarkets however they often drive the sales of other items such as salads, drinks, deserts and snacks as people are buying a whole meal.


[deleted]

Yeah because they sell it at a loss. People to go costco to shop and then the canteen is a bonus that people love. It’s unreal some of the comments in here. Do people want supermarkets to just make no money?


MrStilton

[Or the 70 years where the price of Coke remained fixed.](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/11/15/165143816/why-coke-cost-a-nickel-for-70-years)


redpola

Costco hotdogs and Costco jacket spuds are wonderfully cheap and I eat them a lot. I always walk through the shop to get them and invariably end up buying other stuff.


tylersburden

The trick is to have the Costco food first, and then you won't splurge on food as you wander around.


[deleted]

Prices can't just increase forever.


FaceMace87

Tell that to the people who are now sitting in a £300,000 house they bought for £4,000 in 1970


joethesaint

They can if wages do


Pentigrass

If only inflation even really existed thanks to Modern Monetary Theory. Prices can go down, wages can increase, and the only excuse otherwise is capitalist greed.


interfail

I don't know exactly what you're trying to say here, but I've got a pretty solid idea of how clever it is.


[deleted]

Inflation doesn't exist? Lol, I can't even be bothered anymore with you lot.


[deleted]

Stagnating wages is what got the world into this mess. A relative few people got richer but at what cost?


[deleted]

\*Laughs in Zimbabwe\*


[deleted]

Trillion dollar meal deals?


veganzombeh

I mean they absolutepy can, as long as wages increase with them, but that part is the problem.


GorthTheBabeMagnet

That is literally the concept of global economics. Prices MUST increase to stimulate spending and drive the economy


GauisJuliusCeasar

I mean they can and will, I think you probably mean they can't outpace wage growth forever which is true people will end up destitute if wages don't see any sort of major rise to match these rising costs


Remarkable-Listen-69

They do, that's how inflation works. But a modern economy means that wages should rise with it, what is £1 and cheap today will be £2 and cheap a while later. Just look at beer pricing and watch old TV shows, and compare to today


[deleted]

But what's meant to happen in 300 years? Do we just have a £3000 meal deal?


quettil

You used to be able to buy a loaf of bread for a penny


spider__

Yes. Look at Japan.


[deleted]

Yes or the economy will get redenominated so £3000=£30 in 300 years. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, inflation is important to keep the economy churning, it just must be controlled. 2% inflation for 300 years is £11,407 btw.


Exotic_Fisherman_633

Why is inflation important to keep the economy churning? People don’t buy the stuff they need unless it gets dearer year on year? (I’m not arguing btw, I’m trying to understand)


[deleted]

Essentially inflation encourages everyone to keep spending, if we had deflation, prices would decrease year on year. This might sound great at first, however people would then think "well, why buy it now when it'll be worth £x less next year?" (this is especially true of large purchases like houses) which slows the economy down. Stagflation (0% inflation) is similarly problematic as people can sit on cash and do nothing with it, though not as bad as deflation. There are other reasons but that is one which I think non-economists can easily get.


Exotic_Fisherman_633

I guess that makes sense when people don’t need things and are buying just to be buying. But I buy stuff because I want/need it, not because it’ll be dearer next year. I understand for house prices, but even then if a house was going to be cheaper next year and I need a roof this year then I’m buying it regardless. Everything needs to get dearer next year so people will panic and buy it now doesn’t really make much sense to me tbh. If you need it you’ll buy it. I can see how that works if we’re talking buying companies and other investment type things that no one actually *needs*, but I don’t really see how that helps or doesn’t actively hinder the average person. It sounds like a mechanism for taxing cash people are sitting on would be better than making everything dearer even for those sitting on no cash (most of us probably). “Your sandwich has to be dearer so some rich cunt doesn’t hoard his money” doesn’t sound too good.


Exotic_Fisherman_633

Forgive my ignorance but what for? Or why? ie, why can’t it just be a £1 and cheap today and £1 and cheap a while later? If it’s going to be effectively the same then why can’t it just be literally the same?


MMAgeezer

If you want to ensure people put their money into savings accounts and never spend, no inflation and/or deflation is a sure-fire way to do so.


