HELP !! i appear to be near to tears over lunchbox contents

[MrsMorgan]

I do have pmt, so that may have some bearing it, but fgs, I seem to be spending a fortune.

3 dc, two and primary school, and one at secondary school. All have been on free school meals for the past few years (single parent).
I now have a job and so i'm not entitled to them anymore, and can't afford to pay for the school lunches, so we all will now need a packed lunch every day.

I am sat now trying to do an online shop and it seems to be costing my rather alot. What am I doing wrong ? What do you all spend on packed lunches ??

I usually make a sandwich with ham/cheese/tuna/egg/peanut butter. Then include a yoghurt, some kind of fruit or veg (banana/carrot sticks/grapes), bottle of tap water and either a cake or chocholate biscuit. I usually add crisps for Fridays only. Never really worked out the cost, but it's certainly cheaper than school dinners.

Sure someone will be along soon with actual help but just want to say don't feel pressured to get individual packets of crisps/biscuits/froobs etc. Sandwich, piece of fruit, treat (biscuit/yogurt/candy), refillable bottle of water, done. Or last night's leftovers--pasta, noodles, rice, pizza all fine in lunchbox.

two at primary school, that should say.

School dinners are usually cheaper then pack ups, and they get something hot inside them during the colder months.

Do yourself a list of what you spend a month on pack up and compare it to school dinners for a month.

You will be surprised.

The kids have school meals but have to have a pack up for trips, I've tried to do it as cheaply as possible but it still costs more over a month.

Bread
butter
fillings
crips
juice
fruit
yoghurt

Think what you eat which is prob not that much and do the same for them

ham sandwich
cheap value apple
tap water
homemade cake

Thank you.

Wrt fruit, the eldest won't eat any. She just wants to take a roll and some crisps. I am not overly bothered about this tbh because she eats plenty of veg at home.

The younger two, generally want a roll, pot of grapes/cheries/strawberries etc. Flap jack and a drink. Doesn't sound alot but costs alot lol.

Look for the offers, if they have bogof on cakes then buy those instead of the normal ones, it's often cheaper to buy a whole cake rather then the individual ones. Look for the offers on fruit and buy some squash for the drinks and fill up an old water bottle. Then all you need to do is make some sandwiches, a whole lettuce is cheaper then the prepackages stuff if you want them to have salad.

It would cost £27 a week for all 3 to have school dinners, and then i'd still need lunch stuff for myself.

I am crap at baking, but my mum isn't, so I could ask her to do some cakes.

make the flapjacks, it's cheaper and they are easy enough.

Grapes are cheaper then other veg. Cherries are expensive. You can make flapjack, it's oats, raisins and butter (???)( google it), a bag of oats and a bag of raisins are really cheap.

dd1 has a refillable bottle (£1.50 from Asda; not a character/branded one). She has diluted juice in this (and water all day at school). She nags me for branded drinks/cartons but I limit these to 2 max per week (for cost and health reasons)

We have the same policy re crisps/biscuits. She is allowed 2 portions per week.

(despite her protests that everyone else has a bag of iced gems and a fruit shoot and a bag of quavers every single day.

Typical lunch is sandwich (one roll or one slice of bread). I find ham expensive so it is often tuna mayo or cheese. (sometimes I cook gammon or beef for main meal at weekend and use the leftovers in sandwich)

Piece of fruit (and/or chunks of cucumber/cherry tomatoes/pepper sticks). If your dc eat this type of salad or carrot sticks etc it is much cheaper and healthier than fruit. Boxes of raisins also popular and some dcs see them as a treat.

Yogurt - whatever is on offer tbh.

if we have time I try and make cakes/flapjacks with the dcs at the weekend. e.g. add one small plain fairy cake or piece of flapjack.

For flapjack I buy the "value" syrup, porridge oats and use stork margarine.

www.approvedfood.co.uk These would be very cheap for cakes/flapjack/crisps etc.

loads of x-posts I see I am one of several recommending flapjacks!

I think it's the fruit that can potentially cost the most. When we are trying to cut down I buy bananas/apples - and look for whatever is on offer at the time.

Branded crisps unless on offer are significantly more expensive than own brand.

Also re bread, if dcs are happy to be flexible then look out for the offers, don't stick to same brand. (I got 2 packs of warburtons rolls the other day. 89p each or 2 for £1 which is very good value) :)

Right ok, this is a huge help thank you.

I have abandoned the food shop for now, as I was panic buying lol.

I am going to go through all ideas on this thread and then do it properly.

Any more ideas are welcome.

Belle, have you used that site ?? I have never heard of them.

MrsM - glad you are feeling a bit calmer.

Even if you usually shop online, you might find it helpful (as a one-off) to do your first lot of packed lunch shopping in person. (if possible)

I shop online and in person, but if I am shopping for a "new" or unusual purpose iyswim then I find it easier to go and look. By new I mean that you are now getting used to packed lunch shopping. :)

1 cup of flour white or brown and mix with water to make a dough.

Kneed for a little while while a frying pan is getting hot.

Divide dough and roll into small circles

slap onto hot but dry pan, for 30 seconds, flip over to the other side for 10 seconds and flip again for 10 seconds.

Instant wraps.

No, it was recommended by a few people on here though on the money saving threads. It's all stuff that's past it's sell by date, not past it's used by dates. You can get alot of cakes etc from the pound shops aswell

sorry, 3 cups of flour, not 1

Is that really how to make a wrap Ipom? Goodness, I really had no idea.

belle just to add that some of the stuff is within the best before dates - I think you can click on each item on the site and it will tell you when the date is.

We had some real bargains for dh (who has gluten free) but of course it varies a lot on what they have in stock.

I have used it 2-3 times, found them reliable. :)tbh for "normal" i.e. not gluten free stuff I find that we tend to get decent offers from the supermarket as long as we are flexible on what we have.

It's more of a chapati but the idea is the same, just different flours used.

They don't need cakes/biscuits/crisps in a lunchbox - they are expensive and will really bump up your shopping costs.

My DD has a roll or sandwich (ham, tuna, chicken or Marmite) with a banana, a pot of chopped fruit (grapes, strawberries, melon, pineapple, satsuma segments, apple, stuff like that whatever is in season). A few chunks of cheese and a drink.

I am guessing it probably costs less than a pound a day to feed her lunch.

Refillable juics bottles rather than cartons. Buy tortilla wraps, pitta breads etc when they are on offer and stick them in the freezer.

Ipom, you make that sound so easy. I can try I suppose lol.

I think that might be best lollipop.

Thank's for that Belle, having a look through it now.