Value for Money

BLTs

Spar BLT Baguette €3.40

This was made in-store in our local Spar so is, probably, the freshest of the options we tried. It also stands out as being made with white bread, which we hoped would be fresh, crusty and full of flavour. It wasn’t. While it looked pleasant enough when encased in plastic, when we removed its wrapping, things started to go wrong. The bread was soft and tasteless, what lettuce there was was limp, and the tomato had reduced the sandwich to a soggy mess. The small slivers of bacon were fatty and too salty and a long way off the stuff you’d fry yourself. It is not the most awful sandwich we have ever eaten and is quite keenly priced but we’ll not be rushing back.

Verdict:A limp affair

Star rating:**

Bite Group €4

Not once but twice on the packaging we were promised crisp, sweet cured bacon but that is not what we got. The meat in this sarnie was a long way from crisp. That is not to say it was bad, however. The more we ate this sandwich, the more we liked it and we found it strangely appealing in a greasy, salty kind of way. The lettuce had a decent crunch to it and the tomatoes were nicely textured and did not leech into the bread. This might have done it a favour, though – the bread was pretty poor and let the sandwich down. It looks like brown bread but is pretty tasteless and has a texture that is a long way from wholesome. At €4, it is not cheap.

Verdict: Pretty average

Star rating: ***

Marks Spencer €4.19

Okay, so this is the dearest of the BLTs we tried, which is obviously a minus. It is, however, the best by a country mile and is the closest we came to a freshly made sandwich. There is lots of filling and all the components are bursting with flavour. The bacon is excellent – meaty and salty with the merest hint of crispiness. The lettuce is lovely and crunchy and the tomatoes are juicy and full of flavour and absolutely covered in black pepper. The malted bread is also very good. This sandwich will make up 42 per cent of your salt allowance and nearly a third of your daily allocation of fat.

Verdict:Very good

Star rating:

****

Freshways €3.19

This is almost certainly the most widely available pre-packaged BLT on the market and was also the cheapest sandwich we came across. The cheery packaging promised us its chefs had worked hard “to create innovative sandwiches” and well they might have, but none of that innovation is on display here.

This sandwich could scarcely be more boring and it might well have been the least inspired BLT we have ever tried. It was very light on filling while there must have been a lettuce shortage on the day this was made, too.

Verdict: Poor

Star rating

: **