bmi has recently axed all free food and drinks in economy. On the very few routes where Business Class is still offered, food and drinks are free.

All knives are plastic.

Economy Food

bmi has a new "Mainline" food menu. Sandwiches are £3.50 (or €5). Pringles are £1 (€1.50). Tea comes in at a whopping £1.50, but that's noting compared to the £1 for Kitkat, Mars bars and Dairy Milk. To try and keep some sort of profits, passengers are now forbidden from taking their own food on board.

Business class food

bmi have recently revamped their business class food. It now all comes in a sealed box, which actually looks ok, and had a real glass and a proper napkin inside. All knives and forks are plastic.

The trick with the box is to slip the paper off the end, and then invert the plastic cover and use this to eat off - there is even an indent to the left, which is the same size as the base of the glass. The hot food then comes along on another trolley, in a plastic tub which goes in the middle of the plastic cover.

Rustic Chicken with veggies

A Chicken breast covered in tomato sauce. Potatoes, string beans, and mushrooms.

A salad with rocket, cucumber, and a sprkling of feta. Lemon tarte. Hot roll.

bmi have recently tried to revamp their business class catering, and this is the latest effort. It really isn't too bad, hovering just above motorway service station, but below four star hotel. It is actually pretty decent, having lots of flavour and plenty of juice soaked up in the oven.

the salad was poor value, with little to recommend it, however a pleasant surprise was the tarte: very good indeed, fresh and tangy. Nice roll too.

Beef stew & Veggies

A heated pot of beef, with beans, and six small potatoes. A packet of 8 slices of apples & grapes.

A Cadbury's Dairy Milk bar. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

This is very traditional English cussine, which got some rather odd looks in the cabin among some of the foreign travellers, but which I enjoyed. This isn't anything special, but from a very British airline is pretty good. Heated just right it worked very well.

Nice chocolate. The bag of apples is the standard bmi offering.

Chicken & Veggies

A heated pot of chicken covered in herbs, with carrots, beans, and two large potatoes in a bed of cream sauce. A packet of 8 slices of apples & grapes.

A Kitkat. A cold roll, and a tub of butter.

Rock hard chicken which has obviously been reheated and left to cool isn't the best way to greet your best paying customers. bmi should be ashamed of offering this meal in the front cabin.

The only good thing about this was the Kit-Kat. The bag of apples is the standard bmi offering.

Fruited rice & chicken salad

A pot of cold chicken with rice, on a bed of iceberg salad. A packet of 8 slices of apple.

A Cadbury's Dairy Milk bar. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

This is suprisingly good, with lots of flavour in the chicken and some fairly good rice. True, it would certainly benefit from being heated up, but you can't have everything.

The bag of apples is the standard bmi offering.

Lunch - Thai Curry

A pot of Chicken Curry, and brown rice. A packet of 8 slices of apple.

A lion bar. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

An OK curry, but with nothing to really write home about. It does the job, and tastes ok, but eating it out of the plastic tub, which has gone squidgy in the heat, doesn't add to the flavour.

This is bmi's new-style business class food, with a hot main, and a packet of fruit and a chocolate bar for desert.

Lunch - Bangers and Mash

A pot of two pork sausages, mash potato, four carrot slices and gravy. A packet of 8 slices of apples and grapes.

A twix bar (full size). A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

Bangers and Mash for lunch may not sound very good for business class - but it is very good indeed! Lovely flavour, really soft mash.

It's hard to fault this, although it must be said the presentation, and indeed the selection, isn't exactly classic business class.

Dinner - Thai Curry

A pot of Chicken Curry, and brown rice. A packet of prunes.

A Lion bar. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

Exactly the same variant as above, done exactly the same way.

The prunes are unusual - however many of the Italians on the flight seemed to enjoy these more than the apples on the leg down, so perhaps its a variant for the Italian flights.

Vegitarian - Couscous salad

A pot of couscous, iceberg lettice, and indeterminable vegitables. A packet of 8 slices of apples and grapes.

