The MealPal app has just launched in Manchester and it’s about to revolutionise the way we lunch

You’re standing in a queue that feels like it’s going on forever. Kids are spitting out their dummies. You’re balancing your cheese sarnie in one hand and two coffees in the other. You get to the till. You realise you’ve left your card at home and, as you’re fumbling for change, the coins spill out of your pocket and onto the shop floor.

The cashier rolls her eyes. The man behind you clears his throat impatiently. On your way back to the office you realise one of the coffee lids isn’t secured properly, but not before it’s spilled halfway down your top.

Sound familiar? This is the reality for plenty of Mancunians on the daily lunchtime grind. In fact, research has found that over a third of us have the same boring lunch at least three times a week –  and 44% of us admit to feeling disappointed by two of them

This is where MealPal comes in. It’s an newly launched lunch subscription service that promises to revolutionise the way we eat. It’s set to make the daily lunchtime pick-up fast, fun and affordable by providing access to the best restaurants in Manchester for under £4.50 a meal.

You’ll be able to get some of the city’s top foodie fare on the cheap and skip the queue at the same time. Sounds like a much more app-ealing lunch break.

All you have to do is reserve your food in advance from any participating restaurant (MealPal lunch reservations opens the night before at 5pm, allowing members to reserve lunch until 9:30am), and select the time you’d like to pick it up.

Then collect your meal, skipping the queue at the restaurant.

Hundreds of restaurants – both large and small – offer one dish per day to subscribing members through MealPal including GBK, Chilango, Barburrito, Wrap It Up, La Bandera, My Thai, New York Diner, Northern Soul Grilled Cheese, Jerk Shack, Stage and Radio, Beastro, Taberu, Oké Poké, Kettlebell Kitchen, and Bundobust.

Meal Pal was founded in 2016 by Mary Biggins and Katie Ghelli and has taken the world by storm, having already set up in a host of global cities that read like something from a supermodel’s bucket list: London, New York, Miami, Sydney, Toronto and now Manchester.

“We’re bringing MealPal to Manchester,” says MealPal general manager UK Nick Green. “We want Mancunians to ditch the soggy sandwich, leave last night’s leftovers at home and have a proper lunch – all at an affordable price.”

If you sign up today you’ll be able to choose either a 12 meal plan (£4.79 per meal) or a 20 meal plan (£4.39 per meal) to be used over the course of a 30 day cycle.

Beats a cheese sarnie any day of the week. If you fancy giving it a go, click here.