Meal deals are a good thing, but not when they try and rip you off!
he Meal Deal is marvellous and mathematical. There are several thousand possible food combinations you can forge to tide you over till dinner. It’s a convenient, cost effective and fast way to midday sustenance.
Every big chain supermarket does it.
However, eagle eyed shoppers noticed that Sainsbury’s have, quietly but unmistakably, put a massive wrench in their Meal Deal makeup. Yoghurt is no longer classed as a snack.
It is now classed as a main. Whilst I do not doubt that a yoghurt is a proficient little pot, after all it can serve as desert and breakfast, but on what universe can you possibly classify it as a main?
Sainsbury’s are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, or rather pulling back the yogurt pot seal hoping we don't notice. The yogurt is not a main dish. It has never been a main dish. Everyone in the UK knows this.
You could argue that a yogurt does transform into a main at breakfast which is, after all a meal? But I ask this, who is buying a meal deal for breakfast time?
The Meal Deal is, and always has been, set within the boundaries of lunch. A yogurt won't fill you up; it won't be
Tanywhere near as satisfying as a sandwich, a wrap or sushi.
Why must we be looking down the barrel of one of life's great injustices to be stripped of the choice to have a sandwich AND a yoghurt? It is the principle of the thing.
It is also another sad and sombre actuality of the great British shopping experience because it reflects cutting back. Everything is costing so much more but the Meal Deal is one of the few torches of good value and Sainsbury’s are trying to redefine it by making us hungrier and grumpier.
Those who do not have the luxury of a long lunch break and/or are on a budget may rely on Meal Deals. (We cannot all be MPS on subsidised food and wine on a daily basis).
Staff canteens are no longer a reality in many workplaces. Some places of work do not even give you a place to have a sit down. Hot food and time to eat it at work is for many a luxury.
I dread to think what will be guillotined next by the grocery shop. Will a packet of Monster Munch be the next ‘main’ and leave us counting the crisps?
it’s my home town
Mary Elizabeth
Primark is a destination in Pompey: Commercial Road. Gunwharf Quays is too expensive (supposedly an “outlet” - parking is horrendous and the prices are as well - we were gobsmacked at how high the “discounts” were in the Levi outlet - people ain’t stupid!