help with pack lunches for kids

susieanne

I am doing really well with cutting down my shopping cost with the help from this site as i now do meal planning for our evening meals .
I now need help with cutting down cost for my 3 childrens pack lunch for school .They usually have a sandwich ,tube yogurt ,a biscuit ,orange or apple & packet of crisps .I find all these quite expensive because i have to buy all these items to last 5 days X 3 .
Any ideas ?

V.Lucky

How about an extra sandwich and do away with the expensive non-nutritional things that are yogurt and crisps?

You could also make your own biscuits too maybe even cookies so the kids don't feel they are missing out. Easy to make and cheap too, the kids could even help make them.

I would keep the fruit in though from a healthy point of view.

beyond_skint

Hi

I make up a bowl of rice then I put in things like, tuna and sweetcorn or cheese and onion. It then goes a few days.

I chop carrots, pot of olives. Grapes.

Hope this helps

georgia1

Here are some suggestions for you:

Try the basics/value range for the fruit eg Sains family pack of basics apples (1.4kg) is £1.49 - or alternatively try the local market if you have one. Also think about tinned fruit put into a Tupperware container eg Sains basics pineapple in juice is only 16p - I give my son half a tin at a time.

If you do want to pack crisps then again basics/ value plain ones are around 47p for 12 and we like them. Also the flavoured basics ones are about 76p for 12 - cheaper than branded ones.

Supermarket own yogurts can be quite good - around £1 for 6 (or less if you like the value ones). Alternatively if you're feeling adventurous you could make your own and add fruit.

Look out for reduced bread/rolls in the supermarket or make your own. I've had a breadmaker for around 2 years and although it was quite expensive for the initial outlay I'm sure it's paid for itself. I can load the ingredients for a loaf in the time it takes to boil a kettle - it's no hassle at all.

You might even like to consider some alternatives to sandwiches eg cold pasta and ham/tuna/veg or slices of homemade pizza perhaps.

Do your children like soup? If so consider buying a small flask and filling it with homemade soup to fill them up cheaply and to provide a good source of nutrition.

Hope this helps.

pinkpong

boil some paste with tomatoe sauce. I make up jelly from Lidl 0.19p in small pots the might before, mine love it and it`s healthy. I buy big bags of chocolate raisins and put them in small pots. Roll up some cheese in tortilas, look out for reduced stuff.

LittleBill

Popcorn is a healthy snack ... better than crisps ...

Buy a big bag ... 80p or so ... put some in a little plastic box each day ... If you clip up the bag tightly it will stay fresh ...

You could make your own yogurt ... An Easiyo yogurt maker is about £14 or so ... but will soon repay itself in the price of homemade natural and flavoured yogurt ... those yogurt tubes are very expensive for the amount you actually get ... and you do not really need to buy the Easiyo mixes either ... see this thread Old Style Board ...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=717089&highlight=easiyo

I make mine with value UHT milk and a spoonful of dried milk powder ... it works out at about 75p per litre! ... even Tescolditz Value/Prison yoghurt is about 70p for 500ml ... plus see the thread above for how to flavour them ...

Hope this is some help

stumpycat

I bought lots of small tupperware-ish pots from Poundland & use them for stuff like yoghurt (buying a big pot & spooning some out is much cheaper)

Popcorn - buy kernels & pop 'em in a pan, a small bag makes a lot of popcorn!

Jelly made from fruit juice & Vege-gel (or leaf gelatin) with bits of fruit (but not raw pineapple as it wont set)

Fruit & custard, rice pudding etc...

I also use them for meals instead of sandwiches - pasta salad, satay noodles, spicy cous cous with chopped up veggie hotdog and so on

cazwasere

Lidl have a great yoghurt deal - 1KG pots for just under £2 - with a few washable containers, this would be a great substitute for yoghurt tubes - they have a few flavours.

FreebieRocker

I would suggest buying value crisps. If you get the cheapest ones available, you can get about 12 packs for 50p. 12 packs of the flavoured crisps are about 70p.

You could also try buying the larger packs of crisps (eg 150g packs) and splitting them into smaller amounts for each of your kids. I know you can get some of these bags for about 40p in Tesco. You could eve let each of your kids have a different flavour!
I tend to find that as long as you keep the packs in the fridge they keep for about 4 days.

Try buying the home brand biscuits. I know you can get a pack of about 50 biscuits for 50p in Tesco. This should keep you going for a while!

How about having a crisp sandwich? That should reduce your outgoings as you dont have to buy a sandwich filler.

As for the tube yoghurts, have you tried buying them frozen? They tend to be much cheaper. Try Iceland or somewhere similar for these.

TrulyMadly

Hiya,

Have you thought about wraps. Just take one out of the freezer 10 mins before you need it. They don't take a lot of filling and can be really healthy. My two children love mayo mixed with a little tomato ketchup, lettuce then anything you have in the fridge
grated cheese
chopped ham
chicken
Hope this helps