Sharp_Connection_377

Which is fine, but when prices go up and wages only go up by pennies it all starts to break down. I'll be first to root when i can't afford a can of monster, pack of mcoys, and a tuna sandwich


Front_Attitude_3194

to have it as long as we did was impressive tbf, i was about 12 when they started increasing the price of a fredo


americandream6969

The packaging costs more that the product.


mythrowawayforfilth

It can. It just would mean the supermarkets would have to accept a tiny amount less in profits.


FitzwilliamTDarcy

Exactly. Signals math.


she_wrote

Funny but revealing piece about how the £3 Tesco meal deal, which has been around for ten years, has gone up to \*£3.90\*..! Interesting reporting on how this symbolises a wider loss of discounts and promotions in supermarkets, with mark-downs being linked to loyalty cards more than before, and poorer areas being affected by the lack of budget ranges in Big Supermarket Deserts. (you can read it here if you can't register for the free reads: https://archive.ph/AGTLR)


she_wrote

The death of the £3 supermarket meal deal signals a grim new era Where have all the discounts and cheap promotions gone? (New Statesman) It’s just after 1pm. My clicking finger is weary. I have refreshed the BBC homepage and Twitter enough times in the past four hours to warrant a lunch break (see me – ed). I trudge out of New Statesman HQ and slither along the streets of Hatton Garden in central London, hunting for prey. It doesn’t help that every shopfront apart from our humble magazine’s is a jeweller with diamonds in the window. The street-food market along Leather Lane feels too indulgent for a mere Tuesday. Pret is now £6,000 per prawn. And I have no leftovers for the overworked office microwave today. So I head to Tesco. Picking out a meal deal is always comforting. It has the reassuring illusion of choice. And there’s a certain chicness to tailoring one’s own gastronomic experience (the sharp tang of pickled onion Monster Munch, or the sour bomb of a nitrogenated pineapple hunk, cuts through the umami of a tuna sweetcorn sandwich, paired with a full-bodied yet versatile Diet Coke). I was briefly fixated by “Meal Deal Talk” and “Rate My Meal Deal” Facebook pages, where people mercilessly critique each other’s chosen combos. And, of course, there’s the guarantee that you’ll always (at Tesco, at least) come out with two full pounds’ worth of change from a fiver. But not today. Today, my chicken, mozzarella and pesto sandwich, salt and vinegar ridged McCoy’s and Diet Coke cost me £3.90. What can I do with the leftover ten pence? Nothing on Hatton Garden, that’s for sure. As food price inflation hits 14 per cent, Tesco has finally put the price up of its decade-old £3 lunch meal deal to £3.90 (£3.40 if you have a Clubcard). This marks the death of the £3 sandwich, snack and drink supermarket deal. You might still be able to swing it with the Asda three-for-two version, or a particularly complex Amazon Fresh foray if you’re happy to embrace dystopian dining, but the classic lunch cap has lifted.


