Can a packed lunch be done cheaply?

[UndertheCedartree]

My 8 yo DD has FSM at school. When they go back in September the provision for meals is going to be much reduced. There will be only 1 week menu rather than a rolling 3 week menu, only 2 options (instead of 3) and no jacket potatos and salad bar available. Consequently 2 of the days per week there will be nothing she will eat. So I'm going to have to make her packed lunches that I can't really afford. Has any one got good ideas of a frugal lunch box, please?

What would your child eat normally at home for lunch. I do for example a cheese/ham sandwich, banana and a few Cheese savouries.

I find if I buy a large bag for around a £1 are cheaper then the individual bags

Ham and cheese sandwich. The bread, cheese and ham will only need to be bought once. None of it has to be the expensive stuff.
I buy choobz yoghurt tubes - again £1 for 6 I think.
Bunch of bananas, or apples.
My son also loves cheap sausage rolls, so he might have those instead of a sandwich.
Or I make a massive pot of tattie soup and freeze in appropriate sized portions to fit into his flask and send that with bread and a wee choc biscuit.

You could put a lot into a flask though, hot pasta, stew loads of leftovers. I have a short, dumpy wide necked one which is perfect for thicker things.

Could she try for a few weeks. She would have to if she was at a school with no packed lunch option. Obviously it an option if she has food sensory issues etc but if it’s just preference worth giving it a try.

Do you have a freezer? Things like bagels are filling and you can freeze them as a pack of 5 or 6 and just take out one at a time.
My DD likes a simple packed lunch. So would have something like a peanut butter sandwich, or a pitta bread and a babybel cheese. Plus some carrot sticks or cucumber slices.
Cooked pasta salad maybe - add some tuna or cheese? Does she like egg?
Little treat - supermarket own brand multipacks of crisps work out quite cheap per pack. Or make some flapjack and freeze it in portions.
Take a drink in a reusable container.

Buy a loaf of bread, cheese/ham/jam sandwich, slice of home made pizza, cucumber sticks/ carrot sticks/satsuma segments, home popped popcorn (not microwave popcorn), raisins from a big bag (cheaper than little boxes), a few crisps and a biscuit/flapjack. Water to drink.

Cream cheese or cheddar sandwich
Boiled egg
apple or orange (can cut up then pop into original shape and wrap in cling film to keep them fresh)
Carrot sticks
A few biscuits or crisps from a big share packet.

Above will cost you about £1 or less if you can get reduced bread etc, and will probably get eaten by most kids.

Less skint: home baked cookie, flapjack or similar - not as cheap as buying a 40p pack of biscuits and splitting them up - but also gives you a cheap activity to do with her on a sunday afternoon so, if you can do it, well worth it.

I would go for a sandwich with a cheap filling, cheese spread or grated cheese or similar. I often buy bakery items when reduced, rolls can be reduced down to pennies and can be frozen and taken out and used 1 at a time.

Some kind of veg sticks, either cucumber or carrots(super cheap) .

A banana is probably the cheapest fresh fruit, you can buy them individually if needed and they are about 13p each or apples and oranges are 30-40p each of instead you could buy a big bag of raisins and send a handful in and a bag will last a while.

For crisps I would again buy a larger bag or own brand crisps and just send a handful in or you could go somewhere like home bargains and buy a multipack for for around £1 and then that will last a couple of weeks if just doing 2 lunches a week. Breadsticks are another option that can be picked up cheaply or buy some popping corn and make some up to send in, a bag lasts ages.

A tube yogurt (6 for £1) and some water to drink.

It depends what she likes... and where you live. If you live near a supermarket, most will have an own brand value range that includes bread, cheese, apples, yogurts etc. If you only have a village shop available with branded products, then packed lunches could get expensive.

What sort of thing does she like and what do you usually give her for lunch when at home?

