Ok need advice nice lunchbox for £1?

t_obermory

gailey wrote: »

Tobermory that sounds so cheap at 80p

I was surprised when I sat and worked it out how cheap it was.

My kids lunch boxes aren't overly exciting and they do tend to have the same things everyday, they've not moaned about it yet though. My kids do get a hot, home cooked meal every night so I'm not too fussed about them having cold lunches.

If you haven't been to Lidl I'd definitely give it a go. They do big pots of yoghurt there, so if you had a small tub you could put some in there and mix raisins or sprinkles in with it, then she'd effectively be getting one of those muller yoghurts at considerably less cost to you.

gailey_2

yes struggling to find asmall split tub box might have to be 2mini pots.

you know what bugs me guys

I know its normal but

in state primary schools why shouldent we all pay the same.

seems wrong some pay less or nearby pay 50p more a day.

Costs again buying vary where you live

if you find reductions.

what shops you have nearby im city so spoilt for choice.

we regular and loyal lidl shoppers as can walk to both branches.

aldis currently have to drive but new one opening end feb so can do super six every week.

Black and white bunny thats fab links means can cost some fab recipies on here. Wndering if worth checking out local cash and carry for carton drinks and cereal bars.

anyone got decent recipie for cereal bars?

Broomstick

I got diverted from what I should be doing and have been looking for pasty recipes (the sort with savoury filling one end and sweet the other - 'tin miners' ones). My sons (18 and 21) do lots of sport and I have to find a solution to providing cheap, tummy-filling, veggie 'snacks' on days where we are travelling from a to b and they need to eat something substantial as a substitute for a proper sit-down meal.

I came across this site http://www.cornishpasties.org.uk/ and wondered whether there is anything there that would do in terms of recipes. Little pasties would be filling and you could bulk out meat content with lentils and veg. Presumably you could also bulk-prepare, freeze and cook as needed.

The tin miners' one is here http://www.cornishpasties.org.uk/pasties-with-afters-I-trials.htm

And the Finnish one looks cheaper because it only uses a bit of bacon. (I presume this is cheaper - haven't bought meat for 35 years!)
http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2002/1896511112_3.html

I have got next Sunday morning booked in my diary to do some experimenting with veggie alternatives.

Another useful site is the american laptop lunches one with it's bento menus which seem designed for people with time and money but there are masses of ideas for variety there and some of the suggestions may be quite cheap. http://www.laptoplunches.com/bento-menus/

B x

Spendless

What about wraps gailey? It's a few months since I bought them, but they were around 59p from Home Bargains, if you have one. Can't remember if that was for 6 or 8.

Mine are sometimes on school dinners, sometimes on packed lunches. Cost her is £2 per day for the 1 at Primary school, and £2.10 for the one at Secondary and def the more kids you have the bigger the expense of school dinners and the better value packed lunches.

Could you alternate, the meat filling sandwiches, with cheese - I only ever buy what's on offer or other alternative cheaper filling.

I look down the part food frozen aisle, for items suitable for packed lunch, which helps with having stuff in in the first place and makes it more unlikely it will be eaten more getting into the lunchbag. I am limited in what I buy as the youngest is at school with children with severe nut allergies so I have to scrutinise labels as I can't send anything in that contains (or may contain!) nuts. At this time of year these aisles tend to have reductions on them, as they are getting rid of stock left from xmas/new year. In Asda I bought the mini frozen eclairs they were £1 for 12.

I know you've discounted pasta and rice salads, but what about leftovers of things like pizza or quiche. If you incorporate things like this into your weekly meal planner and save the portion first before dishing up the evening meal, I'd be counted that as 'free' as the costings would be in your tea-time meal.

What about jelly instead of yogurt? A slab of jelly you make yourself into several pots, would that work out cheaper (unsure of price, cos ages since I last made some).

Butterfly_Brain

School dinners are NOT good value for money, the portions are tiny .
My two always had a packed lunch because they didn't actually like the dinners on offer and they had to wait forever in a queue so half the time, they had to rush their food.

Go into poundland and buy a couple of packs of the baby food savers and baby lidded bowls, these are brilliant for portions of natural yoghurt with any dried fruit such as apricots, cherries, cranberries, dried bananas , smarties, cheerios etc my two loved theirs with chocolate raisins, use whatever you find cheapest.
Jelly and custard pots are cheap and easy as well.
The pots can also be used for vegetable savoury rice (28p) and that will easily do 3/4 days.

Twinks hobnobs always went down well as did HM shortbread fingers with a small tub of banana custard, or the everyday version of angel delight. Make up a peach pudding using a tin of 29p peaches with a 22p value cake mix on top with a dollop of 7p custard you can use any tinned fruit for this and tinned fruit does count as one of their five a day.

Aldi cream cheese is 49p a tub and you could split the tub into pots and pop in some breadsticks (49p a box Aldi) or celery sticks with cream cheese and raisins spread down the middle of the celery.

8 bananas in Aldi are 68p so 8.5p each, 10 fun size apples are 99p so 10p each, plums are about the same price as apples, satsumas are actually cheaper on the market.

In the colder months you could make some pizza slices, tuna and sweetcorn pasta (my two didn't like cold pasta so I never did it for them, you have to try to cater to your own children only you know their likes and dislikes). Tuna fishcakes always went down well they are not too bad cold with a tub of savoury rice, HM pasties, Quiches, frittattas, add some new potatoes and crisp vegetables such as carrot sticks, cauliflower florets or celery
Try garlic sausage instead of ham it is only 37p for 10 slices in Aldi.