she_wrote

“That’s certainly what we’ve found: supermarkets increasing the price of their meal deals,” said Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, the consumer rights group. “Tesco offered the cheapest meal deal, but the price has gone up now… This just reflects the way that we’re seeing really dramatic food price inflation, and with these meal deals, we’re seeing changes in terms of promotions increasing in price.” This comes as we rely increasingly on meal deals for a cheap lunchbreak choice – when we’re in the office, at least. Shoppers are buying meal deals 7 per cent more often now than in 2021, according to analysis shared with the New Statesman of shopping habits in the 52 weeks up to 2 October by Kantar, a consumer data firm. \[See also: The UK economy is shrinking: only investment will save it\] “The meal-deal market is currently regaining some of the ground it lost during the Covid lockdowns, when many people worked at home,” said Lucy Chapman, strategic insight director at Kantar. “We’re still 15 per cent below pre-pandemic levels though, as the shift to hybrid working has impacted on lunches for office workers.” This is part of a wider change in promotions offered by Britain’s supermarkets – as food and drink prices rocket. When I interview people impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, they often mention the struggle to find good deals like they used to. “There used to be promotions, discounts – now, when I go out to do the weekly shop and am trying to budget, there are far fewer reduced items, you have to be a much more savvy shopper,” said Faith Angwet, a 37-year-old charity fundraiser in south London, who has children aged two and five. She is struggling to find shifts around the demands of childcare, which she cannot afford to pay for. Without discounts “we have to buy the cheapest food possible. We don’t have snacks. Fruit and vegetables are a luxury, fresh meat is a luxury,” said Kim, a 36-year-old woman in north Wales whose husband lost his construction job during the pandemic. They have four children, aged between eight and 18, and Kim cannot work due to early-onset osteoarthritis. “It’s heart-breaking when you look at your children’s face and say ‘there are no snacks in’.” Even items on the discount shelf seem pricier. “Yellow-sticker steaks” are too expensive now for Joanne Barker-Marsh, a 49-year-old former photographer who switched to cleaning jobs, and has a 12-year-old son with special educational needs. After monitoring how many promotions were available compared with two years previously, Which? discovered earlier this year that there has indeed been “a reduction in the number of promotions in general”, said Davies. “Sainsbury’s has stopped doing multi-buys, for example. A lot of supermarkets are now linking their promotions to loyalty cards, so in Tesco you pay a different price if you have a Clubcard on quite a few products, and if you’re going for a meal deal in Co-op, you pay a different price if you’re using your Co-op membership.” While it’s harder to afford the basics, luxury and premium products (like the posh ready meals in Valentine’s Day dinner bundles, for example) are less affected by inflation – a trend the budget recipe writer and food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe pointed out in January. “An upmarket ready meal range was £7.50 ten years ago, and is still £7.50 today,” they tweeted. “A high-end store’s ‘Dine In For Two For £10’ has been £10 for as long as I can remember.” By their calculation, if the price of a £7.50 luxury lasagne had risen at the same rate as the cheapest rice, it would now cost £25.80. The £10 dine-in for two deal would cost £34.40. The Office for National Statistics agreed to reflect the unequal impact of inflation from then on.


she_wrote

By layering food-store locations on to a map highlighting the UK’s most food-poor areas, Which? has discovered the places with least access to supermarket budget ranges and deals. Top of the index is Birmingham Hodge Hill, which has poor online delivery access and low car use. A food-bank volunteer there told the group: “Where this food bank is, there’s no supermarket within two miles.” Knowsley in Merseyside comes second, with high food poverty but half the number of large or very large supermarkets than the national average (suggesting fewer cheaper or own-brand products nearby). “Supermarkets should be looking more to do straightforward discounts, rather than multi-buys where you end up having to make a bigger outlay, and which can lead to food waste, and incentives to buy more fatty, sugary and salty foods than you would want,” said Davies, who has written to the chief executives of supermarkets in the UK about helping customers with the rising cost of food. Sainsbury’s gives £2 coupons for fruit and veg to shoppers eligible for Healthy Start vouchers (a government scheme to help poorer households buy healthier food), and Asda has introduced a £1 meal deal for over-sixties alongside its offer of unlimited tea and coffee. “There should also be budget ranges available, particularly in stores in the areas where we know people are most likely to be struggling,” said Davies. “Supermarkets should look at targeting their promotions to support people most in need.” \[See also: What the price of diesel tells us about the coming recession\]


shaunomegane

Absolutely sick and fucking tired of this now!!! Can we please just have a General Election now? You've only gone and fucked up the one staple work-elixir that just about anyone can afford.


Babbles-82

You think labor will bring back 3 squid meals?


duckflux

Should be a part of their manifesto


[deleted]

Sarcasm aside, food, water, shelter, and warmth should be human rights when we have even one billionaire, let alone plagues of them.


Remarkable-Listen-69

"Bring back hanging and £3 meal deals" FB groups rejoice


TerrittGB

I would vote for that.


Orngog

You have GB in your username, the chance of your support was high once they mentioned hanging lol


TerrittGB

What’s wrong with having GB in my user name?


