Cost per week of HM packed lunches

VJsmum

Mine generally have a sandwich or wrap (prefer wraps as I can get salad in them - they don't tend to like that in sandwiches) together with a savoury thing and a sweet thing. And squash

the savoury thing could be cheese strings (yuk - but they like them), mini sausage roll, samosa, scotch egg, crisps sometimes, cheddars

the sweet thing will be something i've baked or a cereal bar or something like a club or penguin.

I don't give mine fruit because it will come back and it's always bruised so that is freely available when they get in.

On one day a week I them £3.50 each on one day to have something bought. THis is sometimes handy if i'm in a rush or i want them to have something hot at lunchtime. THey also don't feel so "deprived" :rotfl:

Penny-Pincher!!

DD has had packed lunches for the last few years even when we were entitled to free dinners at times but am very shocked at how expensive they are.

To keep packed lunches cheap we have usually bought reduced bread or rolls, made them up with either cheese, ham, marmite or jam/peanut butter and then frozen them. Just take out in the morning or night before.

DD usually had:

Sandwich, wrap, pitta or roll (as above)
Yogurt
Biscuit
Few raisins
Occasional crisps
Banana
Water

Sometimes she had things like:

Rice or pasta salad with egg/ham/cheese/chicken
HM sausage rolls
Pieces of chicken
Couscous
HM biscuits/cake
Soup and roll in flask

Packed lunches can be made very cheaply for pennies if needed.

beemuzed

Just a thought regarding Ragz' DH who insisits on meat and cheese daily ( mine was like that when he was working too!) - I found buying a cheap piece of gammon/bacon to cook then slicing it went loads and loads further than a pkt of ham. Still do that now and can get about 20 slices for about £4. ( have a Kenwood slicer which I've had for years and years!) Keeps well in greaseproof in the fridge - or can be frozen too.
Sounds like you have lots of ideas here Frugal - plus the knowledge that it really is doable! Good luck with the saving!

got-it-spend-it

Value pittas are 20p for 5 so may be a cheaper option than bought bread. Very nice with hummus and grated carrot. Tray bakes of sponge or flapjack are cheap and easily transportable for a sweet treat and I often send my LO with a little tub of cubed cheese too.

tiredwithtwins

Frugal wrote: »

Anybody able to give me a rough estimate on what their child's lunchbox costs them per week? x

ive got a 15yr old daughter and twin 11yr old boys who all eat like horses. plus other half takes packed lunch same as kids.
i have a big tupperware box in the fridge that i put packed lunch only bits in (stops the 48 yr old toddler nibbling on them) and i get;
3 x mr m's slides bread @ 60p each
1 x pack of mr m's value range ham @ 68p (i think)
2 x tubs of mr m's value range cheese spread @ 60p (i think)
2 x hm pizza or 6 hm sausage rolls, so about £1 if that much
2 bags mr m's value range snack crisps @ 58p each
1 x whatever cheesy snack is on offer, no more than £1
4 x £1 bags of apples from mr m
1 bag grapes, or a couple of punnets of cherry toms, approx £2
2 x bags oranges, no more than £2
tray bake flapjack about £2
2 x cheapest choc biscuits, no more than £1
diluted cordial about 50p (taken in empty pop bottles)

so thats around £18ish for the 4 of them. the hm stuff is usally made when ive bought stuff thats reduced, bulk made and freeze it which is how i keep pizza/sausage rolls cheap.

im a recent convert to morrisons value range, we find it tastes as good as the brand stuff :T

I also take packed lunch to work 2 days a week; i usually make soup from reduced price veg and freeze it, along with hm granary bread mine is about 50p a day.

i find i have to segregate the packed lunch stuff cos my other half eats non stop and he would eat it all!!

