Ok need advice nice lunchbox for £1?

gailey_2

Ok guys some fabby ideas will definatly use.

Guess I need to be more creative and think outside the box.
excuse the pun:)

Im going to go poundstretcher and get some baby tubs

but also been looking online as liked the split ones in jl 38.
amazon, lunchbox world, lakeand and gltc had some more expensive tubs as part of proble is rubbish soft kids box and cheaper tub sok for freezing meals but rubbish for keeping lunch organised and fresh.

lakeland seems to be cheapest on sandwich tubs £2.49- saves clingfilm and sandwich bags so reckon money saving.
The breckfast tub 2part with spoon seems ideal for my hm muller lights.

John lewis has a 3small snack pots that stack on top of each other to make tube for £3 . we have jl locally so going to get the

snackpots £3
new systema quad lunchbox. £8

Decent drinks container than doesnt leak and stays cool gltc have one in sale for £6 hopefully jl do same one.

want a small picnic type bag then to carry all tubs with ice pack keep cool im sure if looks funky depite investment will save me money.

daughter doesmt like mayo

she used to have sainsburys value homous but gone off that too.

might try experimenting with salads.

Always thourght tubes be pricier.

she only seems to like couple flavours which drive me mad when buying multipacks .

she had wraps last week.

so we alternate between sandwiches , wraps and rolls,

rachbc

Fruit and jelly a good pud - I use tinned fruit and juice set with gelatine, also choc mousse - 1oz choc and 1 egg per portion - melt choc, stir in egg yolk, whisk white and fold in.

I got some jelly pots from 99p store that are perfect for hm puds - also do layer yogs with fruit puree at bottom and plain greek yog on top. Try looking in the cheap shop before shelling out £17 on various boxes - thats 3 weeks or more of lunches!! I don't think those quad boxes are much good - there is no flexibility with the compartments and you can't fit a whole piece of fruit in the top section.

I use jelly pots, mini tubs (10 for £1 B&M) and the smallest size of the lakeland stack a boxes (these are fab for freezing and fridge storage too) which all go in a insulated bag with a mini icepack (from £ shop). Sistema bottles for £2 from asda are great and seem to be very leak proof

cutestkids

I have two at primary school who have packed lunches, for us it was not just about the cost though, I was more concerned with the quality and the quantity of the school dinners.

I do the wraps, rolls, sandwiches with, tuna, egg, cheese, corned beef, cheese spread.

I give them a pot of carrot, celery and pepper sticks with a few cherry tomatoes and give them one of the following with it, salsa, humous, cream cheese or guacamole.

I buy bags of frozen cocktail sausage rolls and cheese and onion rolls and cook them the night before and they take them cold usually with salad.

Chopped cheese, grapes, cherry tomatoes and a few little mini sausages.

Crackers with cheese, cheese spread or just butter.

Couscous with veg, I just cook onion, cherry tomato, and peppers, add in a few peas and a splash of sweet chilli sauce or soy and mix with couscous, I always do my cousous in a stock cube for extra flavour.

I do the same with rice, both keep a few days in the fridge.

They take an apple most days and usually a frube or normal yogurt, I buy large bags of pretzls and give them a few,

Raisins, banana chips and dry apricots.

Homemade scones with butter or jam.

Sometimes cooked chicken drumsticks with some chopped salad.

I don't really bother with cereal bars, crisps, cakes etc.

The take water or diluted squash.
The way I look at i is that if they are at home lunch will be a sandwich a piece of fruit and sometimes a yogurt if still hungry so I don't pack too much as they don't actually need it.

Butterfly_Brain

madvixen wrote: »

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.

That is fine if you are in secondary school but lower schools and middle schools do not allow flasks, quoting that vacuum flasks are a risk of scalding/burns

gailey_2

well checked school website eating policy.

cant see anything about flasks-hot food.

Im thinking small thermos pot with hot pasta might be able to get away with or rice and curry.

Just been shopping half hour before close

got 3pots of fresh fruit salad for 55p so 18p a pot so have 1 left for her lunchbox tommorow.

Also lazy I know but had pre packed tuna and sweetcorn sandwich reduced to 49p.

got warbertons square wraps reduced to 40p .
They lovley and thick and make fab pizza paste with passatta , puree and cheese.

Got some cherries reduced to £1.20 shes ate half saving other half so
tommorow will have

sandwich
cherries
raisens
apple
mixed fruit pot
cherry tomatoes
drink.

might bake some fairy cakes tonight.

However if cost it up wont be any cheaper than £1.75 but will be healthy, tasty and lots.

Cutest kid-loads more ideas there do you have approx cost per lunchbox on that?

might see if b&m has cheapy cheese tuc biscuits to go with grated cheese.Got told food board they have 9cereal bars for 1 at tesco and b&m has some lunch bargains.

Offers change co-op tuesday so will await what next good lot deals are.

Bitsy_Beans

Spendless wrote: »

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.
.

Or make your own which are far more filling than shop bought, there is a recipe on here from a MrsMccawber I think.

I would be really surprised if primary school would allow a thermos flask TBH.

madvixen

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

That is fine if you are in secondary school but lower schools and middle schools do not allow flasks, quoting that vacuum flasks are a risk of scalding/burns

Ah, I wasn't aware of that, it's a long time since I was at school and I'm not up to date with new rules and regs. Sorry

Butterfly_Brain

My DH is a site agent at a lower school that is how I know about rules on flasks

lisakay_2

just jumping in re:flasks. I went straight to the head teacher and asked if my 2 dd's could take in a flask of soup. had already done the tests, if i have hm soup in the slowcooker on low overnight and put it in the flask at 7.30 am (without prewarming the flask) the soup is warm, not hot by lunch time. also checked the girls could open it themselves and that there were no breakable parts (ie.glass) to the flask.
so he had no objections. while it's cold the girls have been taking a hot meal at least twice a week. soup, leftover chilli and rice, stew (if you put an uncooked dumpling in the top of the flask it's cooked by lunchtime).
i was speaking to one of the dining room assistants last week and she said how lovely the girls dinners were and could she have the recipe for the veg soup as it smelt lovely!

rozmister

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

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

No in this context they are Cornish pasties. Bedfordshire Clangers are an extremely similar baked product but not the same thing. I think the main difference is in the way the pastry is wrapped. There's speculation online that the Bedfordshire Clanger was inspired by Cornish miners going to Anglesey for work (see the variations section of this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty#Two-course_pasty)

When I was growing up we were told Cornish pasties traditionally had the thick crust on them (which you still see today) so tin miners could hold them and eat the fillings without getting any mine dust on them. They then just threw the crust away because they couldn't ingest mine dust because it contained things that weren't good for them. They had jam in one end and beef, tattys, swede and onion in the other half although I'd imagine the filling would vary depending on the time of year and what was available to their wives who were making the pasties.

Sorry to interrupt with no helpful lunch comments I was reading the thread because I struggle with my own (albeit for grown up work) packed lunches and wanted some inspiration.

I'm from Cornwall and went to a small village school where I learnt Cornish history side by side with English history and when I saw your post I couldn't help but butt in!