TESCO has hiked the cost of its deal on ready meals, sparking anger from customers in need of quick dinners.
The retailer previously charged £7.50 for two of its Finest ready meals, but this has gone up to two for £8 with a Clubcard in recent months.
The promotion includes popular choices such as Tesco‘s Finest Ham Hock Leek & Gratin, Spaghetti Bolognese and Cottage Pie.
Individually the meals have gone up from £4.25 to £4.50.
Meanwhile, its cheaper ready-made dinners, including Macaroni Cheese, Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake and Bangers & Mash have gone from three for £7.50 to three for £8.
The cost of each has also risen from £3.25 to £3.30. In some cases the packaging has been redesigned from a round shape to rectangular ones.
The 50p deal hike has not gone unnoticed amongst fans, including one who said on social media website X: “Every little hurts the customer 50p price increase on Clubcard price ready meals, 3 for £7.50, now 3 for £8.”
Meanwhile one review of Minced Lamb Hotpot on the Tesco website said: “There seems to be more gravy than meat in this these days so it’s disappointing to find it’s been removed from the 3 for £7.50 choice.
“I don’t really think it’s worth any more but for me, being gluten-free, it’s a suitable meal from that point of view so no doubt I’ll just have to pay the extra.”
The standard meals cost £3.30 each, leading one Reddit user to ask: “Will the meal deal hit 4 quid with a Clubcard saving next year?”
The change came after Tesco hiked the cost of its lunchtime meal deal in August, which rose from £3.40 with a Clubcard, to £3.60.
For that you get a sandwich, pasta or salad, a snack and a drink.
For those who are not part of the loyalty scheme the price went up from £3.90 to £4.
At the time Tesco said it had recently improved the ingredients and introduced more than 20 new mains to cater for every taste.
Tesco’s latest figures show the supermarket – which is Britain’s biggest – is doing well.
In October it reported a robust four per cent increase in first-half sales (excluding fuel) to £31.5billion, with profits up 10 per cent to £1.6billion.
THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop.
You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they’ve been reduced.
If the food is fresh, you’ll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time.
Making a list should also save you money, as you’ll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket.
Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too.
This means ditching “finest” or “luxury” products and instead going for “own” or value” type of lines.
Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they’re misshapen or imperfect.
For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50.
If you’re on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too.
Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.
But Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at the investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the store is worried about tax hikes introduced by the Labour government.
She said: “Tesco is one of the retailers which has written to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves asking for a rethink of the rise in employer national insurance contributions.
“Its tax bill is expected to rise by an extra £250 million annually, and so the giant is clearly looking at ways of clawing back some of the costs going forward to protect profits and returns for shareholders.
“It has been investing heavily in keeping prices low, which has led to increased volumes of sales.
“It’s drawing in more price-sensitive customers, which is boosting market share and volumes, and driving sales higher.
“This has meant it’s been able to announce an increase in the interim dividend of 10.4 per cent.
“It’s already gone through a cost-cutting drive to find efficiencies, so price increases in some products are now coming through.
“Tesco will be mindful of keeping prices lower on other goods, otherwise it could drive away shoppers into the arms of the discount grocers, like Aldi and Lidl.”
Here is the full list of ready meals previously two for £7.50, now two for £8:
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