How to make a cheap school lunch

28/09/2012 3:45:20 p.m.

elle wrote:

One of my sons wld refuse to eat breakfast. He would get up off to school, no complaints, no one bothered him about it. It didnt do him any harm, he went through his entire school years like this and today at 23 is a educated university graduate.

28/09/2012 2:07:56 p.m.

Tan wrote:

Unfortunately at $3 per school lunch per day those of us with 5 kids or more find this unattainable!!! Its overwhelming to see how much support NZers are giving to this important issue and is very heartwarming!!! I too am experiencing hard times and with 5 children at primary age and under I am ashamed to say that I too have had to keep my kids home due to having nothing for school lunches! In my case I live in a mouldy uninsulated Housing NZ Home and have found it extremely hard in winter. Power bills are too expensive in winter and I have had to sleep with my 5 children in the lounge to ensure warmth and to prevent pneumonia which my youngest experienced due to damp mouldy bedrooms, but there is no help from housing Nz, It just puts you in a cycle of poverty,Thanks to those people who have given hope to so many hungry nz children and their mothers!!!

28/09/2012 1:31:11 p.m.

Anne wrote:

I live in a poor socio- economic area yet everyday I see kids buying pies and chips and sweet drinks on the way to school, this is breakfast. If that money was spent more wisely those kids could have breakfast and a good lunch too instead of the rubbish they buy. I believe a lot of parents are just plain lazy.Another comment is on rubbish day there are often lots of empty cans of beer ready to be taken away. And lots of the parents smoke too which is so very expensive.When you have children you have to get your priorities right. We lived on a very small income but supplemented it with home grown veg and economic meals. This is what the parents need to learn today, cheap ways to feed families but healthy too and not takeaways .

28/09/2012 11:54:04 a.m.

Simone wrote:

@Jenna - it is good to hear comments from someone that has first hand experience of what is happening out there. These are the people that can offer insight into some long term strategies to tackle this problem. Many adults make poor choices and pass these poor choices on to their children. If one child with an empty tummy gets a good meal out of this, then my heart is full of gladness.

27/09/2012 11:02:49 p.m.

vicki wrote:

@Kris sorry but you are wrong, they have done studies and there are thousands of kids who don't have enough to eat and are starving. Have you ever spoken to a low income person, visited their home, viewed life through their eyes, I can tell that you are sitting in a warm home, with your belly full of food and don't have the kind of stress that many in this country feel when they get to day 3 or 4 after shopping day, with no money, kids who are hungry and no amount of good advice will help. The fact is the cost of living for many is so huge that feeding even a small family has become too expensive. An elderly person wrote in the other day complaining about feeding two people on $160 a week, try feeding a family of four on far less than that. As for not having children - no one has the right to tell a woman whether or not to have children, especially not a man!!!

27/09/2012 10:54:07 p.m.

vicki wrote:

@mike, men like you don't care about woman or children in our country, you are full of hatred towards others. I feel sorry for you.

27/09/2012 7:58:12 p.m.

Lizp wrote:

There is a flaw to your lovely ideas for school lunches. They assume there is an adult with time to shop and money to buy ingredients in bulk. I just costed the tuna lunch at countdown's online site. A minimum outlay for that would be around $26 for 3 kids, and that only gives them one tin of tuna each. On the way to the nutritious choices were several cheaper items that may not provide as much but were a lot cheaper and would look better to someone saving the pennies. You cannot buy a block of cheese it seems for under $8. THat is nearly your entire days expenditure on one item. I used to be a momber of a food coop based in a poorer suburb. The principle beneficiaries were people from nearby wealthier areas who could plan and budget to order and pay for their vegetables a week in advance. The people the coop was intended to help came along afterwards and bought the leavings after the orders were filled because they could not afford to commit money a week in advance. The poor are also often very busy - working at more than one job, working shifts, working hard. It is not just a matter of sauntering down to the supermarket when all the choices are available, it is often rushing round just before closing on Sunday night when there is nothing on the shelves. But you are doing a sterling job. Please keep it up and please stay on air! liz

27/09/2012 1:04:47 p.m.

pia wrote:

theres also things like transport issues, whatever you can get in bulk that one time shop of the week is all you have to stretch through to next pay day, so everything else you nedd has to be picked up at the dairy, and well fruit and veg are perishable that last 2 maybe 3 days apples longer, so you dont waste your tiny shopping budget for 6 kids on things like that, you spend it on things that stretch and last long, flour sugar potatoes bread.

27/09/2012 11:54:34 a.m.

Shazz wrote:

what you are doing is setting up already victimised families to feel guilty. who do you think you are? child poverty is not about school lunches. You've just taken the lowest common denominator and brought public ridicule on these children and their families.

26/09/2012 5:00:15 p.m.

West Coast wrote:

I agree with #Jenna. I too, teach in a low decile school and have observed similar. Interestingly, these same students with big bags of chips and cookies often have expensive skate and motor bike branded shoes and hoodies worn with their school uniform (often provided free, while other parents pay for uniforms) but 'lunch' is only provided most days - not all. I have also observed the lowest income families consistently providing basic yet adequate lunches for their children. In an already crowded curriculum, surely budgeting and financial literacy skills should be taught to our students as part of the numeracy/maths program?