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 ??

Walkers crisps on BOGOF in Sains today - 2 x 12 packets for £2.49!

rowingboat, I've been looking out for Discovery for the last month & still haven't seen any! Are they late this year?

My failsafe lunch box staple is a wholemeal pitta sliced down one edge lengthways, filled with grated carrot, grated cheese and literally whatever else is in the fridge: salami, kebabs, roasted veg, leftover chicken, olives, hummus, cold leftover salmon, cold sweetcorn, falafel, tuna, even just salad and tomatoes. Anything goes. The pittas are less than 10p each, half a grated carrot is about 5p, a little bit of grated cheese is about 10p, and leftovers are effectively free!

Chickpeas are also really cheap and can be used to make hummus, falafel and salad. Pasta salads are really good too, again you can just chuck any leftovers or things which last ages in the fridge such as salami, tomatoes and olives. Salami is often much cheaper from the deli counter in supermarkets.

Wraps are fun and you can make them lunchable-esque by including batons of carrot, cucumber, cheese etc for self-assembly!

Ponders I don't know. I am in Edinburgh and they have been in Morrisons for the past two weeks.

have not read the whole thread but cheese scones are dead easy to make, and as a variation you can add some chopped bacon or ham, a pinch of pizza seasoning or some chopped sun dried tomatoes

mine would typically get

sandwich of marmite/ham/cheese etc or cream crackers and cheese

2 fruit or veg (eg raisins, apple, carrot,
tomoates)

choc biscuit or small cake

juice/smoothie

very occasionally crisps or a pot of pudding eg choc custard or jelly

I agree with kezb about kids (especially young ones) jsut wanting something quick.

My ds (10 next week) insists on the same thing every day: a Nutella sandwich/roll, a cheese triangle (or string), a fruit yoghurt, some fruit (either some strawberries or an apple) and a carton of unsweetended fruit juice (the multi-vitamin one from Lidl). On a Wednesday, the sandwich is replaced by a container of pasta with pesto.

All the ingredients are from Lidl and I'm not sure it is that much cheaper than the school meal (but then, it's only £1.15), espcially if he's given strawberries.

He likes it 'cos it's quick.

Would you mind posting the recipe perpetually?

The website someone linked to earlier is great for ideas but doesn't have recipes. Will have to do some googling!

I am sure you can google a cheese scone recipe fessa - I would happily post mine but it is an adapted version as all my home baking has to be gluten free for DD1, so the quanities are not the same, sorry

Of course Perpetually, was lured by your mention of easy! Always like a recommendation tho, and for some reason, the sound of cheese scones grabbed my fancy, but I nor DD would be able to eat them due to her cmp problems!

Have been motivated by this thread to do some baking tho, am going to make mini apple and carrot muffins this eve!

Sorry for my shorthand though x2!

cmp?

Cow's milk protein - no cheese here, sob! Should imagine avoiding gluten is even harder though

Okay, we'll move this thread in the next hour to 'Food' so it doesn't disappear.

it can be tricky my dd1 is 5 years and in year one and is very very fussy!! so i struggle

she has - a savoury egg, a fruit pouch,and a cereal bar

DD who is 11 usually has -

Roll or sandwich
Crisps - own brand ones which are much cheaper than Walkers etc
Apple or pear
Home made flapjack or jam tart - much cheaper to make at home
Veg - carrots or cucumber usually
Carton of fruit juice

I've also found that little ones will eat anything on a stick as it looks "fun". So I've done ham and cheese cubes on a skewer, or fruit kebabs with grapes, melon and strawberries.

I made dd some chocolate muesli bars as a treat. Melt chocolate. Stir in muesli, put in tray. Put in fridge to set and cut into slices. A mixture of nutricious and naughty food and it tastes suitably yummy.

Lunches are the bane the school year for me.I keep a master list of lunch ideas on the fridge door for inspiration and try to mix and match. Any fruit and veg that comes home uneaten is given as an after school snack before a treat is allowed

Breads
Wraps
Pitta
White rolls
Brown Soda Bread
Bread Sticks
Crackers
Oatcakes
Bagels
Gem Lettuce - obviously not a bread but DS is gluten free and loves cold meats wrapped in them.

Fillings

Chicken
Ham
Grated cheese and carrot
Salad
Crispy bacon
BLT
Sausage
Chicken gujons
Humus - good with bread sticks
Tuna
Smoked salmon
Choizo- Lidl's is best in imo

Fruit and Veg

Carrot sticks
Red Pepper
Cucumber
Celery
Tomatoes
Grapes
Small oranges
bananas
berries in season
melon slices
apples- if you peel or segment them and then quickly wrap them tightly in cling film they usually don't discolour.

Snacks

Popcorn
Rice cakes
Rice cakes sandwiched with nutella
Melba toast
Muffins
Flapjacks- recommend mary berry's foolproof recipe
Cheese
Mini scones
Drop pancakes

Drink

Water fromt the tap

Thanks elliephant, that list is really helpful.

My daughter is starting school soon and this thread is great for lunchbox ideas.

my daughter drinks flavoured water from asda

offer 6 330ml bottles for £1 so thats enough for week

an apple, a ham/jam sandwich

yogurt muller corner mini 8 for 1 at asda at the minute

and most days i would throw in raisins or a cereal bar depending on whats on offer.

if you can buy your bread in bulk and freeze, value jam is fine, and when bottled water goes off offer i will be buying large bottles of water 3 for £1 and filling the small bottles.

the way i see it is we would be feeding them at home and they prob snack a lot more at home.

I've been a nanny for some years now and here are the things that my previous charges took in as packed lunches:

Child 1 (age 5) - ham sandwich with butter in brown bread, breadstix with fruit puree to dip, yoghurt, carton apple juice, banana, babybel

Child 2 (age 4) - marmite and cream cheese sandwich in brown bread, breadstix with fruit puree or soft cheese to dip, apple or banana, carton apple juice, occasionally pot of cherry tom's

These 2 particular children NEVER varied in their lunchboxes. (I didn't make them btw or would have added more veg).

Child 3 - ham on white roll with butter, 1/2 cucumber, 2 individual cheeses, grapes, water in reusable bottle

Also a never-varier. Also made by Mum in mornings.

Child 4 - 1) sandwich with either tuna & sweetcorn, egg mayonnaise, or peppers & hummus; or
Pasta with any of the above fillings or
Soup (leek & potato, sweet pot & chorizo) or
Pizza muffins - 1/2 muffin, pizza sauce, cheese, variety of toppings or
Cous cous, rice, or noodles with various bulk veg/sauce
2)babybel/cheese string,
3)yoghurt
4)banana/grapes/apple/strawberries/kiwi/melon (whatever was in season/we had in at the time)
5) carrot batons, baby sweetcorns, steamed green beans, steamed broccoli

This particular child was a very good eater and as his 'treat' always had a thermos of hot chocolate for lunch

Salami or ham sandwich
Raisins or dried cranberries, sometimes nuts. They complain that fruit gets bruised...
Water in reusable bottle -- I don't buy water
Something baked, sometimes a bought treat

This thread is great. My DS is only 3 months so won't need it for a while but DH's lunches are about to get a lot more interesting (and healthy).

Can I just ask how much lunches are in UK?