BLTs – bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches – are one of the most popular choices in many supermarket meal deals.
As a professional sandwicher of sorts, I look down the row of pre-packed sarnies in front of me with quite some glee. How fascinating to see how the real players of my industry go about their business.
Sainsbury’s, £2.55
View image in fullscreenSainsbury’s BLT sandwich: ‘very dry’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
There is only one piece of lettuce in this sandwich and it is already going grey. My friend Jack, with whom I shared these treats, says “a bit manky” might be a better description – but I couldn’t possibly comment. Many might argue that one piece of lettuce is ample – but not in a sandwich with lettuce in its name, surely? Overall the sandwich is very dry, as lacking in mayonnaise as lettuce, and the tomato is cut so thin even that old faithful can’t bring any moisture to the party. 4/10
Co-op, £3
View image in fullscreenThe Co-op’s BLT sandwich: ‘juicier and more enjoyable’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Straight away, I can see mayonnaise. This is good. And the tomatoes are clearly thicker than in the first sandwich. There’s much more lettuce and the more plentiful mayo makes the whole experience juicier and more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the excessively smoky flavour of the bacon looms a little large over everything and is, quite frankly, a bit much. 5/10
Waitrose, £3
View image in fullscreenWaitrose BLT sandwich: ‘a bit mean on contents’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Looks a bit mean on contents for what should be one of the posher versions. More grey lettuce is encountered. This is almost identical to the Co-op sandwich, with less smoky flavour and a little more tomato. 5/10
Tesco, £2.50
View image in fullscreenTesco’s BLT sandwich: ‘much lower salt content than the others’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Wafer-thin bacon in abundance. Looks quite nice. Same lettuce as all the others but here there are (what appear to be, at least) grill marks on some of the bacon. How did they do that, we wonder? Feels as if the sandwich has a much lower salt content than the others and therefore less flavour, despite things initially looking quite promising. 5/10
Marks & Spencer, £3.30
View image in fullscreenM&S BLT sandwich: ‘not too bad at all’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
This is the best looking of the bunch by miles but also the most expensive. Looks more like a BLT from a cafe than one from a supermarket. The bacon is palpably thicker and more peppery than the others. The tomato is much thicker. There are two varieties of lettuce in here and – about time – one would appear to be iceberg. Not too bad at all, relatively speaking. 6/10
Boots, £3
View image in fullscreenBoots BLT sandwich: ‘a little more lettuce than most’. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
People used to buy olive oil in a pharmacy, so why not get your lunch there now? The bread used for this one is particularly soft, and the volume of mayonnaise is verging on acceptable. There is a little more lettuce than most of the others. Unexpectedly, Boots have done all right here. 5/10
Max Halley is the owner of Max’s Sandwich Shop in Finsbury Park, north London, and the author of Max’s Sandwich Book and Max’s Picnic Book
