The price of a healthy packed lunch for children has risen in four out of five major supermarkets in the UK, with costs increasing by up to 5% in just two months.
According to new data published by The Food Foundation, as part of the food charities’ Kid’s Food Guarantee, a packed lunch from Morrisons came in as the most expensive, while Tesco offered the best value for money.
The cost of a healthy packed lunch increased at Morrisons (£11.42 to £11.80), Sainsbury’s (£9.61 to £10.07), Aldi (£9.70 to £9.88) and Asda (£8.74 to £8.87), with Tesco being the only retailer where the cost decreased (£8.39 to £8.30).
The research compared prices from August and October this year and focused on a range of products including wholemeal bread, spread, cheese, cucumber, carrot sticks, hummus, popcorn, plain yoghurt, apples and bananas.
Overall, seven products have increased in price at UK retailers and three products have decreased in price between August and October.
The biggest increases were driven by popcorn no longer being on offer in two of the retailers, with smaller increases due to cucumber, apples and bananas becoming more expensive.
The Food Foundation also found that there are currently 900,000 children living in poverty in England who do not qualify for the Government’s Free School Meals scheme, and therefore often have to rely on packed lunches.
Earlier this year, YouGov revealed that 80% of the UK public are now calling on the government to extend free school meals to children, as the number of families suffering from food poverty doubled within a year.
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In July, Morrisons launched a meal deal for children in its cafes, as it looked to support families over the school summer holidays.
The Food Foundation’s policy and advocacy manager, Shona Goudie said: “We are calling on Government to extend Free School Meals so that the most deprived children are not priced out of a hot, nutritious lunch with their peers.
“In the meantime, supermarkets need to ensure they are selling a healthy, convenient packed lunch at an affordable price.
“As part of our Kid’s Food Guarantee we are asking retailers to offer lunchbox items that are compliant with School Food standards and make up five lunches that can be bought at an affordable price point, for example through a multibuy deal.
“No retailer currently has such a meal deal but this would go a long way to helping time-poor families on tight budgets to provide their children with a healthy packed lunch.”
