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 ??

Mine like cold pasta with pesto and cherry toms (DS would eat it every day!). For pud I buy Yeo Valley squeezy yoghurts when they are on two for one and freeze them. They keep the packed lunch cool that way too.

Mine are super cheap.

I buy bread rolls on buy 12 for a pound and put them in the freezer. Sainsburys to two bags for a pound I defrost them on the morning of use.

They each have a cheese or peanut butter sandwhich

a banana or apple

water in a resuable bottle

and a sainsburys basics chocolate digestive bar re- wrapped in foil to avoid teasing (yes it did happen).

It varies a little but not much and it is cheap.

melon is cheeper than grapes or strawberries - in fact i don't buy grapes any more as the £3 for a bag opposed to £1 for a melon when they are on offer or use a market to get cheaper fruit.

i can give you the recipe for banana loaf which is the easiest thing to make and will freeze.

100 g (4 oz) plain flour
Pinch of salt
125 g (5 oz) wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp spoon mixed spice
1/2 spoon ground cinnamon
100 g (4 oz) soft brown sugar
100 g (4 oz) butter or margarine
225 g (1/2 lb) mixed dried fruit
50 g (2 oz) chopped mixed peel
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp marmalade A little milk (if necessary

melt the butter and sugar over a low heat and keep stringing - use a largish saucepan and then when butter and sugardisolved pour in all the other ingrediants and then pour intio a linned tined 20cm 8" tin and bake for 1 and a hlaf hours on gas 3 or 160

this will keep well in a tin for a week and you will have all the spices to do the next few weeks

add a rolll - buy in bulk and freeze - add marmite or chees and a drink of water and there you go with some melon or an apple

What no banana, Ivy?

no you keep the banan loaf to eat at home when the dc are at school - don't let them eat banana until they are good and tidy their rooms and then only a little for a tease

I think she meant theres no banana in the recipe for banana loaf Ivy!

no the recipe is for fruit cake -oh shit I was cooking dinner and tried to sort out wayward teens and her money

sorry

but the fruit cake is good and if she wants the banan loaf receipe and can do it after swimming - I only hope there is swimming and It not a wasted trip

OP thanks for starting this thread. It has inspired me. I am making a "free" crumble tonight. (apples from my mum's garden, ditto plums and blackberries from pub garden!)

It's not for packed lunches but I remembered that baking is generally cheap! I am making the oat and raisin cookies on Saturday with the dds. I hate cookies that you have to roll out but these ones you don't. (someone reminded me further up the thread). :)

millie1could yoiu link me to 'pizza swirls'

ds1 is a packedlunch nightmare

I love this thread.

I echo the melon idea, cheaper by far, 1 melone will do ten portions with me .

School dinners are sooooo expensive! Def not cheaper than packed lunches. It would work out £120/month (soon to be £150/month); who can afford that?

I prefer wholemeal rolls, but the warburtons pre-sliced white ones are 12 for a £1 often, and super convenient! (we keep in freezer). Own brand soft cheese (philadelphia) goes a long way and lasts quite well through the week. dd1 likes it with carrot sticks to dip.

I usually do sandwich/roll, frube or similar, piece of fruit and something else eg biscuit/slice of leftover pizza/pot of grated cheese/small cereal bar. I sometimes put in cartons of juicy water, or watered down apple juice in a lidded cup for dd2 whos not keen on water. Tinned rice pudding (in a small pot) goes down well, as does natural yoghurt and honey. Tinned eaches/fruit cocktail in juice.

DD2 loves cooked plain pasta with grated cheese and tinned sweetcorn - pretty much an all in one lunch and v cheap, and you can make it when cooking evening before. She has this several days a week. Add tuna or pesto for variation. Dd1 loves salmon spread sandwiches. I tend to stretch to crisps on school trip days for a change (not for cost reasons). Hth.

DC1 was a packed lunch and has:

Sandwich with egg mayo/cheese/ham/humous/beef filling - I make in batches and freeze (not egg obv) and this is cheaper as someone would otherwise eat the left over meat etc I was going to use the next day, plus saves early morning rush).

One apple

One carton of juice (own brand)- about 20p

One small treat (poss humzinger/jaffa cakes/couple of biscuits) - 10-20p

One yog - about 15p

They also get a decent home cooked meal in the evening so I don't worry about stuffing the lunch box with salad etc.

found the pizza swirls recipe for whoever wanted it

uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/599621

Hi all,
I am new on here but thought I would take a moment to share my experience.

I spent years making lunches for my son only to find out he spent as much time looking for somewhere to hide the food he hadn't eaten. Typical lunch was a sandwich with ham, tuna, cheese, chicken, etc, a piece of fruit and two as he got older, a packet of crisps/iced gems/snack bar and a bottle of diluted cordial.

