Does Tesco meal deal give you more chocolate than you want?

THE Tesco meal deal is one of the most popular around - and for good reason.

With a sandwich or salad, a drink, and a snack such as crisps or a chocolate bar for just £3, you can make big savings on what the items would have cost you separately.

But have you noticed that, if you fancy a bit of chocolate as part of the deal, you could end up buying a bigger bar than you really want?

It’s certainly the case in some stores that you’re not allowed to buy various smaller bars because only the larger Duo bars are part of the promotion.

These can have nearly twice as many calories as the normal-sized bars.

Ann Crawford, Deputy Director Health, Wellbeing and Workforce Development at Public Health England East Midlands, said: “Retailers have a responsibility to make the healthy choice the easier choice.

“Promotions, such as meal deals, have a role to play in achieving this and enabling industry to reduce the amount of sugar we buy and consume.

“Industry is engaging positively in the sugar reduction programme for which we published a report in May 2018 - it highlighted where progress has been made and where further work is needed.”

For example, at Tesco Express in Long Row, Nottingham city centre, you can’t buy a 54.5g Double Decker (250kcal) in the deal, and you have to buy a 80g (370kcal) bar instead.

Likewise, if you fancy a Kitkat Chunky, you’ll have to buy the 70g (372kcal) version in the deal, rather than the normal-sized 40g (203kcal) bar.

That means an extra 169 calories and increase of more than 80 percent compared to the smaller bar.

You’ll face a similar situation if you’re buying other bars such as Dairy Milk and Boost.

The Duo-sized bars do say in the small print that they “contain two servings” but how many of us really split our lunchtime chocolate bar?

A Tesco spokesperson said: “Our customers can choose from over 13 million different meal deal combinations.

“These include a wide variety of healthier options such as fruit pots and Graze snack packs.

“We’re continuously making our products healthier so it’s easier for our customers to make healthy choices.”

Examples of healthier options in the Tesco meal deal include grapes and strawberries, watermelon fingers, and protein bites.

Earlier this year the Tesco meal deal changed when the size of soft drinks included changed from 500ml to 375ml , as a result of the newlyintroduced sugar tax.