There's something about a Marks and Spencer meal deal that gets shoppers all kinds of excited. The retailer hails itself the "Home of Dine In" and since launching their meal deals back in 2008 have sold an eye-popping 200million of them.
Last month the retailer did a Roast dinner deal for £10 that was flying off the supermarket shelves, alongside a luxury Valentine's dinner deal complete with prosecco, starter, main and dessert for £20. Now, M&S is hoping to get shoppers in a frenzy again with its new "Steak and Chips Dine in for £10" offer in stores until March 14.
At first glance, £10 seems like a bargain for what is promised to bring "restaurant quality food to your dinner table for less." But when I went to check it out a couple of things didn't quite add up to me.
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So the deal itself is to make your choice of steak cut - ribeye, rump or sirloin, with two steaks in a pack, or you can go for a rotisserie chicken or salmon fillets. You then have a choice of just ONE side - so that's either veg or chips - and a choice of one sauce to share from a list including peppercorn, Diane and bernaise.
And that's your lot for £10. Now, I don't doubt that this is cheaper than a steak meal for two if you went to most restaurants.
But you would probably be pretty miffed if a restaurant served up your steak and chips without any kind of greenery alongside it. And I personally like a bit of a crunch of veg to go with a juicy rump and frites.
Also, it doesn't seem all that long ago (2020 to be precise) when the M&S steak deal was priced at £12 which was for two steak and chip dinners, a dessert each AND a bottle of wine. And only last month the M&S roast dinner deal included a meat joint and THREE sides for £10.
We all know supermarket prices are on the rise, but it just feels a bit stingey to me to just have one side and not to throw in some veg on this one. And I'm not the only one to notice it.
When M&S posted the deal on its Instagram page last week with the slogan "FOR ONLY £10" there were a wealth of comments querying what's included. Tinalouiser said: "Where's the wine? Sainsbury's is £12 but you get wine and a pudding."
Debbie_Scarbs wrote: "Needs two sides included for it to be a full meal. My husband and I never think there's enough." Llornareilly added: "Aldi's is still cheaper".
But others defended the price of the M&S deal. Thejoyofseconds wrote: "Try and find a restaurant that you can get 1 steak and chips for a tenner, let alone 2. Some people are so greedy."
Louise_akie added: "You have these meal deals spot on, such good value. Your steak sauces are the best."
We have asked M&S for comment on the meal deal pricing.
So, would the "restaurant quality" of the offering, as M&S put it, make it worth the deal price? Well there was only one way to find out so I headed to buy one of the deals for myself.
The first thing I noticed when I visited by local M&S food hall on Saturday afternoon was that the deal had clearly been flying out. There was only a couple of sauce options left on the shelf and when I asked a staff member if there were any others she said: "No, all that's left now is what is on there".
However I did manage to pick up my preferred cut of steak - rump - as well as peppercorn sauce. I particularly like a steak frites so I went for the slimmer chip, although I was surprised to see there was only the option of a giant box of frites which "serves 4" even though this was a meal for two.
The individual prices for the items I chose was £8.50 for the steak, £2.50 for the sauce, while the 600g box of fresh frites were priced at £4.50. So the overall cost of the items was £15.50, making a saving of £5.50 by doing the meal deal.
But in reality, if you were buying items for a meal for two, I have to question who would buy a £4.50 large box of frites for four had it not been in the meal deal. Especially considering you can buy a regular box for two for around £2.60.
And when I got it all home to cook it up I have to say that it was the frites that were the biggest disappointment. They tasted no better than frozen oven chips I usually deploy on a meal like this at home.
However, I have to hand it to M&S with the steak and sauce. The rumps were both exquisitely tender cuts, and as good as anything you would expect to be served up in a restaurant.
So too was the peppercorn sauce - a beautifully rich, creamy base with the punchy hit of the whole round peppercorns in there too. A real treat.
How do the M&S prices compare to Aldi?
As one commenter on social media pointed out, "Aldi's is still cheaper". But is that true?
To find out, I compared the price of the M&S deal with how much you could expect to pay for the same items - fresh chips, rump steaks and ready-made peppercorn sauce - at Aldi.
Equivalent items there would cost you £1.69 for Aldi Carlos Takeaway fresh fries 300g; Aldi Bramwells peppercorn and brandy ready made sauce is £1.20 and Aldi 30-day matured rump steaks 400g ar £4.99 (on offer down from £5.29). Meaning the total for a rump steak and chips meal for two came in at £7.88.
But if you bought the same amount of frites as the M&S meal deal version, which were a 600g box, then the figure would be £9.57. Which is still less than the M&S £10 deal.
But could you really taste much of a difference between them? Well, I did a taste test comparison between the M&S versions and the Aldi versions just to see.
And I have to say that M&S won hands down on the steak and sauce quality. The Aldi rump was much drier and chewier, even though I cooked them both in the same pan with the exact same amount of oil and temperature.
Meanwhile the Aldi sauce was also thinner and had a slight vinegary taste compared to the much creamier hit from the M&S version. The skinny fries were much of a muchness from both retailers, although I personally preferred the slightly crispier finish of the Aldi version.
So all in, I probably would go for the M&S steaks and sauce again due to the sheer quality of the meat and sauce. If I bought it on the £10 deal in future though I'd be better off going for a vegetable side dish instead of the frites - and sticking with my cheap-as-chips oven chips to go with it all.
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