School Dinners V's Packed Lunch's

leiela

both my boy's have always eaten School Dinners, but in a time where im looking to save every penny i can, i've come to realise the £1.75p per day per boy (£70) a month is quite a big expence.

I've spoken to both boy's and they are open to the idea of moving to packed lunch's, but before i make the leap i need some advice.

Does it really work out cheaper, i've been looking around im just not sure.. but the time i put some juice, sandwiches, fruit and other snacks in im thinking thats going to total up to a fair bit??

The school don't allow sweet's / Chocolate or fizzy drinks but anything else is fair game for going in the box's...

Also im worried about the lunchbox'es themselves Dad picks them up from school and both boys are pretty forgetful, i'm worried that more often than not the lunch box will be left behind.

not to mention the inital outlay of boxes and bottles etc etc...

It is worth doing?? im a busy mum who often doens't get home from work till after 7pm it's hard enough finding time to cook, eat, get things ready without the additional hassle of making up lunchboxes?? but at the same time im thinking £70 a month is alot of money to spend on lunch.

vik6525

Do you know something?

I moved my little one INTO school lunches and OFF pack ups to save money!

I found that I was spending a small fortune each week on things like ham, bread, yogurts, fruit, crisps etc etc, and then having to make a 'big' evening meal in the nights too was really working out expensive.

So i moved him into lunches, and he gets a nice hot meal at lunch time, and I only need to give him beans on toast or whatever when he gets in from school.

galvanizersbaby

As I said on another thread I would love it if my childrens school offered a hot meal.
It was something they were considering at one point but they don't have the facilities.

You can make healthy packed lunches cheaply and my 2 have more than one lunch box and drinks bottle to get round the leaving it behind/ at dad's issue.

I've no idea cost wise how much it costs per packed lunch (my son eats a hell of a lot and my daughter not so much) but my son especially would benefit from a hot dinner at school as he is a very hungry active boy who will eat anything.

He loves his hot dinner I cook (specially meat and two veg variety) and I think this would sustain him better at school than anything I could practically put in his lunchbox!

nzmegs

School lunches are a treat for my kids as they are too expensive. i believe they are worth it but packed lunches are cheaper.

Our school dinners are £1.90 (soon to go up to £2!) so £19 a week for two.

For two children I will buy the following per week: a 12 pack of crisps £2.50, two loaves of bread £2, two packs of ham/chicken £3.50. Bag of apples, oranges banana etc £2.50, 2 boxes of cereal bars £3. these are approximate prices and i do mix it up with different breads/rolls and things like sausage rolls or hard boiled eggs. But for two kids that is much cheaper. Lots of these things last longer than one week as well.

You can make it cheaper by buying in bulk and freezing things. Or give them salads or pasta in pots. Also look out for special deals. Don't be afraid to give them plenty of fruit as well - it is cheaper and easy to pop in the lunch bag. They really don't need a juice carton - the acid is bad for their teeth and water in a reusable bottle is fine.

I make my kids lunches before I leave for work at 7.30am. I have them made before the kettle has boiled and my toast has popped. it really doesn't take long.

KellyWelly

I find lunch boxes expensive and the school dinners my kids have are really good quality (they're come over all Jamie Oliver up there!) so I pay for them to have cooked lunches. I prefer them to have a cooked dinner in their tummies than half a ham sandwich and a bite of banana (the rest of the lunch was either mashed up and brought home or thrown away at school). I don't know why it is but my two would never eat all the packed lunch but my friend who does relief dinner lady up at school tells me they both eat all the cooked dinner and my son usually asks for seconds!

RoxieW

I prefer mine to have a hot school dinner esp in winter - they do occiassionally ask to go on sandwiches though so I said if they want to for the summer term then they can. my worry is that it all gets abit monotonous and junk foody - i mean, there's only so much fruit you can put in there and even things like yogurts are full of sugar arent they. Plus, price wise - i dont think I'd be able to get it much cheaper as I'd prefer to buy organic if they're eating it every day.

leiela

It's not just the cost of the school dinner's it's the quality of them, im really not convinced my kids are getting a decent meal at school, half the time my eldest complains that there was nothing left and he go lumbered with something he didn't like, while the youngest complains that he's starving the minute he walks though the door in the evening, i know he has a good appetite but still i don't like the thought that he's hungry.

Not to mention the fact that half the time they seem to be given sandwiches !!! if i wanted them to have sandwiches i'd give them sandwiches... i pay £1.75 for a decent cooked meal not flipping sandwiches (which i might add is a sandwich made with only one slice of bread??? hardly a filling meal)

Janepig

DD has sandwiches one day a week, dinners ever other day, and that's enough hassle. DH makes the sandwiches in the morning and I put all the other bits and pieces together. I tried to be all OS and bake nice healthy things and so on, but she never ate them, so she has sandwiches cut into funky shapes with a pastry cutter :rolleyes:, party sausages :rolleyes: those party egg things in breadcrumbs, which I don't think she realises are egg or she wouldn't eat them, a yoghurt stick (frozen to help keep things cool and melts by lunchtime), a fox's cookie bar and some raisins. No crisps, fizzy pop, or chocolate or cheese-strings, even though her friends have them. And she knows not to even bother asking for them!!!

Jxx

Becles

I've found they are cheaper but it depends on what you are filling the lunchbox with. Mine usually get homemade bread sandwiches or another bread type product (wraps, bagels, etc.) Sometimes they have pasta salad or something like that.

There are always an adult brand of yoghurt on BOGOF or X for £. They are allowed crisps once or twice a week (brand depends on offers!) and sometimes they have fruit loaf or similar (again depends on offers or if I've had time to bake!).

They also are allowed unlimited fruit and veg, but they must have at least one portion!

I don't buy cartons of juice. They have sports bottles and I fill them with squash. I also buy Tesco Value food boxes for 90p to use as lunchboxes. At that price, you don't mind so much if they go missing or get smashed when they are used as goalposts etc :rolleyes:

Krystaltips

My daughter wanted to try dinners so for the first couple of weeks of the new year she did... She came home grouchy and starving hungry and when asked what she'd had for dinner the only thing she ate consistently was cake and custard.. Some days the only savoury thing she ate was potato... I don't want to pay £2 a day for some cake and custard when I can send her to school with something a lot more nutritious and a lot cheaper!

Daddy makes the sandwich when he makes his own first thing in the morning and I just throw the rest together, 2 pieces of fruit, some carrot/cucumber sticks, a yoghurt tube (frozen) and a bottle of water... Or if she's really lucky a fruit shoot.. But these are few and far between! and what she doesn't eat at school she's usually finishing as soon as we walk through the door home...

DaisyFlower

DS has school dinners, the menu is great and he has never asked to switch to a packed lunch.

I dont think a packed lunch would work out much cheaper when you add in all the fruit, fresh juice, sandwiches, meat etc.

I still cook a hot meal in the evening though as think lunch at school is very early and prefer knowing he has had a hot meal at home as well.