Great 'Best credit crunch work lunch' Hunt: What to make or buy on the cheap.

spaceboy

Best thing is make your own sandwiches. You get more filling and they wont be as cold as a supermarket sandwich. And they'll be much cheaper.

Also, drink tap water rather than soft drinks - cuts down your sugar intake and it's cheaper.

Avoid having a dessert for afters. You'll lose weight and save money.

JoeyW

Sainsburys deli and bread counter is good for a cheap lunch. They do batons for approx. 40p then you can buy a different meat on the deli each time. Just buy what you need to fill the baton and it shouldn't cost more than £1.50 for the lot e.g. 3 slices of salami.

aless02

A HUGE moneysaving technique is to adopt the packed-lunch 'bento box' method. It's originally Japanese, but that doesn't mean you have to pack only Asian-style foods! Here's some websites/blogs to get you started:

http://justbento.com/
http://lunchinabox.net/
http://lunchbucketbento.blogspot.com/
http://obentobaby.blogspot.com/
http://bentolunch.livejournal.com/

I use a combination of supplies from the weekly shopping and extra stuff I've cooked over the weekend. You can make really cheap lunches this way like buying cheap mince & making meatballs, mini-meatloafs, mini hamburgers. Also things like rice and pasta can be made in batch and frozen into lunch-sized portions. Bento-ing is very healthy and emphasises getting proper portions of fruit/veg into your lunch along with some carbs/protein. Easy bento foods to have on-hand are mini carrots, dried fruit, nuts, plus a huge range of homemade stuff like mini-muffins, rice balls, mini quiches, etc.

Basically, it's a great way to a filling and HEALTHY lunch that isn't full of sandwiches all the time!! Eating a proper lunch is definitely money-saving, because then you won't be tempted to snack! I spend far less money buying food for my lunches then when I need to buy multi-packs of crisps, lots of bread (for sandwiches) and lots of lunchmeat.

For example, yesterday's bento consisted of: 2 meatballs (made over the weekend from a huge batch of mince), 2 onigiri-style rice balls (again, made over the weekend!), soy sauce for dipping, baby carrots, dried apricots, handful of peanuts, a tiny pear sliced in half to fit in the container - and then an apple on the side. All that stuff fit in a bento box I've bought (cost £5 from the Asian supermarket, but you can easily use what you already have in your kitchen). Today's lunch is a portion of leftover pasta from last night, dried fruit & nut medley, small pot of yoghurt & an apple. If you've got a larger appetite - just get a larger box! You'll actually be surprised at how much you can fit.

If you want more blogs/websites for ideas, just Google "bento blog" or "bento lunches". You don't need all the cutesy supplies the websites have - any plastic storage container will work fine!

Katkin_2

I'm not as healthy as these other posters but I buy a tub of butter 99p and a tub of soft cheese £1.14 from lidls and keep in the fridge at work. Then I either buy crackers to go with them 60p for a week or a small baggette for 30p each day. It lasts me at least a month and as a treat I occassionaly add cucumber with. Cheap and cheerful at around 40p per day max.:D

fairynuff27

Whenever I've got the oven on anyway I shove in a couple of baking potatoes to make the most of the cost. Once cooked, halve the potatoes and scoop out the middle. Mix in a bowl with the filling of your choice - grated cheese and chopped spring onions or tomatoes, cream cheese (two tubs of own brand for £1.50 in our corner Spa/Heritage shop at the moment) and chives, cream cheese and mustard (mmmm!) - whatever I fancy and/or have in the fridge! Mix it up with the potato and refill the jacket halves. You can then blast these in the office microwave for lunch the next day!

These also work well mashed with very small amounts of leftovers - when there's just a tiny bit of sauce left from the curry or bolognese, not enough for a meal for one, or the last bits of mushy veg in the casserole dish!

I also make a meal, but bulk it up with cheap tinned goods to make enough for lunches too - so last night's sausage casserole (made because I got 8 pork sausages for £1 in the reduced section) was bulked out with reduced mushrooms and a tin of chick peas to make 10 or so meals rather than 8. By chopping up the sausages rather than leaving them whole, no-one ever knows they're getting less than 2 sausages each, and a whole new meal can be made by cooking some cheap pasta and mixing it through the leftovers! Everyone gets casserole for dinner, then a sausage pasta dish for lunch which can be nuked OR eaten cold!

ked

My local oriental supermarket sells packets of Koka noodles for 25p a pack. They've got tons of really nice flavours (chicken, hot thai, beef, even lobster flavour!) and you get more per pack than you would in a pot noodle for about 1/4 of the price. They taste a lot better than the smart price 8p noodles, they were an economy too far for me.

I love the fact I can buy a months worth of lunch for £4

rhiwfield

Many days our evening meal can be chilled and reheated. If thats the case we make an extra smaller portion for reheating in the office microwave.

Much nicer than sarnies in the depth of winter!

mcallister1

kingkano wrote: »

DO you mean no used by date and past its sell by date? I thought its illegal to sell food past its USE by date. A best before date is usually fine to ignore. (sorry to be pedantic but there is a very distinct difference. You shouldn't really use food past its use by date, esp for children or the elderly)

Looks like a good site though :beer:

Yes- I knew it wasn't sell by date. The stuff is the kind of thing that doesn't go off easily.

tessie_bear

asda had 6 bread rolls for 10p last night....thats a good base for a cheap sarnie

mz_philli

I used to buy a burger and a drink for lunch last year, but now take a sandwich from home and make a cup of tea at work instead.