I think CO also offers free "food" too - and it looks if anything worse than AA. In fact on a transcon (say, EWR-LAX) in economy you don't get a real meal like AA, UA, or DL gives - you get somethng like a hot sandwich (cheeseburger?) and a bag of chips. Take a look at airlinemeals.net to compare. I'll definitely trade a Bistro bag on a shorter trip for something at least vaguely edible on a transcon.

CO's meals look kind of like the ones AA was serving maybe five years ago on midcons - a typical choice would be, say, a hot meatloaf sandwich or a chicken Ceasar salad. Except CO doesn't offer the salad choice which on AA was invariably the better choice.

The best mid-haul meals I'd seen (since they stopped serving full meals that is) were on DL in maybe 2000 or so. They were nice cold wraps with various accompaniments. They were not brand-name but otherwise they looked a LOT like many airlines' buy-on-board meals today (though those could be much larger as I've not ever been on a flight where they were offered). I think they might have alternated with salads. They were quite tasty but alas they served them only for a short time - it might have been right after 9/11 when they axed them, memory is a little fuzzy there. They may have been the last meals DL served on mid-haul flights (they actually called it a "snack") and I quite liked them. I'm sorry airlinemeals.net didn't become popular until after most airlines ditched free food on shorter flights, only because in discussions like this, photos and descriptions of moderatly old meals would be rather helpful to refresh ones memory...