Typical lunch box

Mrstim

Hi.

I am kind of new to the forum, have been lurker for a while. My first post was on the shopping area and was advised to come over to you guys.

We are a family of 5, 3 kids are 9, 27 months and 7 months and currently we spend £160/£140 a week on shopping. I realised from talking to other families and looking on here that is quite alot so I am desperate to cut it down.
I went to Aldi and asda on saturday instead of tesco and managed to get it down to £120, but I cant see me getting it much lower than that. So am now looking into what we eat and what we have that is so much different than others.
Am now also going to only have meat with a meal for 4 days a week. I have managed to make a large whole chicken last 3 meals instead of the 2 I was doing before. But in all honesty I cant see much more I can cut down...
So now am wondering if it is the lunch boxes that my husband and nine yr old have?
My hubby has 2 rolls with cold meat of some sort, 2 chocolate bars, bag of crisps, 2 pieces of fruit and a yoghurt. My daughter has a play piece which is normally a piece of fruit and a cereal bar and then for lunch she has a ham roll, biscuit, cheese string, pear or apple, a yoghurt and a carton of juice.
Neither of them are over wieght, in fact my 9 yr old is only 3 stone and the smallest in her class and my hubby average for his height. They both say any less and they would be hungry. My hubby uses some of the bits in lunch box for snacks in the day and doesnt use the vending machine

What sort of things do you guys do for lunch boxes? Do you think that they have too much?

Aarons_mummy

For a lunch box to cut down costs I would say take out the 2 chocolate bars (pretty expensive to buy IMO) and replace with home baking of some sort, cakes, scones, muffins, flapjacks. These are so so so cheap and can be done in a batch and frozen so they can be taken out in the morning and will be ready to eat by lunch. This would save you a bit I think.

Could you buy a gammon joint to slice down to make ham? How about a variety of filling ie cheese and onion mixed with a bit mayo, egg mayo etc could be a bit cheaper than buying ham.

Could you down brand the crisps, use value tortillas (50p a bag split into 4/5 days for example). You could batch bake your own cereal bars lots of threads, maybe someone could point you to them.

For your daughter again instead of biscuit swap with home baking. Do you buy the branded cheese strings? Could you pop some cheese cubes into a tub/bag would be much much cheaper than buying them in. Instead of a carton of juice could you use a sports cup (I recently got a pack of 3 in the £1 shop) and fill up with diluting juice/water.

Just a few ideas that could save even a little bit.

Aarons_mummy

Also just to add could you bake your own rolls? Also mix it up a bit with tortillas and pittas, these cost pennies to make and are so easy and can be used in the same way as sandwiches/rolls. I don't get on with breadmaking, it always turns out wrong but I managed to make these and they can be frozen so easy to do in a batch and then cook/defrost as and when needed.

tessie_bear

some great ideas already...id suggest...looking for the bits u buy on offer and stocking up....bake cakes biscuits yourself...use proper cheese not strings...buy a bottle and refill it....i reuse fruit shoot for my son...look out for cheaper fillings...egg mayo/cheese/tuna all when reduced/on offer

hth

Pocketlady_2

What about having a day or two of a home made pasta?

Pasta ,Tuna, cucumber,sweetcorn and tomato with mayo, is cheap and filling rather than all of the different bits.

DaisyMoo

I agree with the home baking - freezing portions of home baking and popping them into a lunch box in the mornings, keeps the other contents cool and should defrost by lunchtime. I do this with bread and butter pudding and fruit jellies (my OH is a big kid!)
Also, for at least 2 meals a week, I cook extra so that we can take the leftovers to work the next day. I can get boring doing it every day, which is why we limit it to twice a week.
Good Luck x

Buddingblonde

Cold tortilla is yummy as is cooked chicken legs or cooked sausages. Pasta mayo and pesto is lovely.
Buy cheap cereal and cheap cooking choc and amke crispie cakes - add some dried fruit for a change.
Scones (sweet or savory) an be a nice change.
Cold pizza will do nicely in a packed lunch too.

Mrstim

Thanks everyone. I have started the home baking, made 12 blueberry muffins but they were hard by the next day... I out them in a biscuit tin in the fridge.

So should I bake them and the freeze them when they are cool and take them out in the morning so they defrosted by lunch?

We have had a discussion about the fillings neither my hubby or my daughter like eggs or tuna, I know these would help but if they dont like them what can i do? I am going to have cheese and pickle some days for them I think. And grate the cheese as my husband cuts huge slabs of cheese for a roll.
Have tried sticks of normal cheese for my daughter but she says she doesnt like it I get the cheap cheese strings, i think they called peelables. I worry because she hardly has any milk and its a way of getting calcium . Also her school are a bit funny about what juice they have, but I might just have to tell them to sod off and give her cordial, its alway sugar free so its not like im giving her something really unhealthy!!

Mrstim

Aarons_mummy wrote: »

Also just to add could you bake your own rolls? Also mix it up a bit with tortillas and pittas, these cost pennies to make and are so easy and can be used in the same way as sandwiches/rolls. I don't get on with breadmaking, it always turns out wrong but I managed to make these and they can be frozen so easy to do in a batch and then cook/defrost as and when needed.

Oooh never thought about making my own pittas. I do own a bread maker and never use it tbh, if i make a loaf of bread it seems to be gone in a day so I stopped doing it.

I am going to go read about making my own rolls though, see if I can do that in my bread maker!

Mrstim

Pocketlady wrote: »

What about having a day or two of a home made pasta?

Pasta ,Tuna, cucumber,sweetcorn and tomato with mayo, is cheap and filling rather than all of the different bits.

Ye it is a great idea, sort of thing id eat but those two just wouldnt thank me for it! I know alot of the problems we have with our shopping is down to fussyness!!

jamsandwhich

I bake muffins all the time and don't keep them in the fridge at all just a tupperware container but, they do start to dry out quite quickly - I use oil instead of butter and then if I know they won't be eaten the next day I freeze in portion packs. Cheese and fruit scones also freeze well as long as they are nice and moist when taken from oven and cooled.

Rice cake freezes well as does lemon drizzle cake (slice and portion bag) - would love to be able to make flapjacks but am totally rubbish as they eaither end up really sticky or dry as dust so I gave up!:rotfl:

Quiche is good - can be really cheap to make and is very filling too. My Mum used to make a hotdog sausage one and it is a favourite with my OH and girls but good old cheese and onion or bacon and tomato is good too.

I also second cooking joints and freezing for sandwhiches - we started doing this about nine months ago and save soooo much money - buy joints when on offer ie; co-op three gammon for a tenner - cook all three and freeze to save power ;-)

Buy anything on offer, turkey, beef, bacon and even store cupboard stuff - initial outlay needed but saves so much in the long run.

Do you have a Home Bargains nearby or BM? these are great places to pick up low priced store cupboard essentials - I get coconut milk from HB for 39p a can - £1.09 on Tesco last time I really needed some, I nearly passed out! I don't buy cartons of juice as I have sports bottle too to fill up but HB have really good deals on packs of cartons. I did recently stock up when Tesco did fruit shoots on BOGOF or half price - can't remember which!

Don't think I can add anything else as others have also covered but good luck and have fun but it does become a bit obsessive:D