Cheap packed lunch and snack ideas

[Imsolucky1983]

I have bought the eat well for less book and saving so much money on our evenings meals. But I'm still spending loads on lunches/packed lunches and snacks (breakfast is porridge or toast).

Does anyone have cheap snack ideas for ever hungry 3 year old and a 7 year old? And cheap packed lunch ideas. I'm spending so much on cereal bars, dried fruit, hummus etc.

Sliced apple and peanut butter is a good snack and pretty cheap, carrot sticks, breadsticks, bananas.
Nkt aure about lunches other than pasta and sandwhiches though

Breads ticks or pitta bread with hummous dip or veg fingers with it.

Tuna, pasta and sweetcorn stirred in with mayo.

Cold rice, mixed veg and pieces of cooked meat.

Make your own cereal bars / flapjacks / hummus

I also make malt loaf and banana loaf which works well as breakfast and snacks

Thank you. For the 3 year old who eats lots and the 7 year old (who is fussy!) do you think this sounds ok for a packed lunch? Ham sandwich, chopped up cucumber, chopped up grapes and a slice of homemade banana bread.

Maybe add a yogurt or cheese cubes for calcium?

DD (9) has a chicken and sweetcorn wrap / half pack of flavoured cous cous, veg sticks (combo of cucumber, pepper, tomatoes, celery), crisps or popcorn, fruit pot (plums, kiwi or grapes) and a yogurt tube. She has worked that out to be less than £1.50 a day ... made her do the maths when she wanted to come off hot dinners

Popping your own popcorn is a really cheap way to provide a fun and portable snack. Do packed lunches have to be sandwich based? I may be inclined to mix it up a bit, if you veer away from bread at lunch you could offer a bread based snack later, things like crumpets or toast, or toasted pitta fingers with a tip make cheap after school snacks. Replace with things like potato, pasta, rice or cous cous salads, cold fritata, cheese and crackers at lunch.

Hummus is cheap as chips to make! It's a faff soaking and cooking your chickpeas but you can do huge batches and freeze them.

Mine like soup (in a flask) and a roll - I bulk buy rolls when they are down to 19p for 6 in Morrisons. They freeze very well.

I sometimes make mumsnet cheese and thyme muffins- cost pennies and taste great.

I think your lunch sounds great already though (presumably they get calcium on the porridge in the morning)