Warning over supermarket lunches at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Boots | Personal Finance | Finance

Iceland is calling on people to make a change to their lunchtime routines that could save up to £800 a year. It comes after supermarkets hiked the price of their meal deals – which will see five-day workers Brits spend £18.75 a week on meal deals and up to £975 a year.

Calculations from Iceland’s insiders have revealed that meal deal lovers are massively overpaying for their lunchtime meals. Iceland has calculated that the staples of a meal deal, including bread, a classic filling, crisps and a drink can however cost as little as £1.63 a day, £8.13 a week and as little as £422.76 a year.

It means lunchtime lovers would save £552.24 a year ditching their meal deals for packed lunches. Sainsbury’s recently increased the price of its meal deals to £3.75 and at Waitrose a meal deal costs £5, or £1,300 a year, meaning packed lunches can save you just short of £900 a year.

Richard Walker, executive chairman at Iceland Foods, said: “Supermarkets across the board are putting up their meal deal prices, and we’ve had enough, we’re calling on Brits to join the lunchtime revolution. It’s time for the return of the classic packed lunch and by doing so customers can save hundreds of pounds.”

The supermarket calculated that customers could save up to £3.37 a day using products from Iceland’s £1 range, including sandwich favourites like bread, cheese, lettuce, cucumber, wafer thin ham and cooked chicken breast. The saving also includes room for a drink and a small packet of crisps.

Those that switched to packed lunches wouldn’t be short of choice for fillings either, with tuna, chicken and even adding additional condiments or alternative drinks totalling lower than any supermarket meal deal.

The Calculations

• Iceland Thick Sliced Wholemeal Bread, 800g = £1
• Iceland 10 Cheesy Singles, 170g = £1
• Iceland 8 Slices Cooked Ham, 80g = £1
• Keelings Iceburg Lettuce = 89p
• Just Like Butter Spread, 450g = £1
• Keelings Cucumber = 99p
• Seabrook Rings Sour Cream & Onion Flavour Snacks 5 x16g = £1
• Elm Spring 6 Pack Wayer, 500ml = £1.25

Total: £8.13

Price per lunch (for 5 lunches): £1.63