Tesco has raised prices across its meal deals from today, meaning that a standard meal deal with a Clubcard will set you back £3.85. Whether you regularly go to Tesco for your lunch, or you’re curious about whether your local supermarket’s deal is as good as it seems, we’ve rounded up prices from all the major supermarkets to let you know the best value meal deal.
It’s not just the price of lunch that’s on the up. The latest inflation figures show that in the year to July 2025, prices were rising at their highest rate in a year and a half. This was, in large part, because of stubbornly high food prices. Data from the Office of National Statistics showed that the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by 4.9 per cent.
So if you’re still feeling a pinch at the supermarket checkout, it’s not in your head. You could offset this slightly by going for the cheapest meal deal, which is Co-op (with a membership) at £3.60. However, real meal deal connoisseurs know that the best way to get your money’s worth is to buy the most expensive items as part of the deal.
Fortunately, we’ve crunched the numbers for you. Read on to find out more about Tesco’s price rises, and the best value meal deal in 2025 out of Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and more.
How Tesco’s meal deal prices are changing
Tesco has two tiers of meal deal, standard and ‘premium’, and both of these have different prices depending on whether or not you have a Clubcard. All of these prices have now increased by between six and 10 per cent, even higher than food inflation more broadly.
For standard meal deals, these have increased by 25p:
- From £3.60 to £3.85 with a Clubcard
- From £4 to £4.25 without a Clubcard
Meanwhile, premium meal deals have increased 50p:
- From £5 to £5.50 with a Clubcard
- From £5.50 to £6 without a Clubcard
Arguably, it’s more worthwhile than ever to sign up for a Clubcard if you continue to buy Tesco meal deals. According to Tesco, more than 80 per cent of its customers do this already.
If you’re prone to forgetting yours, I suggest getting the Tesco app and then adding your Clubcard to your Apple or Google wallet. This way, not only will you always have your Clubcard with you, but you’ll avoid missing out if you can’t get a signal in your local shop.
However, Tesco isn’t the only game in town. Though prices change depending on your location (you probably won’t find these deals in airports, for example), we’ve rounded up the cost of all the best high street meal deals – and worked out the most valuable combo for each lunch.
Best value meal deal
We can’t attest to the actual quality of the items in each meal deal, as we haven’t tried all of them (with the significant exception of Tesco’s birthday cake sandwich, which proved controversial among our testers). There are some slightly odd combinations in here, but for maximising value, this is as good as it gets. We worked out the best value meal deal by looking at the price of the individual items compared with what you could save under the deal.
Where two items are the same price, we went for the one that gives you more food – for example, Waitrose’s Taiko duck poke bowl and its High protein Mexican style chicken & grain salad both cost £4.75 before a meal deal, but the duck bowl is heavier, giving you more food for your money.
With that in mind, here are the best value meal deals.
Tesco: Save up to £4.80
Even with the price rise, Tesco’s standard meal deal is cheaper than Sainsbury’s with a Clubcard, but more expensive without. That said, if you go for maximum value, it’s the least valuable meal deal. Here’s the breakdown:
- Meal deal price: £3.85 with Clubcard, £4.25 without
- Main: Tesco gluten free BLT sandwich (£3.40)
- Snack: Magnum utopia double cherry single (£2.30)
- Drink: Emmi caffe latte Mr Big Skinny (£2.95)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £8.65
- Savings: £4.80 with Clubcard, £4.40 without
Sainsbury’s: Save up to £5
Sainsbury’s meal deal has seen several price rises this year alone. It’s much cheaper than Tesco if you don’t have a Tesco Clubcard, but if you do, Tesco is 10p cheaper. However, Sainsbury’s is slightly better value overall if you’re trying to go for the best value meal deal.
- Meal deal price: £3.95
- Main: Picnic triple sandwich (£3.55)
- Snack: The Curators original beef biltong (£2.50)
- Drink: Tropicana pure smooth orange fruit juice (£2.25)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £8.30
- Savings: £5
Co-op: Save up to £5.15
If you go for maximum value, Co-op isn’t the biggest saving. However, it has the lowest price for a standard meal deal, as long as you’re a Co-op member, which costs £1 to join.
- Meal deal price: £3.50 with a Co-op membership (costs £1), £4 without
- Main: Tomato and basil chicken pasta salad (£3.45)
- Snack: Millionaire’s shortbread (£2.45)
- Drink: Innocent super smoothie energise (£2.75)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £8.65
- Savings: £5.15 with a membership, £4.65 without
Morrisons: Save up to £5.30
Morrisons has a good value meal deal. Though it’s not necessarily better than Boots’, there’s a slightly better saving with a Morrisons More Card than a Boots Advantage Card. However, you’ll save less at Morrisons if you don’t have either.
- Meal deal price: £3.60 with a More Card, £4 without
- Main: In-store produced ham and cheese baguette (£3.75)
- Snack: Prawns with sweet chilli dip (£2.25)
- Drink: Naked gold machine super smoothie (£2.90)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £8.90
- Savings: £5.30 with a More Card, £4.90 without
Boots: Save up to £5.25
While it’s not a supermarket, Boots is well known for its meal deal, and it’s not shabby in terms of value for money. It’s only slightly more expensive than Morrissons, and the total price of its most valuable meal deal is 10p more valuable:
- Meal deal price: £3.75 with Advantage Card, £4 without
- Main: Chicken triple sandwich (£3.75)
- Snack: Cheese and pineapple (£2.50)
- Drink: Vita Coco coconut water (£2.75)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £9
- Savings: £5.25 with Advantage Card, £5 without
Waitrose: Save £5.35
While it’s the most expensive meal deal on this list, Waitrose’s standard meal deal provides the best value, allowing you to get the most expensive items for less than half price.
A benefit is that you don’t need to sign up for the Waitrose loyalty scheme to benefit from the lowest price meal deal. If you do, however, you can get a free coffee or tea every day, with no other purchase necessary, when you sign up for MyWaitrose and bring in a reusable cup, which is a great perk.
- Main: Taiko Duck Poke Bowl (£4.75)
- Snack: Taiko vegetable sushi (£2.50)
- Drink: Emmi skinny caffe latte Mr Big single coffee (£3.10)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £10.35
- Meal deal price: £5
- Savings: £5.35
Asda’s three-for-two meal deal
Asda’s meal deal is a three-for-two offer where you get the cheapest item in your lunch for free. We’ve included it for completeness, but it can’t really be compared with the others, where you can max out the value by going for the most expensive items. The total price of your Asda meal deal will vary depending on which main, snack and drink you choose.
Here are the priciest items you can get:
- Main: Chicken and mozzarella with slow-roasted tomatoes (£3.82)
- Snack: Toffee dip apple slices (£1.48)
- Drink: Naked Super Smoothie Kiwi, Pineapple, Apple & Spirulina (£2.88)
- Price if you bought the items individually: £8.18
- Meal deal price: In this case, £6.70
- Savings: £1.48
In the end, this can only be a rough guide. With volatile food price inflation, you could, of course, make the argument that some of the individual items are overpriced in the first place.
For example, the Emmi skinny caffe latte Mr Big single coffee is sold at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado for £2.95, compared to £3.10 at Waitrose. However, if you’re trying to beat the supermarkets at their own game, these are the combos that deliver maximal value.
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