A Mars bar. A hot roll, and a tub of butter.

This is bmi's generic veggie business class offering. Very poor, it is dry and tasteless, with all the flavour left behind in the fridge.

There is no salad dressing available, not even a packet of salad creme.

Lunch - Desert

A pot of chocolate mouse, along with a Lion bar, and a packet of apple slices.

On longer flights, above an hour, business class gets a desert course as well. True, its just a pot of Marks and Spencer mouse, but its a very good one.

Dinner - Desert

A pot of peach melba.

On some flights the chocolate mouse alternates with a pot of peach melba.

Dinner - Desert - Strawberrys & Cream

A pot of eight strawberrys, cream, and sugar.

On flights in the summer, strawberrys and cream are offered as an alternative desert.

Turkey and Potatoes

Two slices of turkey, two dobs of reconstituted potato, four strips of carrots, three beans, and a gravy sauce.

A salad with one olive, six chunks of celery, three peppers and two rocket leaves. MonteVibianno Salad dressing in a lovely small glass pot. A plate with two slices of cheese and three tomatoes plus an olive and two more sticks of celery, two buiscuits, a roll, and a tub of butter.

Definately the meal of choice, this is the best that bmi provide. Indeed if it was in economy I'd be pretty impressed, but its in business... ah. Still its a good bit of nosh for a two hour flight, the turkey is a nice variation on the chicken of most flights, and the salad is quite good. Very nice cheese on the plate.

Salmon and beans

Two hunks of salmon fillets, masses of beans, some hard boiled potatoes, and a thick gloopy sauce.

A salad with carrot and iceberg lettuce. A small pot of industrial dressing. A cheese plate with three types of cheese, a slice of apple and three grapes, two biscuits, a roll (with a large thumb print in), and a tub of butter.

Hmmm. The fish is ok, but the beans its with very definately aren't. The salad is incredibly dry and could benefit from some proper dressing, and is really pretty poor. However the cheese plate makes up for it.

Vegitarian Chilli

Chilli beans in a chilli sauce, with various undestinguised mushy things around it.

A salad with carrot and iceberg lettuce. A small pot of industrial dressing. A cheese plate with three types of cheese, a slice of apple a slice of pineapple, and five grapes, two biscuits, a roll and a tub of butter.

Yuck. This meal is foul. bmi should be rightly ashamed of serving this up if it was delievered in economy... but in business! Remember many people paid £500 for a ticket. The chilli is rubbery, hot, with a plastic flavour, and just not worth serving. The salad is dry without flavour. Only the cheese and the pineapple on the cheese plate makes up for it.

Vegitarian Lasagne

Lasagne pasta with cheese and peas (!) sprinkled on top.

A salad with one olive, six chunks of celery, three peppers and two rocket leaves. MonteVibianno Salad dressing in a lovely small glass pot. A plate with two slices of cheese and three tomatoes plus an olive and two more sticks of celery, two biscuits, a roll, and a tub of butter.

Ooo, err, ummm. The cheese was quite nice - the lasagne definately was not. And peas? Why peas? Hard, rubbery, and obviously having been cooked the day before - and this is a business class meal! Still the salad is ok.

Economy Food - in the good old past

There is now no free food or drinks on bmi short haul or European flights in Economy. Instead, a trolley comes round from which you can buy food. Make sure you are up the front of the cabin for this - the trolley rarely makes it all the way to the back.

For historical reasons, here are the food options you would have been offered before bmi axed this frill:

Packet of two stem ginger biscuits. The best, nice and crunchy.

Packet of three Go Ahead low fat biscuits. Pretty fair.
"nibbles" - a packet of assorted nuts.

Cocktail snacks. These are weird reformed tiny things, in an "economy" packet.

Pastrami & dijon mustard sandwich

A sandwich with brown bread. Pastrami Ham, and a covering of dijon mustard.

This sandwich was actually a very good one. Plenty of ham, and even a decent splattering of mustard.

There was no desert offered to economy passengers.