This week’s Shopping Trolley Hotline discovers the best value lunch meats to put in your sandwiches. 

Simon Tierney told The Hard Shoulder people already eat quite a lot of processed lunch meat – but he brought in the “exceptionally processed stuff”. 

“There's a lot of them on the market and there's a huge range of lunch meats out there,” he said. 

Starting off with a unique option, MaLing is a Chinese-owned processed meat in a vacuum sealed tin. 

“We don't know when it was made,” Simon said. 

Looking similar to spam, MaLing is the most expensive premium product at €3.60. 

A pleasant surprise

Simon and Anton noted the “pungent” smell MaLing gives off as soon as you open the tin. 

“It’s sort of somewhere between salami and Whiskas [cat food],” Anton pointed out.  

While MaLing might remind you of food you give your pet, both men were pleasantly surprised. 

“It’s like a cold, slightly undercooked sausage,” Anton said. 

“I didn’t mind the smell... I’d also be willing to eat Wiskas.” 

Luncheon roll

At the bottom end of the processed market is a luncheon roll by Denny’s coming in at €1.25 for 10 slices. 

“It’s kind of an alarmingly bright pink colour,” Simon said. 

Anton and Simon tried a luncheon meat filled with maple syrup, pork rind, kibbled onion and smoked flavourings. 

Both agreed the luncheon meat was a good choice and could even be served with the MaLing meat together. 

“Have a pork festival,” Simon suggested. 

Corned beef

Finally, the only non-pork product today was corned beef coming in at €2.45. 

“The corned beef is 55% beef, and the question that comes into my mind with that is what is the other 45%?” Simon said. 

While Simon thought the corned beef was “lovely and spicy”, Anton was sadly disappointed. 

“To use an ice cream analogy, it’s like I’ve had mint chocolate chip and cookie dough, and then vanilla,” he said. 

“It’s not bad – I'd happily fill a sandwich with it.  

“But compared to the surprising excitement that is MaLing lunch meat, it’s just not worth it.” 

With the luncheon roll costing €13 per kilogram and the corned beef costing €24 per kilogram, the MaLing is the best value processed meat by weight at €10 per kilogram. 

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