School packed lunch advise

[louise5754]

Hi as if September I will have to pay for school dinners for both my kids.

I don't work and can't claim benefits.

What is the cheapest way I can pack the kids up every day?

Anyone got any tips please?

They have packed lunch twice a week at the minute and usually bring home everything half eaten 😲

Mine get a 'main'
Chopped fruit or vegetables
A treat item

I find if I put in whole fruit like an apple or pear he won't eat it as i don't think they have much time.
Mine don't eat a whole apple at home if it's not chopped up or at holiday club where they have time - I think they just lose interest! So that's why I chop up apples (pears I leave whole).

When I used to do Brownies we found the same
I should say that might read better as:
When I used to be a Brownie leader we also found they don't eat a whole apple.
Rather than
When I used to bake brownies nobody ate a whole one (because that would be UNTRUE).

Seeing what you give I think it's possibly too much - could you cut steak bake in half or do sandwich with 1 slice of bread. Or get the mini sausage rolls and do a couple of them? You can get big bags for little money in Iceland.

Cut out the babybel or yogurt they don't need both. Or to save money use the cheaper pots of yogurt and slices of cheddar.

Maybe split the crisps mine had half a packet for ages. Or get the share bags which work out cheaper.

For fruit could you pre chop/peel. Maybe half of one each rather than a whole piece. Apples if you put a bit of lemon juice on they don't brown.

Thank you all.

There are 7 and 9

They!!!

That’s a lot for 7 & 9! A steak bake is a lot for a child.

Roll- ham, chicken mayo, tuna, salad
Pot- cherry toms, cucumber and carrot
Yoghurt
Sweet clem, grapes

No crisps, chocolate, nuts, cake etc allowed at dc’s primary.

Pack less if the don't eat it all. Leave out the baby belle and something else. Get rid of the steak bake and give a healthy sandwich instead eg Tuna and salad.

They don't have time to eat lots as they want to get out there to play.
I used to put extras like yoghurt, crisps and fruit in DGS's packed lunch but after the first few months cut down to:
• a sandwich (nothing fancy)
• grapes or berries
• bottle of water
No crisps, biscuits or other 'treats'.
Even then it wasn't always eaten. Took in an apple at pick up so he could eat that on the way home.

I agree it is probably too much food in terms of what they want to eat hunger wise but also what they have time for before being booted out to the playground (our school only give 10 minutes to eat).

I would do a small sandwich (if they don't eat the crusts I found with one picky child they ate more sandwich if I trimmed off the crust rather than them eat round it so less waste and quicker which meant they then ate more other food or wrap), fruit wise I would cut some up and put it in a little pot, much quicker and you can mix the fruit or do cucumber or pepper so more interesting, then something else to go with it, I tend to rotate cheese straws/twists with crisps or little snack crackers but don't give too many.

Little plastic boxes rather than wrapping in plastic bags, cling film or tin foil. Stops stuff getting squashed too.

Too much food and too many things to deal with.
Plus crisps, hogs and Baby Bels are expensive.

Ds used to get:
Sandwich
(E.g Cheese, cream cheese and cucumber, egg, cold fish finger, peanut butter, lettuce and mayo)

Plus a cold sausage or ‘cheese Lego’ (economy cheddar and Red Leicester cut in little bricks), a samosa, sausage roll or falafel,

Satsuma, ready peeled and segmented, or grapes.

Cut out the babybel, or sub with a slice of cheese off a block. They don't need that and yoghurt anyway. Fruit, I'd give them something they'll eat. I find bananas and (strangely) melon are cheapest, or whatever's on offer. Keep sandwiches veggie to keep costs down. Philly (own brand) seems popular with a lot of kids and is cheap & savoury. You can add stuff like a slice of salami or tomato. Carrot sticks are cheap but they take ages to eat so DC might well just leave them. Your crisps are probably a good shout.

Mine had a sandwich/roll/wrap, some sort of fruit or veg (carrot sticks, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, satsuma mostly), a cheese triangle or piece or cheese or a yogurt/frontage frais, box of raisins (refill them!) and a piece of flapjack or cereal bar. Only water was allowed at their school

You can freeze bread / rolls that are reduced then just defrost and use as needed.

Make big batches of carrot cakes / flapjacks etc

Big natural yoghurt pot then decant into smaller pots with jam / honey for flavour.

Love the idea of baking gammon instead of ham I'm stealing that!

No brands - supermarket's own crisps.

And yy to pp just pack less until they start eating it all and save stuff for home snacks instead.