Packed lunch is cheaper than school dinners!

[Cadburymarbles]

Just had a chat with a friend who’s husband has just had his hours and hence salary cut at work. She was discussing how they’d need to cut their cloth accordingly now, she doesn’t want to work any more than she currently does, 2 days per week.

She asked me how we do it as she’s aware our financial situation isn’t currently great and I said one thing I found cheaper was making packed lunch instead of school dinners. That’s exactly what I said, nothing else, no judgement. Just the simple fact that I believed packed lunch to be the cheaper option.

Thus begins a group discussion with another load of mums who were adamant it’s not cheaper to do packed lunches and not worth the hassle as it’s so time consuming. I didn’t say anything else TBH as I’m a shy person and don’t know the other mums too well due to working full time. The discussion was primarily them and my friend. By the end my friend was well and truly convinced that packed lunch was not worth it in terms of cost/time saving.

AIBU to think they’re using the cost argument to make themselves better about the fact that they simply can’t be arsed?! I can not justify the cost of school dinners in my limited budget apart from when the child has various clubs after school and won’t have time for a hot meal, which in my young DCs social circle isn’t much of a thing anyway.

I didn’t say anything of the sorts in the playground obviously but IMO making a good quality, healthy packed lunch for my 2 DC every day, takes minutes for me or DH to do when we’re making our own lunches. It also costs nothing like the £2.60 it costs for school dinners.

It definitely is cheaper especially if you have more than one child. I have three school age DC and it would cost me £36 a week if they were all on school dinners. I reckon I spend no more than £15 a week on packed lunch stuff for them all from Aldi.

It depends on what you put in them though.

It’s not just cheaper, they can eat what they don’t eat at lunchtime after school, saving the need for a separate snack.

Can’t do that with school dinners.

I can also manage the levels of protein etc better than carb/heavy school dinners.

I use to think the same but pack lunch is so much cheaper and doesn't take that long to make. I encourage my two (7&8) to help me make theirs so they could make their own in future. We make it the night before and put it in the fridge.

Definitely cheaper

A long time since I dealt with school dinners so I looked up for an area near me. School meals are £2.30 - £2.42 each, more if 'adult' meals which I presume is for sixth formers.

A couple of sandwiches, drink and bit of fruit would probably be cheaper. I used to do packed lunch for mine mainly because hardly ate any of the school food; then discovered didn't eat much of the packed lunch either, used to sneak out to local cafe with some friends even though they were not allowed off school premises before sixth form.

You really can't win.

As long as they have something to eat at lunch time to fill up and keep them going and have a decent meal with the family in the evening, I wouldn't worry too much.

It's much cheaper for me to make packed lunches. Bread, ham, cheese, bread sticks, bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, tomatoes, kiwis, yoghurts. Costs about £20 a week for 3 of them and includes snacks. School dinners would be £2.65 a day for each of them so £39.75 and I'd still have to send them in with snacks for break time.

Absolutely it is cheaper- definitely takes more time/effort though.

Savy shoppers can easily put together a child’s packed lunch for £1 a day. I’ve seen it done for less but arguably not enough to satisfy a KS2 child or one with a good appetite!

If you’re working FT then maybe it’s not worth the £1.50 ish saving but in many houses £7.50 per week, per child is not to be sniffed at!

It’s not just kids either the real savings to be made are DP/DH 😬 Mine used to happily spend £5-£7 a day on lunch. His pack up now costs us £1.50 per day and has exactly the same items (bulk bought from Asda) in it!! 👍🏻

It's not cheaper if you get free school meals, though, is it? You don't always know people's financial circumstances - and many people wouldn't want to say that it's cheaper because they on a low income so don't pay for meals.

I find it easier to make lunches/remind dc to do it rather than navigate the online payment system for lunches, find my bank card etc.

But of course it's cheaper.
One of mine just has a slice of ham in dry bread. If he's feeling fancy he might have a slice of lettuce.

The other one has a bit of spicy mayo and quorn ham in bread.

Then a packet of crisps and a tangerine.

