Sandwiches for lunch, ideas for lowering cost

[Bringonthesunforthewashing]

We are a family of 5, sandwiches for pack up are costing a fortune!!

Only 2 of us like tuna
Only 3 of us like ham
Only 3 of us like chicken
Only 1 likes egg
No one likes cheese

I have been buying a gammon joint from Aldi, the 1.3kg ones and cooking that every Sunday as dp likes ham and he takes the most lunch.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Even if I buy and cook chicken breasts that will cost a fortune.

I am currently making at least 15 sandwiches a week with more for supper etc.

There must be a cheaper way?

Add more veg to stretch the meat. Humous or other bean dip are pretty cheap and easy to make at home. Roast veg. Salad leaves. Raw sliced/grated veg like cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots.

Make soup with your gammon and have that instead of or along with the sandwich.

Stick to the ham and tuna for the time being. It sounds as though you have found a way to achieve ham sandwiches economically and a tin of tuna isn't expensive.

However, why do you have sandwiches again at supper? Not my business but I'd have thought that was too much bread in one day. What do you all have for breakfast?

Buy bulk frozen chicken breast?

https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/-skinless-chicken-breast-fillets-5kg/78504.html#prefn1=filterPackSize&prefv1=Bigger%20Packs&start=1

Or making bulk dishes which can be eaten cold or heated up depending on facilities?

Cous cous with feta, sultanas, whatever ingredients you like
Pasta bakes
Spanish omelette (tinned potatoes are great for this)
Crustless quiche
Falafel (home made freezes beautifully)

Sandwich alternative fillings - maybe wraps would work better for some of these ideas though:
The boxes of ham trimmings you get at Lidl would at least reduce the Sunday cooking!
Bacon, lettuce and tomato
Meatballs
Houmous (goes well with onion chutney)
Pulled pork (I make this https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/barbecue-pulled-pork - it doesn't taste like a SW recipe. Just use sugar if you don't like the SF alternatives)

Veggies ideas
https://www.eatingwell.com/gallery/7952158/most-satisfying-veggie-sandwich-recipes/

I hate hate hate lukewarm sandwiches for lunch so never took them to work as I had no access to a fridge...!

Do bigger dinners and pack up leftovers instead? - also work out how much protein you're offering over the day/week and if you can stop bothering with protein for lunch.

Invest in soup flasks, will anyone eat soup and a lump of bread?

Do you like pasta/rice/noodle salads? You can make in bulk & pot up for everyone.

How about pasties? I buy puff pastry squares & sandwich cooked chilli/bolognese/curry leftovers etc between two to make a Greggs style pasty which always goes down well.

Bhajis/samosas/spring rolls?

Cooked chicken legs?

Flasks of soup? Again you can make in bulk.

Just thinking that it might be time to Think Outside The Sandwich...

An electric slicer makes meat and cheese go much further (and bread too if you slice your own).

Thank you all, loads of great ideas there.

I agree we should think about an alternative to a sandwich sometimes.

dp wouldn’t entertain anything but a sandwich.

I could possibly get 2 of the 3 teenagers on board with left over pasta bake, don’t think anyone would take soup apart from me.

They are such a fussy lot!

Thank you for the ideas, I will use them 😊

Ref the ham trimmings - it would be substantially cheaper than buying a large ham.

https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/cooked-ham-trim-600g/89712.html

@NCForQuestions thank you, do you know how much it is? It is currently out of stock so I can’t tell

Hard boiled egg chaser on the side

Veg soup for starters

Make a quiche and serve them that

Oh, the price shows on the page for me! £3.50 for 600g, so £7 for the same sort of size as your gammon joint.

I buy the tubs in Lidl for £2.49 for whatever the size is they have but there's only two of us to feed!

Why are you having sandwiches again for supper?

@NCForQuestions really!! That is brilliant.

Definitely going to buy that going forward - thank you 😊

Do any of your lot like Marmite and butter sandwiches?? I always think the B vitamins make it a very reasonable choice. No crisps with it though.

Peanut butter/ peanut butter and jam?

I make my DC a pasta salad, makes the meat or tuna go a lot further, plus you could make the basic one (pasta, mayo or mayo and pesto mix, cherry toms, cucumber, red or spring onion, chick peas or olives, sweetcorn, defrosted peas etc) then just add the individual protein on top to stir through - egg slices, cubed chicken, tuna, prawns.

Variants to change it up - cous cous with balsamic dressing, quinoa or bulgar wheat etc which are even easier to prep.

Alternative sandwich fillings
Coronation or tikka chickpeas
cowboy salsa (bean salad, sweetcorn, onion, peppers)
Roast a bag of cheap/value peppers and do roast peppers and hummus (other veg/spreads exist so you could vary this up)
burritos - heavy on the rice/beans/veg

Cucumber sandwiches
Salad sandwiches / wraps
Cream cheese and cucumber

Whole chicken roasted.
Asda also do ham trimming.

When I was a very broke adult I subsisted on Marmite sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches and tomato sandwiches.

Lidl and Aldi do sliced brown bread as well as white bread at 36p a loaf, as well as a fake 'lurpack' spread, fake 'marmite', own-brand peanut butter, and packs of tomatoes.

Lidl have ham trimmings for super economy.

How about roast pork sandwiches ... £8 shoulder joint is enough for a Sunday roast and many sandwiches.

Home made hummus and toasted pitta breads. Tins of chickpeas are pretty cheap. I don't bother using tahini - just olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt. You could add things like roasted peppers or sundried tomatoes to flavour it for a bit of variety.

LTB for not liking cheese 😆

What about cream cheese, do they like that ?
I like cream cheese sandwiches with grated carrot, celery & cress.

hummus & falafel
roast chicken and salad
Chopped ocean sticks & prawns mixed with Marie Rose sauce in a nice roll with lettuce
Hoisin duck wraps (just roast off duck legs, you'll be surprised how far it goes with lettuce and Q)

unelss they have access to a microwave I'm not surprised your teens don't want to eat cold, leftover pasta bake 🤮

I also make homemade steak slices from beef casserole and flaky pastry

Another thing you could do is roast a whole chicken, strip it and then make coronation chicken or chicken, crispy bacon, spring onion and mayo filling 🤤

So many great ideas!

Thank you all so much. I will ask them all tonight while we are eating tea and see which they will go for 😊