Tesco have their everyday rolls for 40p a pack of 12 so 3.3p a roll, I always used to buy the everyday scotch pancakes 20p (3.3p each) for a pack of six as a little treat.
Old fashioned cakes such as sponge drops are so easy to make just fill them with jam and cream or even a little cream cheese with a little icing sugar added to the cheese to sweeten it.

Hope that this has given you a few ideas

Butterfly_Brain

Broomstick wrote: »

I got diverted from what I should be doing and have been looking for pasty recipes (the sort with savoury filling one end and sweet the other - 'tin miners' ones). My sons (18 and 21) do lots of sport and I have to find a solution to providing cheap, tummy-filling, veggie 'snacks' on days where we are travelling from a to b and they need to eat something substantial as a substitute for a proper sit-down meal.

I came across this site http://www.cornishpasties.org.uk/ and wondered whether there is anything there that would do in terms of recipes. Little pasties would be filling and you could bulk out meat content with lentils and veg. Presumably you could also bulk-prepare, freeze and cook as needed.

The tin miners' one is here http://www.cornishpasties.org.uk/pasties-with-afters-I-trials.htm

And the Finnish one looks cheaper because it only uses a bit of bacon. (I presume this is cheaper - haven't bought meat for 35 years!)
http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2002/1896511112_3.html

I have got next Sunday morning booked in my diary to do some experimenting with veggie alternatives.

Another useful site is the american laptop lunches one with it's bento menus which seem designed for people with time and money but there are masses of ideas for variety there and some of the suggestions may be quite cheap. http://www.laptoplunches.com/bento-menus/

B x

They are actually Bedfordshire Clangers
http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipebook/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=88

lushlifesaver

I'm going to find this very interesting, I do lunches for me and bf. And once I get a job it will be even more vital to prepare them as I won't be buying from shops during the working day! These only cover Monday-Friday though.

Currently our's cost out at:
12 bread rolls (kingsmill wholemeal) £1 = 8.3p per roll
400g ham £2 = 0.5p roughly per slice maybe? not sure how to cost that more accurately
butter £1 for pack - one pack lasts us to the far side of forever so dunno how to cost that one
5 bananas £1 = 20p each
8-10 easy peelers £1 = 12.5p each roughly (based on 8)
Yogurt - Easi-Yo sachets made up, we pay roughly £1.60 per sachet and get 10 servings of 100g = 16p per serving
Homemade cakes/muffins which cost out to about 30p max each
Squash - I get 3 litres for £1.50 and that's about 70 servings for me which is just over 2p per serving

so based on my lunch I have 1 sandwich with 2 slices of ham in, 1 serving of yogurt, 1 banana, 1 easy peeler and 1 homemade cake/treat and 1 serving of squash which is 89.8p for lunch.

bf is an odd one as he takes no fruit or yogurt at lunch and drinks water so costs are slightly lower but he will sometimes have 2 sandwiches rather than one etc so would roughly balance out with mine

Once I'm down to target weight we will have crisps etc more regularly (still only 1/2times a week - e.g. on a training day when we have long drives to and from training) but that will cost us 12.5p per packet (based on £2 for 16 packets - only ever purchased when on offer) which still brings the total for my totally rammed lunch box to £1.02.

I think packed lunches are much easier to do on a budget than people think/fear. Just depends where you shop and what options you have available (e.g. hiding snacks/treats from the kids if necessary/telling them they're for lunches and once gone that's it, freezing homemade cakes/any bread etc)

I will wait for more replies with keen interest, and whilst I do that search for the other packed lunch thread!

GreenFairy

I love carrot/pepper/cucumber/celery sticks with a little pot of dip - hummus, tzaziki, peanut butter, salsa, whatever. A very nice crunchy snack and gets some sneaky veg in. A variety of textures make things more interesting as well.
I really like divided lunchboxes too. That way I can have salad (or crusty bread or crackers) which stays crispy plus my side bits with it (like potato salad or saucy things). Nothing sadder than a lunchbox where everything ends up limp or tasting the same..

Fruball

I've started doing simple pasta salads for my two as I was getting fed up with paying £2 (£2.40 if they wanted a drink :eek: ) and they were coming out of school absolutely starving. I then found out that the juniors get larger portions than the infants for the same price. Very unfair and as my two will eat almost an adult portion (very active 6yr olds!) then I could see why they were so hungry.

Our pasta salads vary as follows.

pasta, mayo, grated cheese and grated carrot

pasta, salad cream, grated cheese and carrot

pasta, mayo, frozen value prawns

pasta, salad cream, tuna and sweetcorn/peas

pasta, mayo, peas/corn and bits of a whole value chicken that I cook in the SC and divide up - a whole chicken stretches to weeks of packed lunches if you don't pick at it as you go along

They also like potato salads made exactly the same way but with new pots which are 69p at ald! atm in the super six!

Then they have a yog tube (half price at MrT atm so have bought and frozen LOADS!), a few dried apricots and raisins and sometimes a biscuit or wrapped choc biscuit if they are on a good offer. Drinks are water or a value apple juice carton.

I think that for what they are getting, it is probably healthier and definately fills them up better than school dinners. I also think they are costing me half or perhaps even less than school dinners.

madvixen

I used to hate packed lunches until Mum bought me a thermos flask - then they became exciting. I'd have lentil soup and a roll one day, left over chilli the next and so on. Mum was a big fan of batch cooking so she'd make extra, freeze it in small portions and then send it with me for my lunch.

The best one was the day she gave me leftover steak casserole, my classmates were so jealous.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that is doesn't always have to be a sandwich and fruit.