He's sixteen now and about to start college tomorrow and finally we have come to a comprimise. He has been making his own lunches for the last year and includes things he likes, however we have rules on sugary snacks and drinks (he's starting a sports and nutrition course, ironically).
He will make wraps using low fat mayonaise instead of butter/margarine and put in chicken, chesse, iceburg lettuce, cucumber, duck. He has fruit he likes which is kiwi, banana, clementines. He'll add a yogurt and loves raisins so I buy the unsweetened value pack and he add some to a sandwich bag.
I am happy knowing he is actually eating the food and not throwing it away and though his lunches sometimes contain the odd cake, biscuits or sugary treat, I can be satisfied knowing he's active and has a healthy breakfast and tea at home.

My daughter who is 11 starts secondary school on Thursday and fortunately likes pasta, salad, soups, fruits and will happily try anything I make her. Hopefully she won't feel pressured into having a school lunch although I have said maybe once a week she can have a school dinner.

Whilst I think it's really important to maintain a healthy balanced diet, it's also not a good thing to beat yourself up about if there are the odd days when a sugary sweet finds it's way into the snack box.
We have to work hard to educate our children why their lunch box is healthly and encouraging the children to be part of the food shopping trip and perparation of their dinner, also gives them a better insight.

:-)

Hi pridentity (and welcome). My dcs are still quite young (6 and 3) so personally I always find it really useful to hear from parents with slightly older dcs. :)

I find it much cheaper than school meals.

I buy value wholemeal bread, butter and make a weeks supply of smoked salmon (lidl), ham or cheese (buy in bulk from sainsburys as they often have good bogoffs on cheese) and freeze.

They have this with tap water and a portion of fruit (grapes, pineapple, clementines etc) and/or salad.

I have tried adding a treat such as cake or biscuit but then they leave the fruit or the sandwich.

I think they are talking so much that they do not have time to eat it all

I estimate it costs me a maximun of £10 a week for two if using smoked salmon or as little as £3 a week if using ham.

School dinners would be £20 a week. I was a school dinners fan but they kept asking for packed lunches - if I had more time I would go back to making my own bread but with dh too they get through a whole loaf a day and it was like being on a hamster run...

you can buy small wide neck flasks with no glass inner so if dropped no harm done.Asda andTesco do them but easy to find anywhere.

Re flapjacks - has anyone mentioned the condensed milk and oats method?

Tin of condensed milk ... enough oats to make it all stick together (plus raisins or nuts if you feel like it) ... 1 hour in a low oven (GM1) and there you go. They are marvellous.

Have been a member for sometime but have never added any comments.
I really wanted to add to this as i am a dinner lady and see far too much food in the lunch boxes and too much expensive pre packed food being sent into school. i dread to think what some parents are spending on filling these lunch boxes. all most kids want to do at lunchtime is to eat as quick as possible so they can get outside and play with their friends. I think that 4 food items and a drink are plenty, i normally send my dd's in with some sort of sandwich/roll/wrap/pasta or rice salad/bread sticks,youghurt or cheese chunks or cream cheese in a pot for the breadsticks, a portion of fruit or veg and a homemade cake/biscuit. They only get crisps once a wk if deserved. Mine only ever get fruit juice in a reusable bottle or water.

I have got small round pots from lakeland - they used to do smaller square pots but stopped, I have about 8 left of the square style.

i will fill these with a little fruit from a fruit cocktail tin (the economy tins on the bottom shelf) and then pout over jelly.

It is only probably 3 spoonfuls ion the square tubs and 4-5 spoonfuls in the round tubs

But makes a chep and fruity snack instead of yogurts all the time

about 40p for the jelly and 26p for the fruit this will make enough for one child for about 6-8 days

I'm just going to repeat the mantra sliced brown bread with cheese or mayonnaise mix - tuna, egg or coleslaw. If they will eat it home made spicy bean pate is nice or home made hummus.
Or if in a hurry oatcakes and cheese. Banana and oatcakes is very nice.
Sliced carrot sticks or pepper sticks
piece of flapjack - really is the easiest and you/they can ice it with white icing if you fancy a change.
Add some ginger to the flapjack to make gingerflap - quite nice and or other spices to shake things up a bit.
Morrisons usually has a good selection of apples for £1 a bag. Currently, Discovery apples are in season and they are perfect for a small lunch bag, because they are a nice size (and very tasty)
Most value fromage frais seem to contain the same ingredients as the expensive varieties - Morrisons or Asda do 6 for 45p.
Places like Lidl or Iceland always seem to have cheap deals on crips.
Tap water in a bottle.
I always do myself a packed lunch for work and often just end up taking a banana, oatcakes and a couple of apples.

Wow. How does anyone think school dinners are cheaper?

Pitta (6) 49p (keep in freezer to toast)
Apples/Pears £1.00
Ham £1.50
Cakes/Bars £1.00 (these are ALWAYS on offer and Mr Kipling are so tiny they fit in perfectly!)
Frube things(6) £1.00
Cucumber 80p

I make that £6 as opposed to £10.60

Change for cheese/grated carrot+peanut butter
or rice/pasta salad when required.

DS has a 2 breakfasts (one before and one after dog walk) and a hot dinner at 5pm.Easy peasy.

here's a luch box menu planner

Gosh, I must be mean.

Sandwich, apple.

That's it.

To be fair we don't buy or make cakes/biscuits, and no longer buy crisps.