Fruball

tiredwithtwins wrote: »

ive got a 15yr old daughter and twin 11yr old boys who all eat like horses. plus other half takes packed lunch same as kids.
i have a big tupperware box in the fridge that i put packed lunch only bits in (stops the 48 yr old toddler nibbling on them) and i get;
3 x mr m's slides bread @ 60p each
1 x pack of mr m's value range ham @ 68p (i think)
2 x tubs of mr m's value range cheese spread @ 60p (i think)
2 x hm pizza or 6 hm sausage rolls, so about £1 if that much
2 bags mr m's value range snack crisps @ 58p each
1 x whatever cheesy snack is on offer, no more than £1
4 x £1 bags of apples from mr m
1 bag grapes, or a couple of punnets of cherry toms, approx £2
2 x bags oranges, no more than £2
tray bake flapjack about £2
2 x cheapest choc biscuits, no more than £1
diluted cordial about 50p (taken in empty pop bottles)

so thats around £18ish for the 4 of them. the hm stuff is usally made when ive bought stuff thats reduced, bulk made and freeze it which is how i keep pizza/sausage rolls cheap.

im a recent convert to morrisons value range, we find it tastes as good as the brand stuff :T

I also take packed lunch to work 2 days a week; i usually make soup from reduced price veg and freeze it, along with hm granary bread mine is about 50p a day.

i find i have to segregate the packed lunch stuff cos my other half eats non stop and he would eat it all!!

Inspired idea! I will def do that one - will stop anyone eating into the lunchbox bits and bobs

Sooooooooooooooooooo much cheaper than my £25 a week! Oh, and I am a fool - it is £25pw for BOTH kids, not each lol!

adelight

I have been thinking about this recently too, first for OH but also for me too soon. OH takes 2-3 cheese & pickle/egg mayo sandwiches or pasta salad (pasta, hm tom sauce, frozen peas), a piece of fruit and loads of biscuits or HM sweet stuff. It costs less than £5 a week so considering he eats almost as much as two kids, you could do your lot for well under a tenner easily.
Use basic bread/pasta, cheap/offer cheese (Mr M have cheese at £4/kg), buy the cheapest fruit or bags of Mr M's "Seconds", make your own sweet stuff but remember that some things workout cheaper than others (I think flapjacks are the cheapest).

Possession

I am going to do this soon too - school dinners for my two cost just under £20 per week. Now they will eat a bit later we can all eat together in the evening so I'm not so fussed about them having something substantial at school. DS is only bothered about not having his favourite pudding which from his description seems to be some kind of chocolate cornflake cake in a pudding basin shape with chocolate flakes on it. I'm sure I can replicate that somehow.

E2006

My d's has savory, fruit, yogurt and treat in his packed lunch.

Savory includes either:- filled wholemeal roll/wrap/pitta or bagel
cheese scone
cheese and crackers (aldi do ones similar to cheddars) with cherry toms, cucumber and grapes
Sausage roll
Veggie pitta bread pizza
Cheese salad

The treat is either something baked or for quickness @ldi do things like safari biscuits 89p for 6 packs.

I also buy the fruit and yogurt from @ldi too.

HTH

ragz_2

beemuzed wrote: »

Just a thought regarding Ragz' DH who insisits on meat and cheese daily ( mine was like that when he was working too!) - I found buying a cheap piece of gammon/bacon to cook then slicing it went loads and loads further than a pkt of ham. Still do that now and can get about 20 slices for about £4. ( have a Kenwood slicer which I've had for years and years!) Keeps well in greaseproof in the fridge - or can be frozen too.
!

This is exactly what I do! I love my Kenwood slicer.

Our school dinners are £2 a day (for primary school), in a few years I will have 3 of them at school and paying £30 a week just to feed them lunch is just too much!

I could do the packed lunches cheaper by using cheap white bread and filling with jam or marmite, but I insist on brown or granary (often homemade, even cheaper) and only give jam/marmite very occaisionally as I like them to have the protein in cheese/ham (and the fat, little ones need fat!).

I must get back into making flapjacks, however I have to hide them from myself!