A BARGAIN £3 meal deal has been launched with a lesser-known supermarket – taking it up to the big dogs.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Boots all offer the famed main-snack-drink bundle for prices ranging from £3.50-£4, but now a new player is shaking things up.
Now Poundland has introduced a cheaper £3 deal titled “grab a bite”.
It includes the main, drink and snack without the need for a loyalty card.
Tesco’s meal deal comes down to £3.40 for Clubcard members but even that has been edged by Poundland, which has announced itself to hungry lunchtime bargain hunters with a range of over 400 items.
It’s available in all Poundland stores, with sandwiches, wraps, salads, sushi and rolls all on the menu.
It includes the standard ham and cheese, chicken and bacon and tuna salad sandwiches, along with items inspired by world flavours like chicken tikka wraps.
Snacks have sweet-tooth shoppers, pastry lovers and the more health conscious fruit feasters covered with an array of side options.
Big snack brands on offer include Pringles, McCoys, Cadbury, Nestle and Haribo.
There are more than 200 drinks to choose from as customers look to quench their thirst over the summer months.
They include classics like Coke, Pepsi and Fanta, or bottles of Starbucks Frappuccinos.
Poundland’s managing director Austin Cooke previously told The Sun: “This meal deal is the best value in the land.
“There is no one that can touch on our value here. We’re 20% cheaper than the next competitor, and that is with a loyalty card.”
The challenge for those in search of the cheap lunch will now to be locate a nearby Poundland.
They are far less prevalent than Tesco, with 850 stores nationwide compared to 2,800.
Tesco, along with the more up-market M&S, also boast more main options.
But for frequent meal-dealers it could be worth saving that bit of pocket change on each purchase.
Poundland chilled and frozen boss Kyle Storey said the discount retailer “has always (aimed) to provide our customers with the best possible value, without compromising on taste or quality”.
He added: “With our new meal deal, we’re not only offering an unbeatable price, but also ensuring that everyone can access a delicious and satisfying meal without the need for a plastic loyalty card.”
Here’s how Poundland’s meal deal compare to other retailers:
Of major retailers, Poundland is the clear frontrunner on price.
By James Flanders
POUNDLAND was founded in December 1990 by Dave Dodd and Steven Smith.
The first store opened in the Octagon Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.
The pair stocked 624 products and took £13,000 on the first day.
The concept was simple yet innovative – all items in the store were priced at £1, capitalizing on the popularity of fixed-price retailing.
The early success of the first store led to rapid expansion throughout the 1990s.
By 2000, Poundland had established itself as a major player in the discount retail market and in 2002, the private equity firm Advent International acquired the business for £50 million.
In 2010, Poundland ventured into the Republic of Ireland, opening stores under the Dealz brand, which operated on the same fixed-price model but priced items at €1.50.
Poundland then went public in March 2014, listing on the London Stock Exchange.
In 2016, Poundland was acquired by Steinhoff International, a South African retail holding company, for £610 million. This acquisition brought Poundland under the umbrella of a global retail conglomerate called Pepco Group.
Responding to market pressures and the need for greater flexibility, Poundland began to introduce items priced at more than £1 in 2017.
In 2019, Poundland announced plans to revamp its stores and broaden its product range.
This included rolling out new categories such as chilled and frozen food and investing in store refurbishments to improve the shopping experience.
In March 2022 Poundland acquired Poundshop.com which later became Poundland.co.uk giving customers the ability to shop online for the first time.
Today, Poundland has a network of over 850 stores in the UK and under the Dealz brand in the Republic of Ireland.
