Where Are Our Meal Deals?
Did you know you can get a sandwich, side, and drink for $4 in England?
Some quick housekeeping!
I will be doing a talk with the wonderful Yasmin Khan about her beautiful new cookbook Sabzi at Now Serving in LA this Thursday, Sept 11. Come through if you are in town!
I will also be speaking at the SALA Festival in the Bay Area this Saturday Sept 13 and if you have any Palo Alto/Menlo Park restaurant recs please drop them in the comments.
The best part about spending my junior year of college in London was arguably the steady access to the £3 meal deals from Tesco. For about $4 you could get your choice of cold sandwich in a little triangle box, a bag of chips/candy/fruit, and a drink. Were they the world’s best sandwiches? No. But they are half decent. Do I still randomly crave a Ploughman’s sandwich with thick sliced sharp cheddar? Yes. All the time. Was it comforting to know that you could always have a meal for what it costs to do a couple of loads of laundry? Absolutely.
The brilliance of the the Tesco meal deal is that there are seemingly Tesco and Tesco Expresses everywhere, with the latter functioning more like a convenience store than a grocery store. This means the meal deal — which are now £3.85 generally— is easily accessible to anyone, anywhere in England. There’s a kindness in keeping things as affordable as possible. The closest thing we have in America is Costco’s $1.50 hot dogs.
At another English grocery store, Marks and & Spencer, they have a robust selection of what they call “Dine In” options, aka prepared dishes that you heat up and serve at home (and also lots of Picky Bits). It includes things like two wood-fired pizzas (that are not fully cooked) and two sides (including prepped salads and things like crispy halloumi fries) for £12 that just require a little heating up and finishing at home. At this point, that is cheaper than a drive-thru or even dialing up Domino’s with a coupon.
We seem to always be talking about third spaces these days and meal deals and “dine in” are an important third space in food, the one that hangs out between proper home cooking and restaurant food. For most people, especially most Americans, it is simply not possible to cook every single meal, every single day due to busy schedules, lack of skills, lack of desire, or some combination of the three. It’s also not feasible for most people to dine out or order in from restaurants for every meal either — simply too pricey. That’s where this third option of affordable deals from the grocery store that are already prepared help solve a gap.
It’s something I wish was more widely available in America. Imagine if you could walk into a 7-Eleven and get a half decent sandwich made with protein and veg, a side, and a drink (which could be soda but also juice or water) for just a few bucks. Instead, the meal deals that are advertised here are $3 for a Big Gulp and a terrible looking slice of pizza.
A handful of stores like Whole Foods do have some prepared options and deals, but they still clock in at $25-$30 for 3-4 servings and tend of consist of simply prepared proteins, vegetables, and carbs and not necessarily fully composed dishes (though many people like to eat in this meal prep style.)
I am not saying these meal deals are perfect. The Tesco sandwiches aren’t the highest of quality, but they hit the spot when you’re hungry and come in several options (chicken salad, cheese and pickle, tandoori chicken and mango chutney, cheese and onion, ham and cheese just name a few). But they are humane. People deserve to be able to feed themselves, as well as possible, for not that much money. It’s a concept I see embraced across Asia and many parts of Europe (even the fanciest parts of Italy still have places that offer a proper meal for just a few euro), but something that feels so elusive here.
As grocery prices continue to increase, and the cost of running restaurants also continues to increase, it’s becoming more and more difficult for someone in America to feed themselves decently for less than $10 (or $15 in major cities), unless you’re a home cook who really knows how to budget or are the master of a fast food value menu. Someone please let us have meal deals, too.
Zareen's in Palo Alto!