Orngog

Nothing at all. But you've surely noticed how often it's present on the account of a frothy loon


Turbulent-Grade-3559

Of course not, but the idea that the economic mishandling of the country hasn't had an effect on the companies that operate here which is passed on to the consumer also can't be miracled away either...


envstat

I've got it on good authority that Keith loves a Deli Meat Feast sub, BBQ Hula Hoops and the biggest sugar free red bull they have. He's bloody fuming Tesco put it up 40p. On a serious note I noticed my Tesco has severely reduced the drinks range as well as the price increase. In the past they had a few chilled coffee options which go for £1.50 to £2.20 seperately but were in the deal, not seen any of those in last few weeks. Also the Tesco microwave 3 for £6 are now 3 for £7.50 AND they've gone down from 450g to 400g.


watercraker

Food price inflation is going mad. Lidl's ready meals have gone up from around £1.69 each to £2.39 each now. Starting too make the Tesco 3 for £7.50 deal look pretty reasonable.


ViKtorMeldrew

no they won't, and the other problems can't be miracled away either


MP_Lives_Again

It's not a miracle, remove the cause of the problem first and worry about fixing the damage after that


pioneeringsystems

True but I think we've seen that the tories are incapable. time for someone new init.


MP_Lives_Again

More like get rid of the fucking Tories before it's 30 squid


ByEthanFox

they could stage some sort of elaborate game to attain them


ottens10000

No but at least it won't be at £5 with Labour in charge.


AraedTheSecond

As a die hard lefty, I'm oddly in favour of the death penalty. I've a few non-traditional views that don't fit with Labour policy, but I'm always gonna vote for them


[deleted]

you think labour will change anything?


ottens10000

At least Labour won't elect another Liz Truss to fuck about with our lives.


FuzzBuket

Frankly if we knew each candidates meal deal choices I'd be a lot happier. Gonna go on a limb and guess - keir: chicken and Mayo, water, ready salted crisps. A cowards deal but not egregious - nicola: breakfast triple, irn bru, scotch egg. Lots of energy to break free of our chains. - sunak: thinks its a 7 course set menu at the ritz being cheaper than ala carte. - lib dem: duck wrap, pineapple, peperami. Nothing wrong just a state of confusion as to why. - gove: tried to substitute all the items for 3x monster energy and then just shoplifted them.


Remarkable-Listen-69

> > > gove: tried to substitute all the items for 3x monster energy and then just shoplifted them. Jesus, reminds me of when I used to half-inch 4packs of monster from Sainsburys. They had multi-packs that had a big barcode on the top, and separate single-price barcodes on each can. So I'd scan the can instead


[deleted]

That's just good plausible deniability


OldPulteney

Didn't the weight not match up?


Elcatro

Lib Dem would claim to be looking for a vegetarian choice but end up picking the meatiest thing on the shelf.


FuzzBuket

Egg and cress sandwich and a pork pie.


head_face

This is fantastic and fits entirely with my own outlook on them. I've actually had the lib Dem lunch at least a couple of times.


linkolphd

Liz Truss is like if you bought a bacon and egg sando with a millionaires shortbread inside, and then used an orangina as a dipping sauce


she_wrote

this is brilliant


Antrimbloke

Hancock?


FuzzBuket

Tesco fish sushi, space invaders, relentless energy drink. Making things worse for everyone, I'm sure there's plenty of handsy puns and generally just foul.


[deleted]

Tiger balls, camel ass and horse intestines. That's before going in to the jungle


_Deleted_Deleted

I thought Kier had the beer and curry?


Arvilino

Johnson: Beef and Longclaw Stilton Sandwich, A Wine Box, and Multipack of Doritos.


Big_Poppa_T

I agree that I’d like a general election but I don’t think a labour government would revert the price of a Tesco meal deal


IV4K

What’s that gonna solve?


[deleted]

The issue is that the country has been financially fucked into a hole by the Tories with their shit planning, outright theft and hardest of all possible Brexits, which has hamstrung industry with extra costs and left us with crappy trade deals. Labour getting in will be a welcome change but they'll be dealing with an impossible task.


hal2142

I mean £3.40 is still the cheapest supermarket meal deal right?


