Which supermarket offers the cheapest packed lunch option for your child? Number crunchers have an answer as Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer and Co-op rated
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ALDI has been crowned the cheapest supermarket to pick up your child’s packed lunch essentials from this term.
Consumer finance experts at CashLady.com conducted research into the prices of key packed lunch essentials consisting of fruit juice cartons, yoghurts, fruit, crisps and all the ingredients to make a ham and cheese sandwich.
The supermarkets were then ranked from one to nine in terms of their value for money, with one being ranked the cheapest and nine being ranked the most expensive. The items included in the costings included:
Bread
Cooked Ham
Cheese
Tomato
Lettuce
Banana
Crisps
Yoghurt
Fruit cartons
If you’re looking to whip up a balanced packed lunch for your child, to keep them fuelled throughout the school day, the research suggests Aldi is the best place to shop.
The rankings were:
1 Aldi £7.32
2 Tesco £8.23
3 Sainsburys £8.33
4 Asda £8.43
5 Lidl £8.52
6 Morrisons £11.48
7 Co-op £14.10
8 Waitrose £14.85
9 M&S £18.55
At Aldi, for just over £7, you can get all the packed lunch essentials to feed your child for a week, the study says - that’s £1.46 per day.
However, ranked as the most expensive supermarket is M&S, where the same packed lunch essentials will set you back over £18, followed by Waitrose at a costly £14.85.
Commenting on the findings, CashLady.com’s consumer finance expert, Dan Whittaker said: “With the kids back at school for the start of a new school year, there’s a lot you may be needing to budget for, from school uniform and stationary supplies to packed lunches.
"Plus with the cost of living crisis upon us and energy bills about to soar, there’s no better time to save where you can.
“We’ve crunched the numbers to find the cheapest supermarket for packed lunch essentials so that you can serve up your children delicious, nutritional lunches whilst still keeping to a strict budget.”
Cash Lady is a credit comparison and credit broker that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Methodology
Costings based on feeding one child a packed lunch for 5 days (based on a school week) 2 ham sandwiches with cheese, lettuce and tomato; 1 banana; 1 fruit yoghurt; 1 bag of crisps and 1 fruit carton.
Products selected on:
Bread: cheapest own brand 800g loaf (enough to provide up to 2 sandwiches a day)
Piece of fruit: cheapest six pack of mini/small bananas
Fruit cartons: cheapest six pack of orange or apple juice (or 2x3 pack if no six pack available)
Yoghurt-Cheapest multipack of fruity yoghurt/fromage frais (minimum 5 pack) or cheapest pack of yoghurt tubes, if not available
Cooked ham: 115g to 125g (approx 10 slices)
Crisps: (6 pack of own brand variety)
Tomatoes: (6 pack of salad tomatoes)
Lettuce: 1 iceberg lettuce
Cheese: (200 to 250g sliced or grated own brand cheddar)
