I’ve rated lunchtime meal deals from shops including Boots, Tesco and Asda – and the winner surprised me

THE humble meal deal is a lunchtime staple for millions across the UK, but you might not know where to go to pick up the biggest savings.

We compared shops to find the best-value meal deal and where you can save the most money.

We looked at the most expensive combination of sandwich, side and drink to work out the biggest saving.

You may assume that supermarkets offer the best-value meal deal but we were surprised to find out that pharmacy chain Boots was the winner in our test.

Boots has a combo that could save you a giant £4.70, when you add up all the items to buy separately.

Below, we reveal the full list.

Boots

The retailer, more renowned for its beauty and pharmacy products, offers a whopping £4.70 saving on its meal deal.

That’s if you buy a chicken triple sandwich for £3.35, a trek power millionaire shortbread for £2.25 and a vita coco natural coconut water 500ml for £2.69.

The meal deal costs £3.59 in UK stores outside of London, and inside the capital it’s £4.19.

So while it’s one of the more expensive meal deals on our list, you do get the biggest saving.

Tesco

Tesco, one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains offers up a maximum £3.50 saving on its meal deal, which costs £3 if you have a Clubcard.

That’s based on a peperami red hot stick at £1.15, chicken club sandwich at £2.80 and innocent coconut water 500ml at £2.45.

For non-Clubcard members, the meal deal costs £3.50, so you save 50p less.

Tesco made meal deals 50p more expensive for non-Clubcard members earlier this year.

Sainsbury’s

You can save a maximum of £3.75 at Sainsbury’s if you pick the most expensive items and that’s with its meal deal costing £3.50.

You make the saving when you buy a £3 sandwich or wrap, nomadic yoghurt pot for £1.55 and a regular costa hot drink for £2.70.

The £3.50 meal deal is available nationwide across local stores, superstores and petrol service stations.

Sainsbury’s was another grocer forced to up the price of its meal deal due to increasing raw material costs and soaring wage bills.

Co op

Co-op has a maximum saving of £4 on its meal deal – but that’s only if you’re a member.

For non-members you’ll save £3.50.

To get that saving you have to buy a chicken and bacon sandwich or a BLT sandwich for £3.25, a chicken satay snack for £1.70 and an innocent plus juice drink 500ml for £2.55.

Waitrose

The supermarket chain runs a £4 Food To Go wrap meal deal which includes a wrap, drinks and crisps.

The maximum saving you can make on the offer is £2.95.

That’s if you buy the hoisin duck wrap for £3.75, a 40g bag of Kettle crisps for £1.10 and an innocent smoothie 250ml for £2.10.

A Waitrose spokesperson said the prices are available in the “majority” of its stores.

ASDA

ASDA’s meal deal is different to the others as you get your cheapest item free.

Based on that, the maximum saving you get is £1.25.

That’s if you buy a £3 Chicken and Bacon roll, a box of eggs for £1.25 and a 500ml coca cola for £1.62.