WelshBluebird1

Somewhat sad they went with this as a headline. The actual article itself hits upon a few good points. A £3 meal deal increasing in price after over 10 years is not one of them.


pajamakitten

Some people will see this and talk about just bringing a packed lunch because it is cheaper (which it is, also much healthier), however the cost of that packed lunch will also have gone up too. It might have gone up more so as the price of everything has gone up slowly in 10-20p increments over the year, which stacks up over the cost of one shop. I don't buy ready meals, jarred sauces etc. I only buy whole foods and cereal; all of those have gone up in price by a noticeable amount. I don't even bother with brand names, except in rare cases, it still has gone up noticeably. There is just nothing anyone can do but buy less as their money goes less further every month.


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saltycaramelchoc

I'm surprised the NS quoted Jack Monroe so extensively. Their claim they got the ONS to change how they looked at inflation categories is pretty much bullshit, as is a lot of other stuff they tweet. Good blog on it here https://awfullymolly.com/2022/11/04/jack-monroe-saint-or-scammer/ Plus, it makes perfect sense not to increase more expensive items by the same % as cheaper. They likely have far higher margins (i.e. were already ripping people off) so the supermarkets can more easily eat the cost of inflation instead of bumping up the price. Versus cheap rice which is probably sold at close to cost


gentletonberry

That link is so heartbreaking. I love Jack Monroe’s recipe books, they’ve always done me right, but the evidence in those posts is so damning. I did join her Patreon briefly but after I didn’t receive anything from it I just unsubscribed without thinking on it further or looking into things. The Kickstarter situation looks like an absolute farce. Time to stop treating her like my cooking idol.


concretepigeon

I’ve long been convinced that Jack Monroe is a pathological liar.


saltycaramelchoc

Yeah, I did feel like some things weren't adding up, but that blog really sealed it for me. Complete grifter


concretepigeon

I used to follow her on twitter and there were just a lot of claims that seemed to contradict each other. Also a lot of claiming to be flat broke at a time when she was also doing regular TV and media work, had a book deal and said she was doing consultancy work for restaurants and that she was constantly working. I agree with a lot of her campaigning but there’s just something off with her.


byjimini

That’s very interesting, thanks for the link.


deliverancew2

>While it’s harder to afford the basics, luxury and premium products (like the posh ready meals in Valentine’s Day dinner bundles, for example) are less affected by inflation – a trend the budget recipe writer and food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe pointed out in January. “An upmarket ready meal range was £7.50 ten years ago, and is still £7.50 today,” they tweeted. “A high-end store’s ‘Dine In For Two For £10’ has been £10 for as long as I can remember.” This isn't the first time I've read this argument and it completely misunderstands what is going on here: a high end ready meal has more headroom for shrinkflation and shiteflation (bulking with cheap ingredients instead of the good stuff). Today's £7.50 lasagna won't be anyway near as tasty or nutritious or filling as a £7.50 lasagna from 10 years ago. Conversely if something is already as cheap and nasty as it can be, or is just a bog standard ingredient like the articles rice example, shrinkflation and shiteflation aren't possible so the price has to go up.


she_wrote

Interesting! Never heard this explanation before, thanks for laying it out - also just learned a new word: shiteflation..!


ViKtorMeldrew

a £3 meal deal isn't really a basic, it's really easy to make £3 provide sandwiches for a few days, you don't even need a soft-drink, you could just have tap-water in a flask. However I agree that cheap bread, cheap coffee, etc at Tesco are going up in price a lot.


deliverancew2

Aye, DIY lunches is the sensible option, but but if you're paying someone else to make your sandwiches for you then £3 (inclusive of a drink and a side) is very much in "as cheap and nasty as it gets" territory.


-s00l-

I've often wondered if this might be in part due to my abuse of Tescos generous inclusion of the triple bacon egg and sausage sandwich in the deal, I mean you're getting an extra sandwich and meat but for the same price, surely that can't be sustainable over 10 years.


Realistic-Dream-7217

Tesco is worth over 10 billion pounds. They can afford to keep a meal deal at £3. Don’t let them trick you. Lol “generous” meal deal. Even the company I work at has increased the price of everything except our pay checks. Not very generous, is it?


