VALENTINE’S Day is fast approaching and supermarkets have launched their three-course meal deals for couples celebrating at home this year.
We’ve worked out which grocer is offering couples the biggest saving on their slap-up romantic dinner.
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We calculated which supermarket meal deal is the best value for money by choosing the items that are usually the most expensive.
Bear in mind that we haven’t tested the quality or taste of the food and this is a comparison of the top savings.
You might find you can get a cheaper dinner without using a meal deal.
For example, if you decide you don’t want three courses or choose not to get an alcoholic drink.
As you might expect, you’ll maximise each deal’s value for money if you pick meat or fish and the fanciest booze option.
The cheaper choices are the vegan and vegetarian offerings, so give those a miss if you’re trying to bump up the overall value.
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Morrisons
- Cost: £34.50
- Saving: £19.50
Morrisons has the best deal if you’re looking for the biggest saving on February 14.
We worked out that you could save as much as £19.50 if you chose all the most expensive items available.
That means you would have the Cornish scallop and king prawn thermidor gratins as your starter, which usually costs £5 for two.
For your main course, you’d get a beef wellington – usually £11 – and serve it with a green vegetable medley and minted new potatoes, which are £2.75 each.
All the desserts on offer are £3, so you can take your pick out of the selection which includes creme brulee and vanilla cheesecake.
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Finally, the most expensive drink option is a bottle of rose prosecco, which usually costs £10.
That brings the total cost of the meal to £34.50, but you’ll only pay £15 and save a whopping £19.50.
Tesco
- Cost: £30.20
- Saving: £15.20
Tesco is offering the next biggest saving, with a three-course meal worth £30.20 costing just £15 – a half-price discount.
The priciest options are the heart-shaped camembert sharing bread, rump steak and peppercorn butter, with triple-cooked chips and a green vegetable trio.
For dessert, the most expensive choice would usually be the Wicked Kitchen chocolate love brownie.
You could wash it all down with a bottle of Barossa Shiraz to complete your meal.
Asda
- Cost: £29.49
- Saving: £14.49
At Asda, you’ll bag a saving of £14.49 no matter which options you choose.
The supermarket has priced all of its starter, main course, sides and pudding offerings at the same level.
Starters, sides and desserts are all £2.50, mains are £7 and drinks or chocolates are £7.
The menu includes lamb shanks, steak and chicken parmigiana.
You’ll also get a Sky Movies voucher worth £5.49.
Marks & Spencer
- Cost: £33.79
- Saving: £13.79
Marks & Spencer came fourth, even though its £20 meal deal price is £5 more expensive than its competitors.
Shoppers will save £13.79 if they select Sparks’ most expensive food combination.
We looked at the options available on Ocado, and the menu and savings could differ in store.
The best value combination is the luxury prawn cocktails, chicken pie, potato gratin dauphinoise and dark chocolate sorbetto.
Add a bottle of cabernet sauvignon to complete the deal.
Sainsbury’s
- Cost: £28.05
- Saving: £13.50
Sainsbury’s offered the least value for money but you would still save £13.50 if you chose all the most expensive options.
That menu would start with the scallop gratin followed by rump steak with potato dauphinoise and a cheese board.
Sainsbury’s sparking pinot rose is the most expensive drink on offer.
However, if you selected the cheapest starter, main course, side dish, dessert and drink at Sainsbury’s it would actually cost £2.05 less than the £15 meal deal price.
We haven’t included Aldi’s 2022 Valentine’s Day range as the supermarket isn’t offering a meal deal this year.
Instead, customers can mix and match across the different products, and will just pay the total price.
We found that the cheapest combination available at the discount supermarket was three courses for just £5.17, or £9.16 with wine.
A taste test by Good Housekeeping also crowned Aldi as the winner.
Meanwhile, Lidl hasn’t confirmed if it will offer a Valentine’s Day meal deal this year.
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