I have a sistema egg cooker. and make omlette-y fritata type things - delicious hot, but also work well cold with a salad or by itself for a picnic or packed lunchthey are delicious

sistema easy egg

You could probably use any small bowl with a plate, or I saw a cheap version recently - poundland or aldi maybe.
You cook whatever veg you’re going to use, frozen is fine, or leftovers, beat and season two eggs, mix the eggs with the veg and microwave for two minutes. Could also add cheese
They are delicious.

A sandwhich/bagel/wrap with fruit (banana/apple/tangerine), yoghurt and a biscuit.

Get a wide-necked flask (Wilkos have them for about £5.) Then she can have pasta, rice or noodles (all just a few pence if you cook them yourself) and add some tomato sauce with grated cheese or chicken with veg etc. Add an apple and a couple of biscuits. I can cost a few dinners like this at about 75p-£1 each.

Or a cheese, sausage or chicken sandwich (use meat from a roast chicken - way cheaper than buying ready sliced) with carrot sticks, piece of fruit in season. Add a bag of crisps or a couple of biscuits from a packet rather than individually wrapped ones. Bit more expensive and probably not quite as healthy as hot food but easier to think about. (I did packed lunches every day for twelve years and getting the hot food ready early in the morning was always a bit of a hassle.)

If she doesn't have some sort of food based SEN, I agree with a pp. She should learn to eat what's available. You're facilitating fussy eating otherwise. Shes a lucky child to have hot nutritious food available, look at Yemen

The Old Style board on the Moneysaving expert forum is usually great for this kind of thing, eating on a shoe string etc.

Chicken drumsticks can be bought in a huge tray for under £2 and roasted and frozen in batches. You could even use the chicken shredded for a pasta salad or in wraps.

Yellow sticker bread, bagels, wraps, pitta bread great for the freezer.

Smart price pasta salads with tuna, chicken, ham, bacon, cheese, tins of mixed beans or chickpeas etc whatever you have that needs using can be made up and eaten for a few days.

Pasta and pesto (a week's worth would cost £1 pesto and 50p pasta).
Boiled eggs (20p a day).
Wraps with cream cheese (20p a day).

Apple, plum or satsuma 20p
Crackers 20p
Mini yoghurt 10p

Make scones or muffins. Flour/ spread/ sugar etc are very cheap.

@Clutterbugsmum - oh yes, I onow what you mean about the cheese savories - I think she would like them. She normally has a sandwich or sausage roll or pitta and houmous type lunch (soup in winter)
@Dixiechickonhols - I could make her try but she is going through a very fussy stage right now, unfortunately.
@CatFaceCats - she likes the yogurt tubes.
Thanks @beamur and yes I have a freezer. She likes egg and cress sandwixhes so I could make those

'Only' 2 options and she's going through a fussy stage.

Between now and September can you try to get her used to eating whatever the two options are?

Bananas are v cheap and filling so if she likes those that's a good fruit.

@sushiego - she loves to bake
@Beautiful3 - I think she'd like a cheese wrap as a change from a sandwich

My child won’t eat most of what’s offered on school dinners. Most days she has wholewheat pasta mixed with either pesto or a tomato based sauce, and an apple. Very cheap.

@1Micem0use - the Monday is fish fingers and the Friday is a burger and she doesn't like either - don't feel I need to really push her to eat those foods. The other days are more 'normal' meals which she is happy to eat.

sandwich with jam or marmite, carrot, boiled egg, apple, couple of biscuits about 70p probably.

Also you can get these hot pot things. They are quite expensive but then if you heat up leftovers and put them in they stay warm to lunchtime. My kids used to like them better than a cold packed lunch. Was usually, pasta or stew or curry or something.

I am past packed lunch stages and don't miss it.

@WorraLiberty - it is burgers and fishfingers so don't want to particularly go out my way to feed the family these. We could have a bbq with burgers but she prefers a sausage.

@NiceGerbil - thank you - yes, she does.

Eh? Fish fingers are a staple food!

@SquirtleSquad - unfortunately she doesn't like them and her DB and I are vegetarian.