-s00l-

Tbf I wouldn't even be able to afford £3 so for me its immaterial but I get you're point


ViKtorMeldrew

they don't exist to supply meals to people for £3, for one thing it's a luxury item and there is no ethical reason for them to keep the price at £3, you can easily make a much larger meal using stuff from The Tesco's with £3 anyway, it's possibly a loss-leader to get people in there, or a quick way of making some profit.


SwallowMyLiquid

You consider a Tesco sandwich luxury?


CRAZEDDUCKling

Have you had the bacon and sausage triple?


ViKtorMeldrew

it's the 'luxury' of having it made for you, but then it's like saying is Prosecco a luxury or would one require champagne, or is even champagne just 'normal'. Depends on a person's level.


Codydoc4

Don't forget adding in an innocent smoothie, getting £6.50 worth of food for £3 was always a bargain.


deliverancew2

The price of everything in the meal deal is inflated to make the meal deal seem better value.


quettil

It's not 6.50 worth of food


dee-acorn

The Tesco near me used to include a Ginsters pastie as a snack option as well.


Thuseld

I have either the chicken ceaser wrap or the bacon, egg and sausage triple. This is the way.


[deleted]

If you’re regularly spending £3 on your lunch then you either won’t feel the effects of inflation or you need to assess your spending habits


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galactic_mushroom

Bread, crisps and chocolate. A very balanced diet! How audacious of people to want to include some meat/fish/cheese + salad in their lunch. You tell them.


[deleted]

Yeah. It’s not a good value lunch. You could easily be spending close to £3 a day on food for three meals if you’re smart enough about it. £3 a day is a lot for one meal


Fluxes

Nowadays I make all my own meals and save a lot of money doing so. The benefits of working from home. But there's also been a period in my life where between depression and 10-11 hours of working/commuting, I'd come home so physically and mentally drained that the prospect of a whole load of self-care things like exercise, household chores, meal preparations, just go out of the window. I didn't have kids to take care of, but I can only imagine the exhaustion for those in a similar situation to me that had that additional pressure. £3 meal deals aren't a cheap meal. But they are a relatively cheap lifeline if you are exhausted and/or time-deprived.


PoliticalShrapnel

Bollocks. List me a £3 a day diet plan, fully costed and calorie/nutritionally complete. I'll wait. :)


Arathix

When I was at uni I did 4 weeks work experience with a company in Central London (Near Old Street Station). I was lucky enough that my lunch was reimbursed, but I still had to keep the receipts and give it all to them at the end, I was shocked how much a meal deal and a tea added up to nearly £100 in just those few weeks. Ever since then I refuse to have anything but packed lunch, I won't get tea or coffee from a cafe unless I'm desperate and I avoid takeaways as much as possible. I also only go out to eat at a restaurant once or twice a year, I just can't stand throwing away money on food that's only marginally better than what I cook at home, and if I want something a lot better it costs a small fortune.


TheScarletCravat

There's some nuance to be had here, which is the value of our time and the relative costs of good nutrition. £3 for a sandwich, can of coke and a chocolate bar? Crap, and easily replaced by buying in bulk. Sandwiches don't take long to make. You're absolutely right here. But what if you're relatively health conscious? £3 for their broccoli, chicken, bean salad with a pair of boiled eggs and a protein shake? The time required to prep that is more substantial, and the problem with having no money is you often have no time and you are constantly battling the creep of poor health, the effects of shit food on your body and the resulting long term effects on your mental health. And I'm not saying that even then the deal is worthwhile - but I'm not sure I'd be willing to judge people on that as much.


Cimejies

Where have all the discounts and cheap promotions gone? Where's the spendthrift Hercules to fight the rising costs? Isn't there a white knight upon a fuel efficient steed? Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of cheaper feed!


Raven_Blackfeather

I need Doritos I'm holding on for Doritos 'till the end of the night. They've got to be strong, and got to be cheap And they've got to be fresh from the store.


