What kind of food does $5 buy in 2016?

These days, not much! We picked $5 because it is the approximate price of many of the items of the Rory’s School Lunch menu.  We thought we’d see what other food we could buy for $5.  To do this, we searched the weekly specials catalogue at Coles online (sorry Coles, no disrespect, C comes before W so we checked you first) for the postcode 5000 and sorted the specials from the lowest price to the highest price.

We found:

• Four packets instant noodles for $5 with flavour enhancers like 621 and 635.  That’s not to mention mineral salts (508, 451, 501, 500, 452) and stabilisers (405, 466, 415).
• ‘Kidz Pick Variety Multipack Potato Chips’ but you’ll have to drive to the supermarket and pick it up or pay an extra $6 – $13 to have it delivered. (You’ll also have to teach your children how to spell ‘kidz’ the proper way.)
• A frozen Middle Eastern Chicken with Quinoa Tabbouleh for $5.  Strangely it contains 14 percent total chicken content and 9 percent quinoa.  (You could set your kids a maths test to figure out what the other 77 percent of the meal is made from.)

We could go on but it’s time to cut Coles a break because they do sell many healthy fresh fruits and vegetables and meats and grains but you have to cook them into tasty meals yourself when you’re tired after a long day and the last thing you feel like doing is making tomorrow’s school lunches and ahh, it’s all too hard…or is it?

For $5 but on the Rory’s School Lunch menu you could order:

• a CHICKEN PARMIGIANA made with chicken breast topped with ham, Napolitana sauce and cheese, served on Italian roasted potatoes.  No added preservatives, no funny numbers, just like Nonna used to make.
• GRILLED CHICKEN BURGER with a grilled chicken breast patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Tasty and a treat.
• FALAFEL BAGUETTE or WRAP made with falafel, lettuce, tomato, cheese, cucumber and tzatziki dressing, a special treat for anyone, especially vegetarians.

So go on, press the snooze button on your alarm, take that extra 15 minutes of rest and order your child a healthy lunch guilt-free.