They have money on their lunch account but not loads. So if they're still hungry they can get soup.

I've tried all kinds of fancy additions but they prefer to eat 'normal' food at school and healthier food at home

Much cheaper. And, due to forgetting until we tried to leave this morning, can be made in under a minute.

@TheBossOfMe

That wasn’t the debate they had though. Sounds like they debated making packed lunches vs paying for school meals.

Obviously nothing is cheaper than free- but not sure your point is relevant here.

It depends surely on what you are packing and what you are paying for school lunches? If I were to pack lunches a basic lunch (sandwich, veg sticks, yoghurt pot, piece of fruit, maybe some cheese and some other carby snack like a muffin or something and bottle of water) would cost £15 to £20 (assuming water was refilled at home and carby snack was baked at home with maple syrup/honey instead of sugar, some fruit and seeds in it etc). It would also take a while. I don’t know how much school lunch costs but it can’t be much more?

Much cheaper. If both my dc had school meals every day (one primary and one secondary) it would cost at least £25 a week. A weeks worth of packed lunches with sandwich, fruit/veg and a yoghurt costs much less than that.

I’m glad it’s not me that thinks they are cheaper.

My friend isn’t on free school meals and won’t be even with her DH’s salary cut. The discussion was very clearly about the cost of one versus another so I would presume those contributing were paying. If it makes any difference the school is in an affluent area and I’d be confident most of those involved in the discussion would not be qualifying for free meals. Of course I don’t know everyone’s circumstances but that is my opinion.

Generally yes it’s cheaper but in our case not so much. DS is extremely fussy with food and will only eat certain pack lunch foods which are often expensive. So instead I send him to school dinners for £2.20 a day where he will try different foods. He’s just so fussy and not keen on sandwiches etc and prefers a hot meal.

@ WorldsOnFire

Saying their child has school meals because they're cheaper sounds like exactly the kind of thing someone who isn't comfortable saying they get FSM would say.

Sorry, typo, not just me that thinks they are cheaper!

I worked out I spend about 1.20 a day on bread, veg, yoghurt, rice cakes, fruit etc... reheated leftovers in a thermos when we’ve got busy evenings and wont have much time for a sit down meal.

Christmas my DD and none of her friends would bother to eat all that. They only have 30 minutes and would far rather be out playing for most of it.

Definitely cheaper here than the £2.40 per day for school lunch.

Both my ds’s take the same packed lunch day in day out, they are creatures of habit and want the same each day
Ds aged 6 takes 1 small ham sandwich, some cocktail sausages with dip, yogurt, a few cheddar biscuits, some melon, pepper slices, a small bun and a drink total weekly cost £10.50
Ds aged 13 takes 1 cheese sandwich, a snack sized pork pie, cereal bar, packet of crisps, yogurt, small bun, apple, pear, drink in a chilly bottle from home total weekly cost £11.50
I don’t know how much school dinners are as they have both always wanted pack up and ds6 would still be free as in ks1 but I think they get a lot more for their money with a pack up then they would with a school dinner and it’s good to know it’s food they will actually eat

I provide packed lunches for 4 for £20 a week. School meals here are £12.50 in primary, secondary is capped at £10 a day.

Yes there's time expenditure instead of money expenditure but it is definitely cheaper to make your own.

The other parents either...

1. Don't understand economies of scale in packed lunch
2. Are feeling judged for not doing this themselves
3. Provide OTT packed lunches with extravagant/expensive ingredients

We've always seen packed lunch as a means to not be hungry with an eye to the healthy rather than a culinary adventure. Depends on your priorities.

It's not cheaper for my very active 17 year old dd. She takes a packed lunch and it costs about £3-£3.50 per day to put together for enough food to sustain her for a long college day. A meal from the refectory costs £1.80-£2.50.

It would probably be cheaper for ds but he's not very good at eating packed lunch stuff. At least I know he eats the pizza/potato wedges he buys at school.

@howabout our son gets a bit more time. He has two breaks as well, and a massive appetite. I can see how it might be better to pack for children with small appetites though.