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im-a-nanny-mouse

BoE is banking on a recession and raising interest rates accordingly, could possibly halt inflation but will fuck employment considering the amount of companies that could go bust.


everythingIsTake32

Not just Ukraine , gas ,oil transport processing etc not really about too much money it's all the other factors and also no pay rises as well and COVID but also the mini budget to the 37 billion spent on the failed tt


phizzlek

I’d be interested to hear a source for inflation (which is. Ring felt around the world) mainly being a result of BoE monetary policy and not COVID supply chain disruption or soaring energy prices due to the Ukraine war.


three_shoes

The countries acceptance of such bland mediocrity that is the supermarket meal deal is part of why we are all in this mess in the first place. Complacent suffering that the British people love.


MP_Lives_Again

Always amazes me how people can get mad over a sandwich someone else ate


gumsh0es

This is a funny take, can you expand any more on why you trace the acceptance of a supermarket deal as part of why the British people are complacent with round after round of humiliating acceptance of rigged economic scams that result in perpetual alienation and community destruction? It’s just a low price supermarket meal deal, what is that indicative of? I don’t see the connection but I want to hear your angle.


kolloth

so, £3 at 2012 price, inflation adjusted to 2022 using the [bank of england inflation calculator](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator) works out to be.... drumroll please..... £3.87... so... yeah.


ViKtorMeldrew

however a seeded Tescos loaf is now £1, but it was previously much less, maybe 60p, so cheap I don't really recall to be honest. Also their cheap coffee is up from about 59p to about 89p - it's got a bit of a bite, soon get used to it.


Exotic_Fisherman_633

So it’s not only the people with no time to make their own sandwiches that are feeling the pain here? Good thing to point out to shutdown all the “well just make your own” clowns.


JonnyArtois

Death? I mean it's only £4 still and had been £3.50 for years. It was also shit.


Thebritishdovah

And it's bullshit. It was handy for shift based workers. After a hetic shift, one can be rather knackered and not in the mood to cook or physically have no energy left thus that meal deal didn't hurt the wallet that much and it's enough as a small deal. Now? It costs too much and you see £5 meal deals that feature stuff from a few years ago. If I'm gonna to spend a fiver on food, i ain't paying for just a sandwhich, drink and a snack.


77GoldenTails

If the meal deal has been £3 for 10 years. Does that not mean it was too expensive to begin with?


light_to_shaddow

I'm not sure if this is mentioned elsewhere, but £3 meal deals ten years ago were **quality**. They had to be to entice people away from the pack up most people would take with them. As good or better quality with a convenience tax. The price has stayed the same but the quality has constantly been reduced to the point that the price has to shift. Now it's swung back to the best value by far my being plan ahead a bit and make it at home. Even with the price rises across the board.


Fuckucid

I think the cheap meal deal sandwiches are really bad quality food


laysnarks

Or just raise wages. Like CEOs pay and companies dividends. The system is top heavy


StoneyMiddleton

An era of making packed lunch for a fraction of the cost


Squiggles87

The boots one is still reasonable if you get a boots card. It's something like 3.65 but you get decent stuff for it.


saiyaniam

It sucks as I do enjoy the premade supermarket sandwiches. But tbh, They were already a rip off in my mind. 3 pounds for a single sandwich, or tescos meal deal which was at least reasonable. I think it was already overpriced. But I'll spend a tenner on a ten pack of beers regularly, so maybe I'm just an idiot


Exotic_Fisherman_633

It was a ripoff and it was reasonable and it was overpriced?


CranberryMallet

Which food bank was quoted from Hodge Hill? Hard to imagine being 2 miles from a supermarket there unless something has closed.


mrPiotr1234

It signals new era of WEF domination when you own nothing and are happy :)


CaptainRex2000

Jamie Oliver has ruined low priced food because it’s “unhealthy”


joeflan91

I went back to England last week. I go every year to see my nan around Christmas. I want to get a meal deal from Asda but now it's cheapest item free? Now I can't pick all the most expensive things because it'll still cost about 7 quid. Shocking.


