diff --git a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
index f199774b9..07ab4f0e9 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
@@ -2985,11 +2985,14 @@ external dependencies (including libraries) must go to "dependencies".''')
         if ':' in proj_name:
             raise InvalidArguments("Project name {!r} must not contain ':'".format(proj_name))
 
+        # This needs to be evaluated as early as possible, as meson uses this
+        # for things like deprecation testing.
         if 'meson_version' in kwargs:
             cv = coredata.version
             pv = kwargs['meson_version']
             if not mesonlib.version_compare(cv, pv):
                 raise InterpreterException('Meson version is %s but project requires %s' % (cv, pv))
+            mesonlib.project_meson_versions[self.subproject] = kwargs['meson_version']
 
         if os.path.exists(self.option_file):
             oi = optinterpreter.OptionInterpreter(self.subproject)
@@ -3036,10 +3039,6 @@ external dependencies (including libraries) must go to "dependencies".''')
 
         self.build.subproject_dir = self.subproject_dir
 
-        mesonlib.project_meson_versions[self.subproject] = ''
-        if 'meson_version' in kwargs:
-            mesonlib.project_meson_versions[self.subproject] = kwargs['meson_version']
-
         self.build.projects[self.subproject] = proj_name
         mlog.log('Project name:', mlog.bold(proj_name))
         mlog.log('Project version:', mlog.bold(self.project_version))
diff --git a/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py b/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
index b901ec98b..26fe6ebd7 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
@@ -39,8 +39,10 @@ _U = T.TypeVar('_U')
 
 have_fcntl = False
 have_msvcrt = False
+# TODO: this is such a hack, this really should be either in coredata or in the
+# interpreter
 # {subproject: project_meson_version}
-project_meson_versions = {}  # type: T.Dict[str, str]
+project_meson_versions = collections.defaultdict(str)  # type: T.DefaultDict[str, str]
 
 try:
     import fcntl