Home Self Help Feeding your family on a budget during the summer holidays

Feeding your family on a budget during the summer holidays

17 June 2024
Food & Finances
Self-help article

Feeding your family on a budget during the summer holidays can be a challenge, especially when support offered during term-time suddenly stops. So if you’re on a tight budget, read on as we look at the added pressures families face and offer a few simple tips that might help.

Providing extra support during school holidays

Family Action offers support to families across the country through programmes such as Holiday Hub that provide meals and opportunities for family bonding through eating, learning and play. The need for such services gives you a real sense of how difficult life can often be for parents and carers during the holidays.

Family Action’s National School Breakfast Programme provides free breakfasts for children in local schools. The programme supports over 350,000 children to have a nutritious breakfast each morning during term-time, but when schools break for the summer, lots of parents (whose child may also receive free school meals) go from only having to provide something for tea to having to find something for breakfast and lunch too. This can make feeding a family on a budget during the summer quite stressful for many.

We also work with lots of working parents who don’t qualify for free school meals, but still find it difficult putting meals on the table during the summer. We hear that they’re worried about their children not eating and are prepared to go without food themselves to ensure their children eat.

For some families, the problems can be overwhelming and not all families who experience difficulties over the holidays have access to holiday provision. Here are just a few top tips from staff running our holiday progammes to help families who find their finances stretched this summer.

Doing blind taste tests of the different products on offer is a great way of getting children to try different things

Get smart when you shop

We do budgeting exercises where we compare the price of products at various supermarkets and the difference can be huge. Shopping smart can be as simple as looking in a few different supermarkets, avoiding branded stuff and being more open to what’s available.

We also get children involved with doing blind taste tests of the different products on offer – which is a great way of getting them to try different things. The test is fun, but it also helps children understand that packaging and brands often don’t make any difference – which again opens them up to trying different things. Children love games and there’s no reason you couldn’t do your own taste tests at home, which may take some of the stress out of feeding fussy eaters on a budget.

Some older children also gain a greater appreciation of what food is worth, which can help with arguments in the house.

A close up of a child adding vegetables to a pizza topping

Get creative with ingredients

A lot of the food we prepare with parents is sent to us by charities. This means we sometimes get some rather odd combinations (as you can’t always control what you get). So we have to keep an open mind and be creative – a skill we pass on to parents when looking what’s in the kitchen cupboards – especially with leftovers. We make spaghetti bolognese and soups with all sorts of odd vegetables – the old cliché about having turkey curry for weeks after Christmas exists for a reason!

Get children cooking

We get children to cook with their parents. It’s something many of us may not do at home (often due to lack of time), but they really love it! Parents often tell me how their children are much more likely to taste things they’ve cooked themselves. We’ve had parents come up and say: “My child would never have tasted broccoli if I’d have just put it out for them.”

Top tip: you can freeze cheese! Just make sure you grate it first, as you have to wait a long time for a large block to thaw.

Imperfectly perfect picnics

Pack a lunch or even a picnic when you head out for the day, even if you don’t eat out, is a great way to feed your family on a budget, especially if you have multiple trips to the park during the summer. All the small drinks and snacks quickly add up, so this can be a real money-saver and offers more flexibility with what you eat, rather than relying on what’s available when you’re out.

And when it comes to picnic fun, don’t let the rain put you off – you can always hold it indoors! It isn’t the amount of time you spend together or the snaps for the socials that matter – it’s the memories you make together. That’s why this summer, we’re encouraging everyone to break free from the pursuit of perfection and embrace the messy moments with an Imperfectly Perfect Picnic. Whether you pop your picnic blanket out in the garden, in your living room or seize your sarnies and head to the park, get set to make new memories and save money at the same time.

Have you tried any of these at home? Which is your favourite? If you have any of your own tried and tested tips for feeding your family on a budget during the summer holidays, let us know on social media.

Call, text, email or web chat FamilyLine

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, worried or upset about any aspect of your family life, FamilyLine is here for you. We offer free emotional support and guidance on family relationships, conflict, parenting, caring, financial worries and more.

Contact FamilyLine

Read more...

Browse all self-help articles

Managing money this Christmas

Tips and tricks for perfect packed lunches

Help with managing your finances through the cost-of-living crisis

Breakfast at home: top tips

Breakfast at home: what the research says

Breakfast at home: recipes and videos

Breakfast at home: family fun

Breakfast at home: nutrition and wellbeing

Breakfast at home: get organised