Tesco, Waitrose, and Aldi offer Valentine's Day meal deals on a budget

This year retailers are spreading the love by offering consumers Valentine's Day on a budget. The price of roses, chocolate and own-brand Prosecco are being slashed faster than teenagers in a horror movie.

At Sainsbury's, shoppers can snap up a bottle of Codorniu Cava and Thorntons chocolate for £10, almost half their individual retail price.

Tesco has chosen Valentine's Day as the ideal moment to launch a cheaper version of Marks & Spencer's highly successful ‘Eat in for £10' offer.

It is offering a main, side dish, dessert and bottle of wine for two from the Tesco Finest range for nine pounds. Toad in the Hole and breaded cod fishcakes are two of the less-than-romantic dishes included in the deal.

We may not be known as the world's most romantic nation, but this may not be a case of ‘every little helps'.

Waitrose is also running Valentine's meal deals with money off selected champagnes and sparkling wines, a three-course meal for two for £10 and a £5 brunch. There is of course a risk that those that spent a tenner on a microwave meal for Valentine's Day won't reach the brunch stage.

Aldi, the budget supermarket, has cleverly avoided putting a price on romance and instead is helping its customers whip up culinary masterpieces this Valentine's Day with an online cook-along with TV chef Phil Vickery.

Wetherspoons has ditched the Valentine's curry club offer it ran last year, possibly having realised that spicy curry and a warm pint tend not to have an aphrodisiac effect. Instead it is offering couples two steaks and a bottle of wine for £14.99, which will hopefully make the course of true love run a bit more smoothly.

And for those that want to impress their loved one with that Bridget Jones favourite, ‘the mini-break', Ryanair, the no-frills airline that takes pride in being cheap, is promoting travel vouchers with personalised messages as Valentine's day gifts.

Of course, Valentine's Day cynics and people that don't want to stump up a tenner should remember that writing a poem is free: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I haven't brought you anything, but I still love you'.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk