lunch box dilemma, will it really save money?

[IWanders]

Trying very hard to work out if providing lunch box food for 3 children (my 2 preschoolers are in only in 3 days a week) will really be cheaper than the £15 a week on school lunches?

My child's school is really strict with lunch box contents. No processed food, no pasties, sausages, crackers, bread sticks, white bread, no pudding and big no to high salt and sugar products. Its all up on the school website.

Currently my dd has school lunch and she often has fish fingers, sausages and a cupcake. So I am feeling the double standards, but I understand the guidelines are in place for a reason.

So can lunch boxes be done cheaply, googling it seems to show that i'll need to purchase a vast quantity of fruit and veg, cheese, yoghurts and fresh whole meats. On top of that salads, rices, pastas, couscous and whole breads.

I am very intimidated by what needs to be provided and I am worrying the cost will not be any cheaper. But school lunches seem very odd and often my dd has complained about not liking the meal on offer.

Sorry if this is long but any mums who pack a lunch is it really a better option and can it be done cheaply. I'm a sahm so time for preparation is fine, just trying to do what's best for the kids.

Well DS has a poor diet (ASD) but he has

A ham roll
Frube
Biscuit/ cake
Carton of juice

That is much cheaper than the £2 a day school lunch.

Lots of people will do much healthier and probably cheaper lunchboxes but yes you can do it. Imagine £30 a week for your three when they are FT.

Yes I know, that's why I think I should get in the habit now. Over £30 a week is horrendous. Just a bit intimidated by the schools healthy living status and the amount of planning that is needed.

O.k buy some boxes and start in September then. Thanks

Yes

My 7 yr and my DP have packed lunches. Wholemeal bread or a bread roll with tuna or egg or cheese fillings. Or pasta salads. Or wraps or pitta bread.

Chunk of cucumber
Carrot
Tomatoes
Grapes
melon
fresh peas in the pod

yoghurt
apple
satuma
banana
little tub of dried fruit ( apricots, and the sneaky chocolate raisins)

Also a slab of cake or flapjack or a kit kat type biccie.

Our school only gets huffy if your kid has an appalling lunch box day after day. They serve up a stodgy pud everyday for school lunch so have no issues with kids having cake or a biccie. They also know that some kids will only have jam sarnies on white bread. Better than eating nothing all day.

Forgot to say that I probably spend just less than £8.00 a week on extra on stuff for packed lunches - that's for 1 kid and 2 adults as I tend to make a pasta salad for me.

My ES does have school lunch 1 day though as he loves their puddings!

Oh it's easy and cheap, honestly. Each day my kids have a roll with ham and marmite, humous and cucumber, tuna, cheese, something like that. They have a piece of fruit each, some veg sticks each (cucumber or carrot or pepper) and a sweet thing each (a cake bar, or chewy bar, or frube). There's not that much variety in all honesty, but it's fairly nutritious and as I eat a sandwich every day for lunch I can't see it's doing them any harm!

It doesn't take me long to do; whilst I think it's great that some mums will do a massive variety of chopped veg, fruit etc and home baking, it's really not for me. I think you can make these things very simply if you're short of time or just not that way inclined!

Oh yes, buy all the "treats" on offer when BOGOF etc, it doesn't cost more than £1 a day per lunch box.

DS packed lunch daily - year 1.

sandwich or roll with peanut butter.
half an apple
a chunk of cucumber
half a bag of crisps/ few crackers/ oatcakes/ tortilla chips.
fairy cake/ biscuit
200ml bottle of squash.

guestimate on cost is less than 1 pound a day.

time to make - about 5 mins

I wrap apple and cucumber in cling film so they don't dry out.

OOh yes - buy stuff when it's on offer. We have a fine stash of goodies in the cupboard. Very useful for picnics.

I think that's what panicked me, the recipes on google for pack lunches involved a lot of baking and prep. This is fine but a batch of 12 muffins, only 3 used I can't freeze the rest as we don't have a freezer result waisted food.

So knowing schools in practice don't mind the odd pre packed cake is very good. And dips I like the idea but I'm not sure about the reality but cream cheese is a good idea. Just need to find a good lunch box and I guess September will be sorted.

If you buy Frubes when they are on special offer you can freeze them and pop into the lunchbox frozen.

We have got in the habit of having a bigger roast at the weekend as it provides a couple of days sandwich/wrap/pitta meat... and the bones boil down for a great stock for soup which can be taken in a flask.

Shove more pasta on if you having it for tea and it easily provides either a flasked hot or a boxed cold lunch.

Rice should not be reheated or kept warm, but a cold rice salad after having rice for tea is good too...

we also do frittata - eggs with potato and loads of veg cut into slices - generally when we have eggs to use up (have even hid some sausages in there shhhhh!)

We are always looking at ways to save on lunchboxes, and "left-overs" is definitely the way to go for money saving.

Last week for instance was 2 days of chicken roast leftovers - one in a wrap with salad leaves+radishes from the garden, one in a pasta dish (did extra pasta+tomato sauce night before). One day of leftover pizza - homemade with loads of veggies on it. One day of rice salad. One day fritata and carrot sticks. Each day also had an apple or grapes (whatever fruit is on 2 for 1 at asda) and a chunk of cheese (pilgrims choice 3 for 1!! at Tesco last month - it freezes well) and a yoghurt/fromage frais/homemade jelly.

Nice and healthy, nice and cheap and fits in with the barmy rules that allow school dinners to have fish and chips with French bread followed by chocolate sponge - but stop many, many things from being enjoyed in a packed lunch.

This is a great blog, with good ideas for packed lunches.

www.meetthedubiens.com/2011/09/lunch-box-ideas-and-bentos.html

Primrose the pictures on this site are so cute, making lunch with love is probably a lot better than the dubious lunches at school. Which in honesty sometimes comes across from my dds description as being a bit unpalatable at time and yes often not that healthy compared to what they want packed in lunch boxes.

Sorry, cross posted about you not having a freezer.

This government website has some good lunchbox suggestions and they are all costed up too and meet nutritional guidelines. They're for 9-12 year-olds though so you could scale down quantities and costs.

<a class="break-all" href="http://tna.europarchive.org/20110116113217/tna.europarchive.org/20110116113217/www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2004/sep/lunchbox2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here

Just out of curiosity, what happens if you send your dc with a lunch on the banned list, surely they wouldn't confiscate a full lunch & can't force you to pay for a cooked one? I'm honestly just curious

I have no idea, maybe a grumpy letter home? Or a see me letter home? Don't dare risk it my dds school is very moralistic which is good and bad in equal measure.

I'd pack a lunch of whatever you want, with a note inside that says "I'll follow your rules on "healthy lunches" when you school lunches don't include everything you're telling me not to feed MY children".

Job done.

def cheaper especially if you stick to bulk items instead of ready lunchbox fillers.
dc yr takes
2 slices of bread (homemade) with cooked meat (either leftovers or bought) as sandwich
1 pot of yoghurt or rice pudding (often decanted from a big pot or homemade)
1 beaker of juice (again decanted)
a few bits of cucumber or a couple of cherry tomatoes or other veg that can be eaten raw.
I don't give fruit as they have access to a fruitbowl all through the day.

I think I spend around a pound a day.

UniS no nuts or nut products at our school. My picky 6 year old would love a peanut butter sandwich in her packed lunch!

Rice is fine in lunchboxes. You just have to do it right. Japanese mothers have always packed their bentos with rice with their little ones. Chinese do reheat them in the microwaves, but they are all kept in a fridge, as children mostly have school dinners.

Have a look at justbento.com/handbook/bento-basics/keeping-your-bento-lunch-safe

If you want to be really safe, pack frozen rice.

sympathy kilmuir . Thankfully DS's school are pretty relaxed about contents of lunchboxes. They are tight on not letting children eat food from other childrens lunchboxes and all un- eaten food and packaging must be taken home in lunchbox.
I work as alunch supervisor and MOST children do have something on the lines of a sandwich, some fruit , some crisps and a treat. Some have more fruit/ veg. Some have more pre packaged stuff, if a child has a very scanty lunch* their class teacher will be told, just so its kept and eye on in case a family are struggling.

Curiously without there being a ban, I never see a fizzy drink in school.

our school has a no nuts and seeds policy and no crisps or sweet treats are allowed.
we don't have problems at all with that, there is still plenty of choice to pack.