I made 8 high street lunch ‘fakeaways’ for pennies – from Pret to Greggs, here’s how they turned out
MORE of us now make lunch at home to spend less.
Lynsey Hope copies meal choices from high-street chains to see what she can save, and marks them out of ten for ease of preparation.
Subway tuna sub
Cost to buy: £6.10
Cost to make at home: £1.51
SAVING: £4.59
SUBWAY rolls are big – but quite expensive.
Its tuna sub was overflowing with ingredients but was so cheap and easy to make myself.
The savings were definitely worth having.
Even if you made just one a month instead of buying it, you would save more than £55 in a year.
Difficulty rating: 4/10
Pret BLT
Cost to buy: £6.10
Cost to make at home: £1.51
SAVING: £4.59
THE Pret BLT must be a best-seller, with its mouth-watering smoked bacon and soft, malted bread.
It took the longest to make because I had to cook the bacon rashers.
But it wasn’t very hard to do and you could easily add more filling if you like.
I would definitely make this one again.
Difficulty rating: 5/10
Costa tomato mozzarella and pesto pasta salad
Cost to buy: £4.50
Cost to make at home: £1.48
SAVING: £3.02
COSTA’S meal contains quite a few ingredients, including Dijon mustard, French dressing and garlic puree, as well as pesto, semi-dried tomatoes, rocket, spinach and pine kernels.
Despite this, it was pretty cheap to make and you could save even more if you ditched a few ingredients.
There was more prep for this one than many of the others.
It did taste good though.
Difficulty rating: 7/10
Gail’s Bakery smoked salmon bagel
Cost to buy: £7.60
Cost to make at home: £1.60
SAVING: £6
THIS felt like a real luxury for lunch, especially as it only cost £1.60 to make and took a matter of minutes to put together.
I used an own-brand soft cheese instead of Gail’s special schmear, but it is basically the same thing and taste-wise, I could not tell the difference.
Difficulty rating: 3/10
Caffe Nero brie and vine-ripened tomato focaccia
Cost to buy: £5.50
Cost to make at home: £1.23
SAVING: £4.27
IT was hard to find focaccia bread that tastes as good as that used by Caffe Nero.
But Aldi does a cheap four-pack for £1.39, so only 34p each.
And just like the chain’s, they are coated in rosemary and rock salt. Delicious.
You don’t need a great deal of brie either, so this was simple, quick to make and filling. A pleasant change.
Difficulty rating: 3/10
Pret chicken and avocado protein bowl
Cost to buy: £5.99
Cost to make at home: £2.43
SAVING: £3.56
I ADORE Pret and this salad bowl is one of my favourites. But it is pricey.
Making your own just twice a week over a year could save you more than £400. I made this using sliced chicken from Aldi.
It took a few minutes to boil the egg but the rest was easy, I just threw it in the bowl.
It usually comes with a chilli and lime dressing, I bought a Lucy’s dressing (£4, ocado.com). Delicious.
Difficulty rating: 6/10
Greggs honey roast ham salad baguette
Cost to buy: £3.35
Cost to make at home: £1.41
SAVING: £1.94
SIMPLE and easy to make, so really there’s no need to buy this when it takes minutes at home instead.
Even my kids could make it. If you want to spend money at Greggs, buy a yummy sausage roll or vegan sausage roll instead, because they are much harder to recreate.
Difficulty rating: 1/10
Starbucks red Leicester cheese and pickle sandwich
Cost to buy: £3.45
Cost to make at home: 89p
SAVING: £2.56
IT is one of the cheapest sandwiches you can buy in the big chains.
But it costs pennies to make at home and there were plenty of ingredients left over to make more too.
It took seconds to whip up.
This is a cheap and easy homemade sarnie for those on a budget.
Difficulty rating: 2/10
VERDICT
I PICKED up most of the ingredients from my local Aldi.
There were one or two posher ingredients I had to get from Ocado or M&S but most items were easy enough to get hold of and these lunches were incredibly easy to make.
I was really impressed by the savings on each one and over a year it would save me thousands.
My favourite was the Pret BLT. Mine tasted just like the shop’s and I was impressed by how easy it was to make.
I also liked the Gail’s bagel. This felt like a special lunch and the savings were phenomenal.
The exercise has made me rethink what I eat for lunch. I will be more experimental and check out chain menus for inspiration.
- High street prices are for takeaway and may vary slightly across the country.