How A lot Does Your Meal Deal Workplace Lunch Truly Value? 

Which do you like: rooster salad and a smoothie, or a ham sandwich and a packet of Monster Munch? No matter your order, the standard meal deal has fed the UK workforce for the previous decade. However with meals inflation on the up, that comfort now comes at a price.

Final month, Sainsbury’s drew the ire of hangry Brits when it raised the worth of its sandwich-crisps-drink combo to £3.79. However even that isn’t as costly because the OG meal deal, Tesco, which has risen from £3 to £3.90 since its inception in 2013.

As soon as the perfect good friend of budget-conscious metropolis employees, this sarnie saver possibility is changing into rotten. We determined to search out out simply how a lot employees are spending on their day by day grocery store journeys, and ask how employers may assist to line their employees’ stomachs and wallets.

Workplace lunch prices nearly £1,000 a 12 months

Most of us would in all probability quite not understand how a lot we spend on an workplace lunch. Like paying your taxes, it may possibly really feel like an on a regular basis dwelling price that can’t be prevented.

Nonetheless, the entire quantity provides up. We in contrast the worth of 4 main grocery store meal offers. We then used this to calculate how a lot an worker would spend in whole in the event that they purchased a meal deal on a regular basis of the 48 working weeks within the 12 months.

The outcomes could also be powerful to swallow. On common, meal deal fanatics will spend £909 per working 12 months on their lunch breaks, averaging out to almost £19 per workweek.

The Co-operative, costing £4 per buy, is the most affordable of the Massive 4 grocery store meal offers. Visiting the Co-op for lunch will set you again by £960 per 12 months. That’s nearly £120 greater than at Morrisons, the place the meal deal prices 50p much less.

Going home made may save practically half a grand

In need of skipping meals, there aren’t some ways workplace employees can hold their lunchtime prices down. However shopping for the components to make a meal deal is one solution to save the pennies.

We totted up the estimated price of components to devour a ham and cheese sandwich, a packet of branded crisps, and a glass of Food plan Coke, 5 days per week. In whole, this weekly purchasing basket got here to £9.33, primarily based on Aldi costs in August 2024.

Which means those that eat lunch from house, or those that work in a totally distant position, may save £472.32 per 12 months by switching to a meal deal from the kitchen fridge. That’s price greater than the typical Brit’s three month meals invoice (estimated to be £35 per week).

Hybrid lunching?

Even limiting your meal deal munchies to simply thrice every week may save a considerable sum of money. The price of making a home made meal deal twice every week, and shopping for lunch out three days every week, would whole £730.81 in a single working 12 months.

Which means savvy savers, or those that work a hybrid shift sample, may save £178.19 per 12 months in comparison with consuming out each working day.

The workplace lunch has been on the decline anyway this 12 months. Meals traits recommend shoppers are turning away from the meal deal as a result of poor choices obtainable from retailers.

UK employees are as an alternative packing stylish grownup lunch packing containers with viral “workplace lunch” TikTok recipes, and spending the cash saved (roughly £7.50 per week) at a road meals market.

The return to workplace won’t be catered for

Rising lunch costs are one among many components which have made house working extra interesting to workers this 12 months. With the price of dwelling disaster persevering with to chew workers, many are utilizing versatile working perks to hibernate at house and decrease their day by day spend.

One other influencer is commute fares. In a survey by Ringover, 83% of respondents mentioned that they’d go to the workplace extra if their firm funded their commute to work.

The examine raises an fascinating query over whether or not a free lunch may be a less expensive worker profit to enhance workplace attendance. Many firms have brought about controversy this 12 months over poorly deliberate return to workplace (RTO) mandates.

With home made lunches nonetheless costing UK employees £463.63 per 12 months, in line with our estimates, employer-subsidised meal offers may tip the scales in favour of in-office working this 12 months.