Panera’s $4.99 mix & match deal has affordability challanged NJ cheering

My wife Linda and I have been Panera people since the early 2000s. No joke — long before fast casual was even a thing people talked about, we were regulars. The bread, the soups, the sandwiches — it just hits different when you know the ingredients are actually good for you.

So when I heard the news this week, I may have done a little fist pump.

Panera Bread launches $4.99 mix & match value menu

Panera Bread just launched its very first Mix & Match value menu, and the concept is almost too good to be true. You pick from up to ten of their fan favorites — half sandwiches, half salads, cups of soup — and each one is just $4.99. Yep. Panera. $4.99 each.  With affordability the current #1 issue in New Jersey, this is a very big deal!

And to sweeten the deal, every order comes with a free side: baguette, chips, or an apple. You just have to order at least two items to get the Mix & Match pricing, but honestly, when have any of us ever stopped at just one thing at Panera?

ALSO READ: Is your NJ work lunch secretly costing you over $5K a year?

What’s on the Panera mix & match menu?

Here's what's on the Mix & Match menu: half sandwiches include the Toasted Italiano, Toasted Caprese Focaccia, Bacon Turkey Bravo — and my personal favorite, the Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad. That sandwich is a work of art, people. Don't sleep on it.

The half salads include Fuji Apple Chicken, Ranch Parm BLT, and Caesar. And the soups? Creamy Tomato, Homestyle Chicken Noodle — both classics in the Johnson household — plus Bistro French Onion rounding out the trio.

Now, the beloved You Pick Two isn't going anywhere — that's still on the menu at regular pricing so you can mix from the whole Panera lineup. But for those of us who want to keep it simple and affordable, this new Mix & Match is exactly what the doctor ordered.

A new lunch deal for New Jersey Panera fans

And here's the thing — I'm a notoriously indecisive orderer. Walk me into Panera when I'm hungry and I turn into a guy staring at the menu board like it's written in a foreign language. The You Pick Two was already a gift for people like me. Now, with ten options at the same price? I might be there all day. Linda, you've been warned.

The good news for all of us here at NJ 101.5? There's a fantastic Panera right on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing. So the next time you're in the neighborhood — or just driving by on your lunch break — you know where to find me. I'll be the guy debating between the Creamy Tomato and the Chicken Noodle.

Probably getting both.

For more details on the Mix & Match menu, visit PaneraBread.com.