The best supermarket dine in for 2 deals: eat in for less

For many people, a supermarket meal deal is just for lunch. These days, however, it's so much more. Most supermarkets offer restaurant-quality meals, similar to a takeaway, that you just need to take home and cook. These dine in for 2 meals give you a delicious main, a starter or side, drinks, and often dessert at excellent prices.

These meal deal dishes aren't low-quality, either. They make for great family meals to share with a partner or loved one. The food might offer king prawns, roast beef, dauphinoise potatoes, or other delights. Drinks often include a bottle of wine or fizz, or a four-pack of beer.

Read on to see how you can choose a great, low-effort meal that's healthier and cheaper than a takeaway. Remember, TopCashback offer cashback on food orders from most supermarkets. Get an even better deal on an affordable dinner treat when you shop through our website.

Almost every UK supermarket has their own spin on an indulgent, ready-to-cook meal when the food cupboard runs bare. Whether you're looking for a midweek meal or a weekend treat, you can probably find what you're looking for with a dine-in meal from at least one supermarket.

The concept is always the same: food and drink you can enjoy with little more than an oven or hob. However, everything else about them can change, from your choice of menu items to the cuisine on offer. Check in with each supermarket to see if they offer your favourites.

It can be difficult to find meal deals that fit your dietary requirements. To make this easier, we'll be marking vegetarian options in deals with a and vegan options with a .

We’ll be updating these deals on a regular basis, making sure you can always get the latest and best meal deals from your favourite supermarkets.

These deals and cashback rates were last updated on the 14th of October.

Marks and Spencer dine in

M&S proudly proclaim themselves 'the home of dine in', being the supermarket that popularised the idea of premium, takeaway-quality meals you can cook at home. They continue this proud legacy, offering the quality you'd expect at a price that might take you by surprise.

Even better, M&S meal deals come with a lot more variety than most other supermarkets. Some of these meals are permanent additions to their menu, but others rotate in and out.

Tesco dine in deals

Tesco offer a wide array of bargain dinners, but only a few meal deals, available in their Tesco Finest range. However, these meal deals offer everything you might want for dinner with a loved one or a solo treat – and some of them come finished with a drink.

Note: You need a Tesco Clubcard to benefit from these deals. Otherwise, you pay the individual cost for the items you want.

Waitrose dine in deals

Waitrose have a range of dinner deals, made with their usual quality and luxury. Their meal deals come in all shapes and sizes, from straightforward and charming dinners all the way to elaborate feasts.

Sainsbury's dine in deals

For real price variety, check out Sainsbury's dinner meal deals for Nectar members. Their offerings range from truly affordable, simple meals that require some assembly to more decadent, convenient meals that rival the range at any other supermarket. Make sure to use a Nectar card, or you’ll pay full price and miss out on a bargain.

Morrisons dine in for 2 deals

Morrisons tend to only offer one dine in for 2 deal at a time, confidently titled 'The Best'. In its current form, running until the end of the year, Morrisons offer some generous dinner helpings. These include familiar favourites and some things that are a little fancier.

ASDA dine in deals

ASDA aren't afraid of variety when it comes to their supermarket dinner deals. They cover more price points and choices of food than almost any other supermarket, with a mouth-watering selection of food to enjoy when you fancy something delicious and easy.

Co-op dine in deals

The Co-op offers a more ad-hoc range of dinner deals. While they don't have a specific dine-in section, the dinners they do offer make for an excellent dine-in experience without a lot of effort required, sometimes as cheaply as half price.

Note: Some Co-op meal deals require a Co-op membership to take advantage of. We'll note the price difference for members and non-members on these deals.

Which supermarkets don't do dine-in meal deals?

While Iceland, Lidl, and Aldi all offer fine ranges of dinner food, they don't have bespoke dinner deals all year round like other supermarkets. You have to wait for special occasions to get a Valentine’s Day meal deal or similar from Aldi or Iceland.

You can still get your favourites together for a lovely end-of-day meal with a loved one, but it won't come with a bundle and discount like at M&S, Tesco, and many more.

Which supermarket dine in for 2 deals are the best?

It's impossible to say, for every shopper, which supermarket boasts the best dine-in dinner meal deal. Even beyond matters of taste and preferences for different dishes, customers have different needs.

However, depending on those needs, some supermarkets do pull out ahead. Read on to learn which supermarket meal deals excel for certain diners' needs.

For traditional dine-in meal deals, the cheapest has to be the Sainsbury's Takeaway Pizza Meal Deal. Feeding four for £10, it comes out to £2.50 per person. Between two pizzas, two sides, and a dip, everyone can get something they want. It's easy to customise with extras, but you don't need to for a great meal.

The Sainsbury's Stir Fry Meal Deal is cheaper, costing just £3. However, it's an unusual dine-in deal, not coming with any sides, starters, or desserts.

As a result, we've got to give it to the Sainsbury's pizza offer due to better fitting the idea of an indulgent, takeaway-quality treat that comes out far, far cheaper.

The Tesco Finest meal deal has an impressive amount of variety. It's less constrained than other specific deals, offering over 30 products to mix and match for your perfect meal. Between its mains, sides, desserts, and range of soft and alcoholic drinks, there's the makings of a meal for anyone in there.

In terms of quality, we have to tip our hat to the classic M&S meal deal. They're known as the home of dine-in for a reason, and their offerings still more than hold their own.

While each individual selection doesn't rival the Tesco Finest dine in for 2 meal for variety, M&S cover multiple different cuisines with aplomb. Their meals are carefully curated for consistent quality.

Other members of the TopCashback team agreed with this, sharing their thoughts:

Fork out less for the perfect dinner

You don't have to pay through the nose for a treat, however fancy your tastes are. Whether you want some fish and chips or a delicious stir fry on a bed of noodles, there's a perfect balance between flavour, convenience, and cost at most UK supermarkets.

If you want something cheaper than a takeaway but more indulgent than your normal cooking, hopefully we've given you somewhere to start. If nothing else, it’s a great meal to enjoy when you fancy a night off from home cooking. Put it in the oven, relax, and enjoy.

Each supermarket's meal deals offer something slightly different, with unique options, combinations, portions, and prices for you to choose from. Why not try a few and find your favourite? The worst that'll happen is you have a series of lovely dinners.

If you want other low-hassle, low-cost ways to enjoy delicious food, check out our HelloFresh review and Too Good to Go guide.

And remember, you can eat for less when you shop through TopCashback. We give you some of the cost of your online shop back with most supermarkets. If you want an even better deal on takeaway-quality food, you've come to the right place.