M&S Simply Food

£3–£6 salads and sandwiches instead of £15 sit‑down meals

M&S Simply Food at Gatwick basically functions as an airside mini‑supermarket, and regulars treat it as their main food stop before low‑cost flights. Pricing on packaged food tracks normal UK M&S stores, so a salad or sushi tray still sits in the £3–£6 range rather than airport‑inflated levels. People stock up on Percy Pigs, pasta salads and sushi instead of paying £7 for a basic sandwich elsewhere in North or South Terminal.

Both terminals have an airside M&S Simply Food after security, so you can grab food right before your gate rather than in landside check‑in halls. Hours typically match early departures and late arrivals, opening before the 06:00 bank of flights and running into the evening wave. Flyers on easyJet and other low‑cost carriers use it to dodge £5 coffees plus £8 meal deals in generic chains.

Value play: use it as an onboard picnic shop. A drink, salad and snack here often lands under £10 total, versus £12–£15 for a single tray on many low‑cost carriers. Reddit users even mention finding yellow‑sticker reductions first thing in the morning on previous‑day items, dropping some meals to £2–£3. That trick works best before 07:00, before the first rush wipes out the bargains.

Watch out for peak crowds around 07:00–09:00 and 17:00–19:00, when queues can run 10–15 minutes and fridges start looking empty. Late evenings after 21:00 see complaints about sold‑out sandwiches and sushi. Seating is thin near both stores, so assume you’ll eat at the gate or on the plane rather than at a table. Tip: grab cutlery and napkins at the fridge area or till; you won’t find spares once you reach the gate.