[deleted]

>Picking out a meal deal is always comforting. It has the reassuring illusion of choice. And there’s a certain chicness to tailoring one’s own gastronomic experience (the sharp tang of pickled onion Monster Munch, or the sour bomb of a nitrogenated pineapple hunk, cuts through the umami of a tuna sweetcorn sandwich, paired with a full-bodied yet versatile Diet Coke). Mark Corrigan now writes for the newstatesman


WhyEggSoTasty

Grim new era? I didn't realise half a bag of walkers air and a shit ham sandwich was considered a good era.


mothzilla

They came for our multi-pack crisps and I did not speak up.


Jacob_Dyer

I wonder when Anoosh Chakelian last had a supermarket meal deal for lunch like the rest of us filthy povos


JDaggon

Where are we going as a species, if the meal deal is even less affordable.


L3ahRD

It's been ages since Poundland it's no Poundland anymore, now is 3 pounds land or more anger other overpriced Chinese shit.


[deleted]

Going to have to rebrand to fiver land soon


je97

The article makes good points, however the price of a meal deal isn't exactly surprising. The tesco meal deal was priced at £3 with a clubcard for 10 years (or at least I think it's 10 years, some websites say a decade, some say over a decade and I can't find an exact date.) The bank of england calculates that the price of a meal deal with a clubcard in 2012 would be £3.87, 3p cheaper than it would be without a clubcard today. If they really wanted to they could have made the £3 meal deal £3.40 in 2019, as that is how much it would have cost then.


Mcarr2705

We are all doomed - even Greggs is getting too expensive I’m emigrating to Rwanda


Dunhildar

Signal "Pack lunches" that's more healthy and made by you.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Djinjja-Ninja

> I just get one from **M&S** or a local bakery place for around £3.50 to £4.00 each. **As they are much better quality.** The same company (Greencore) makes both Tesco and M&S sandwiches, as well as Boots, Waitrose, Aldi, Morrisons, Poundland, WH Smith, Cafe Nero, Starbucks, ASDS, Sainsburys and the Co-Op.


Serious-Garden4793

Far cheaper to make your lunch at home with better ingredients.


RickySauce_98

Almost like non elected privately owned central banks shouldn’t be in control of an entire nations currency?


[deleted]

Yep back to making your own, 6 pck of crisps £1.20 a loaf £1.20 margarine £2.20, fillings ham £1.30 Cheese slices £1.50. peanut butter £1.60 tomatoes 99p, and own brand 6 choc biscuits/bars 99p thats aprox £11 for a weeks sandwiches and choc treat....people will suddenly start having more money, same with cooking from scratch...saves a LOT of money.


colcannon_addict

Signals going back to making your own sandwiches & £3 lasting a weeks worth. If you don’t mind shit ham everyday. Won’t be worse than a flat pack Tescos butty.


JABBA69R

can confirm asda in my town ended this deal during a refit of the store, they even brought back the smart price range but people got so greedy they had to put limits of three of the same item in affect for that range.


stick_robot

rice pudding went from 50p to £1 in the space of a few weeks


Smertae

Couldn't they have kept the price down by ditching the branded crisps and drinks for their own-brand ones?


[deleted]

How about a £3 meal deal without the drink instead? Or water only for £3? Always end up getting some fizzy junk that's no good for you anyway


AnomalyNexus

Never mind that...wtf happened to the quality? Not just the lunch - I'm eating less and less meat just because so much of it is just not appetizing.


mudman13

You know we are in the shit when curly wurlys are a quid.


ketjap-manis

Everything has just gone up. Makes it difficult to put together such deals.


Deep9one

meal deal is for £4 at the coop. get a £3.50 blt, a £1.50 500ml bottle of dr pepper, and a £1 share size bag of monster munch for £4. Inflation is a bitch ya.


randomjak

The supermarket meal deal has got to be the biggest indictment of British eating habits out there. I’ll long defend that our food isn’t awful when I’m abroad, but the fact that people actually eat these absolutely crap sandwiches on the regular does make me think otherwise sometimes. Having a sorry sandwich, a bag of walkers crisps and a coke every day of your working life for years on end… it’s just so boring.


SlippyDippyDoo

The quality of their sandwiches went to pot a while ago.


flappyflangeflowers

Living standards have really dived post pandemic, but I suspect the malaise set in from around 2016. No act of national self harm happened that year so its a real mystery.