The Great Hunt: Cheap and healthy packed lunches

Pasta makes a good, filling, cheap and nutritious meal: like lindsayr2403 suggests above, I make extra for our supper the night before, and put the cold leftovers into a container with a bit of garlic bread in foil and a couple of cherry tomatoes from the garden.

You can get lots of variation by changing the pasta, filling and sauce types. Another advantage is it's not a messy eat!

This is the time of year to look out for free fruit - the woods are bursting with blackberries, wild apples and sloes right now. Check around allotments - both sets near me have fruit trees and bushes, also herbs, that have 'escaped' and seeded outside the grounds, leaving a free harvest for anyone to take, I get plums, grapes, raspberries, rosemary, thyme and if I'm quick enough to beat the birds, some red currants too.

Check with friends who have fruit trees in their gardens or allotments as they're often looking to share the harvest once their larders and freezers are full.

Check the street markets at packing-up time, the stallholders will often give away or discount heavily, and you can find whole trays of fruit discarded because it's over-ripe or has bruising.

Carrot and cucumber sticks with hummous are popular - but hummous is expensive to buy in those tiny little pots from tesco. You can make it yourself. Just blend up some chickpeas (either from a can, or you can cook the dry ones although they need a lot of boiling), add some tahini (made from sesame seeds), lemon juice, olive oil and salt. It freezes OK so I tend to make a bulk amount and separate it into smaller tubs before freezing.

I also make my own quiche. One slab of ready-made shortcrust pastry can be rolled out to line three 20cm quiche tins. Blind-bake for 10 minutes (line with grease-proof paper and fill with marbles or baking beads) then fill up with whatever you like (bacon, tomato and mushroom is my choice). Then whisk up some eggs with some single cream and pour over, adding a sprinkle of grated cheese, and bake for a further 30 minutes. Once they're baked and cooled they can be frozen, and then either warmed up for a main meal or defrosted and sliced for a packed lunch.

gloriouslyhappy wrote: »

Sounds delicious, I'd love to give it a try - how much tahini to one can of chickpeas? Thanks.

Not completely sure but I add a table-spoon at at time, give it a good stir, have a taste and then add some more. I don't tend to use canned chickpeas, but cook up a mountain of the dried ones. Takes a few hours but I think it works out cheaper.

I've considered attempting to make my own tahini but I've not yet tried it. I think it involves toasting sesame seeds and then crushing and blending them up with olive oil - but I think it ends up very coarse unless you try and strain out the husks in some way.

for snacks, I buy Tesco own fruit and nuts, I then supplement with seeds (generally Lidl or Morrisons (who do lovely chilli packs!)) and make myself a pot every day from a big mix. Chop up the brazil nuts 1st. I use an old 50ml cream pot as my pack...tasty and healthy snack!

Another cheapy, for lunches, I'll simply mash up some mackerel with cream cheese and chilli powder. Scoff with rough oat cakes - nom!