Five ways to take a bite out of the cost of your packed lunch
WANT to take a bite out of the cost of your packed lunch?
It’s the start of British Sandwich Week and with the nation splashing out £8billion on them every year, I asked Eileen Donaghey, aka the Afternoon Tea Expert, for ways to slice the price . . .
BUDGET FILLERS: Forget the fancy bread and posh fillings, supermarket own-brands will work just as well.
For sarnies that keep their flavour until lunchtime, use lower-cost ingredients such as eggs (for egg mayo), tuna and veg.
TIN IT TO WIN IT: Bulk out your sandwiches by using little extras. Tinned food or jars of ingredients are cheap to add and really help your filling go further.
For example, mix tinned sweetcorn in with your tuna mayonnaise, or pickled onions and gherkins to ham sandwiches.
NOTHING TO WASTE: Leftover chicken from a Sunday roast is the way to get more for your money.
Any meat left on the carcass is good for sandwiches and the bones will make chicken soup.
If you only have a little leftover chicken, add peppers or grated carrot to the filling.
For a coronation chicken sandwich, put in extra veg such as cauliflower to thicken it up and make more sandwiches. Once the sauce is added, you won’t even know it’s there.
CALL IN FLAVOURS: Look out for reduced-price ingredients and get creative with your lunchbox sarnie.
Think about flavours that go together. I see fish reduced a lot. It can be frozen until you need it, plus, a salmon and chilli sandwich is delicious.
SPREAD THE COSTS: My tip if you are feeding a group is to cut the sandwiches into smaller sections.
If someone eats two of them, they will often count it as two and feel full more quickly.
Also try making open sandwiches, where you leave the top layer of bread off, which means using half your loaf. Making afternoon tea?
Limit the choice to only one or two types of filling.
Cucumber is an obvious choice but you could also have beef and mustard, ham or roast vegetables.
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