LORD Sandwich has a lot to answer for. But at least he kept it simple. All he did was slap some beef between two slices of bread and lo - he had created a fast food empire. We all eat lots of sandwiches. About 155 a year each apparently. Most of those are made at home, but a fifth of them are bought ready-made. And it's a sector that's growing rapidly.

And as we get fed up with the gap between our own home-made cheese and pickle and the top of the range readymade - hoisin duck wrap, perhaps, or brie, grape and walnut - we're going for a compromise and buying ready-made sandwich fillers.

Is it really so hard to boil an egg and mash a bit of mayonnaise in? Apparently so.

As it is National Sandwich Week next week (It's also National Condom Week but don't let that put you off...) we've been turning life into one long picnic by testing some of those fillings.

OUR FAVOURITES...

MARKS & SPENCER Poached salmon and cucumber £1.99 for 170g

Chunks of salmon, crispy bits of cucumber, dash of lemon, horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, dill and yoghurt.

Delicious, taste of summer and tricky to do quickly and easily at home. If you're going to be extravagant and buy sandwich fillings, this is the one to buy.

TESCO Coronation chicken £1.21 for 250g

Excellent, the best Coronation chicken - chunks of chicken with peaches, apricots, almonds and sultanas.

MORRISONS Coronation chicken 99p for 170g

Another good flavour and texture.

GOOD TASTE BUT EXTRAVAGANT...

CO-OP Egg mayonnaise 69p for 200g and Co-op Free range egg mayonnaise £1.25 for 200g

We applaud the Co-op for giving our sandwiches a better life, but could taste very little difference between them.

MARKS & SPENCER Free range egg and mayonnaise 99p for 170g

MORRISONS Egg mayonnaise 69p for 170g

SAFEWAY Egg mayonnaise 69p for 170g

SAINSBURY'S Egg mayonnaise 89p for 170g

TESCO Chunky free range egg mayonnaise £1.35 for 250g

All these tasted fine. Just like home-made in fact. And as boiling an egg isn't rocket science, don't let the supermarkets make a profit from your laziness.

WE ALSO LIKED...

CO-OP Corned beef and onion £1.05

A refreshing down-to-earth change from some of the more exotic offerings.

CO-OP Chicken, bacon and sweetcorn £1.55

- because many of the other supermarket offerings containing bacon used a rather nasty smoked bacon which overwhelmed everything.

MARKS & SPENCER Smoked salmon and soft cheese £1.99 for 170g. Very salmony and a very rich smoked taste. This divided testers - you love it or hate it. No half measures.

MORRISONS Chicken tikka 99p for 170g - good interesting taste.

WE DIDN'T LIKE...

MORRISONS Seafood cocktail 99p for 170g

This was very nasty and tasted of imitation crab sticks. Horrid.

SAFEWAY Coronation chicken 99p for 170g - most peculiar taste.

SAINSBURY'S Prawn mayonnaise £1.59

Awful, awful. Gloopy, watery mayonnaise littered with pink prawns which look like plastic - and taste like it too.

TESCO Chunky seafood cocktail £1.49 for 250g

Horrid. Another dollop of gloopy mayonnaise and those nasty pink bits. Not nice at all.

REMEMBER

...whenever experts are advising on quick ways to save money, one of the first things they suggest is not to buy ready-made sandwiches. Buying fillings instead is at least a step in the right direction...