What lunches can you buy or prepare to save money?

2022-10-11

As the UK cost of living continues to soar, people from all walks of life will be looking at ways to make a saving.

Whether this involves cancelling subscriptions like Netflix or money saving tips like signing up to cashback schemes or price checking phone plans, every little will help.

One area where many might trip up on when it comes to their savings and spending is when you’re out and about and need to get some lunch.

The humble meal deal is a go-to classic, but at £3-4 a pop those costs can start to add up.

So, what can you do if you want to spend less on work lunches or eating out? Metro.co.uk has rounded up some easy lunch ideas and money-saving tips.

Low-cost lunch ideas

Make your own packed lunches

Take things back to basics and make yourself a packed lunch.

While the upfront costs might seem to be level with just popping out for a meal deal, you can make many days’ worth of lunches with the ingredients.

For example, Tesco’s Tuna and Sweetcorn Sandwich Filler costs £3. A loaf of Hovis bread costs £1.95. A five pack of Granny Smith apples costs £1.70. A six pack of Diet Coke costs £2.99.

All in all, this comes to £9.64. It can be used for five full days of lunches, Monday to Friday, which works out to be £1.92 a meal.

Compare that to the £3 or £3.50 a meal deal can cost, it’s a saving of £1.58 a meal. In a working week, that’s £7.90 saved, or £31.60 a month.

Of course, you can always jazz up your packed lunches too, if you want some variety. With so much saved per month, you can maybe add a fancier fruit or snack, or a special type of bread.

Overnight oats

A perfectly filling breakfast or lunch, you can add dried fruit, seeds and nuts, grated apple or pear, or chopped tropical fruits to overnight oats.

Oats are an inexpensive item – you can buy a 1kg bag for £1.30 from Sainsbury’s, for example.

The preparation involves just two simple steps:

The night before serving, stir cinnamon and 100ml water (or milk) into your oats with a pinch of salt.
The next day, loosen with a little more water (or milk) if needed.

You can then top with anything your heart desires, including fruit, honey, nuts, or chocolate.

There are plenty of fabulous recipes on TikTok which promise super scrummy results.

Overnight oats #overnightoats #togobreakfast #quickbreakfast #healthyrecipes #food #oatsrecipe #healthybreakfast #breakfastideas #asmrsounds #asmrfood

Pasta dishes

If you cook a hearty pasta dish for your evening meal, why not increase the serving size and pack some for your lunch the next day?

Pasta dishes taste great cold just as they do reheated, and if you wanted to give your leftovers a fresh kick, you can add things like cheese or sauce the day after for a new spin on the dish.

Why not give this super creamy viral TikTok pasta dish a go?

Salads

Salads often get a rough deal. People think of them as either the last resort because you’re saving money or trying to lose weight. But a salad can be varied, tasty and filling.

If you feel socially savvy, a simple TikTok search will show you endless recipes for impressive salads, including one that Jennifer Aniston was supposedly a huge fan of while on Friends.

Jennifer Aniston Style Viral Friends #Salad #SaladsOfTiktok #thesaladlab #Friends #JenniferAniston #BasilInsteadOfMint #Yum #LaCrema #Chardonnay #Easyrecipe #MealPrep

Cook for less with Ken Hom’s £1.20 per person recipes

Celebrity chef Ken Hom, CBE, has teamed up with sauce company Lee Kum Kee to create a list of delicious recipes for less than £5 for a family of four – that’s only £1.20 per person.

These tasty and low-cost meals include Stir-fried Pepper Chicken with Mange-Tout and Braised Cauliflower with Oyster Sauce.

Batch cook

From lasagna to pasta bakes and more, if you can set an evening aside to batch cook, you can have weeks’ worth of varied and flavourful meals.

One woman who bulk makes meals for just £5 a week has shared some of her top tips, including batch cooking large portions to freeze and reheat during the week, ditching pricey branded items, and bulking out meals with cheap ingredients such as carrots, lentils, beans, pasta, and rice.

BBC Good Food have a wide range of batch cooking recipes.

Never enough time to cook dinner? This batch cook chicken recipe can help you reduce time in the kitchen 🙌 #batchcook #chicken #healthyrecipe

How to shop for less

Not everyone can cook something in advance, or, even worse, many of us can make the perfect lunch and then forget to pack it in the morning rush.

But all is not lost. If you want to limit how much you spend on your lunches, there are some tips to consider.

Savers menus

While fast food has something of a negative reputation in terms of healthiness, there’s no denying that you can get yourself a reliable bite when in a bind.

McDonalds’ savers menu offers plenty of options for less than a meal deal.

Some items you can get include:

Triple Cheeseburger – £2.29
Bacon Double Cheeseburger – £2.09
Double Cheeseburger – £1.69
Cheeseburger – 99p
Mayo Chicken – 99p
Medium Fries – £1.19

Greggs offer plenty of options cheaper than the standard meal deal, too.

Chicken Bake – £1.80
Cheese & Onion Pasty – £1.70
Sausage and Bean Melt – £1.80
Hot Sausage Roll – £1.20
Bacon & Sausage Breakfast Roll – £1.90

Cheaper options at KFC include:

Mini fillet burger – £2.49
Flamin’ mini wrap – £2.49
Sweet chilli dipped bites – £2.99

Make your own meal deals at Aldi and Lidl

Aldi and Lidl don’t offer meal deals like the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s, but you can basically assemble your own.

Aldi has its own ‘grab and go’ sections including a variety of sandwiches, wraps, pasta, drinks, and snacks.

You can spend as little or as much as you want, with some of the cheaper options being an 85p egg and cress sandwich, and a 35p bottle of water.

Similarly, Lidl offer a range of pre-packaged sandwiches, wraps, snacks, and drinks as well as bakery options perfect for lunch.

Some sandwiches cost less than a pound, and with cost-effective drink and snack options, you can spend less than £3 for a meal deal.

Look for discount stickers

Discount stickers – quite often yellow – will be put on sandwiches, salads and other ready-to-eat food that’s close to sell by date.

If you can hold off your hunger, you’re more likely to get a discounted sandwich after peak lunchtime hours. Maybe you can pack some overnight oats to ward off hunger and buy your lunch a bit later?

Supermarkets will reduce their food at different times, and it’s not an exact science, but Reduced Grub has a mole who shed some light on Tesco reduction times.

The site explains: ‘The first [reduction] being around 9am when they tend to knock around 10% off items, so a bag of pasta that is normally £1 would go down to 90p.’

‘The second wave of Tesco reductions is around 4pm mark where things can go down by around 30%, so a tray of minced beef which was previously be £3 would go down to around £2.10.’

‘However, the best time to pick up a Tesco reduction is on the third and final reduction where things can go down by 90%’.

Check if you’re eligible for special deals

Certain groups, like families with children under a certain age or the elderly, might be able to get discounted meals.

Asda, for example, have recently announced a £1 Winter Warmer deal for the over-60s, available in their cafes.

Moreover, at Morrisons cafes, a child under 16 can eat for free when you buy an adult meal worth at least £4.99.

A child’s meal comes with a piece of fruit and Tropicana kids orange juice, apple drink, or bottle of water.

Check your subscriptions and reward points

Another way you can get lunch when you’re out and about could actually cost no money at all, or be heavily discounted.

From reward cards on the likes of a Subway card to points collected on loyalty schemes, you might often be entitled to a free snack.

Eateries that offer loyalty stamps and points include:

Pret a Manger – Pret Perks lets you collect stars each time you shop there. 10 stars = a reward
Subway – Collect rewards with the app and exchange them for a meal
Wasabi – Collect seven stamps and receive a £7 Meal voucher to redeem on food and drinks
Starbucks – Collect stars in the app and exchange them for a free drink when you have enough
Nando’s – Collect on a Nando’s Card and you can earn everything from a free starter to a whole chicken

Sometimes you don’t even need to actually hold a loyalty card for these stores either, and your workplace might have schemes in place.

For example, if you have Vitality Insurance – which many workplaces offer – you can actually claim a free weekly Caffe Nero drink. Moreover, schemes like Perkbox give employees enrolled a free weekly treat from Greggs or Caffe Nero.

Virgin Red also lets users sign up and, when you shop at select partners through the app, you collect points. These points can then be traded for snacks from Greggs (as well as free cinema tickets and more).

It’s best to check with your HR team which schemes you might have access to and haven’t yet joined.

Special prices with Clubcards and schemes

Even if you aren’t collecting loyalty points for a freebie, places like Boots and Tesco offer cheaper prices at checkout for customers who scan a registered Clubcard or bonus card.

For example, a meal deal with a Tesco Clubcard costs £3, whereas it’ll cost £3.50 without. While only 50p, if you have these regularly, that can add up to £2.50 over 5 days of meal deals, and £10 a month.

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