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Where to find free or cheap meals for your kids

Written By:
Guest Author
Posted:
06/07/2023
Updated:
27/11/2023

Guest Author:
Emma Lunn

If you know where to look, there are children’s meals for just £1 – or even free – at a number of supermarkets and restaurants.

Children can eat for free at Tesco and Morrisons, or for £1 at Asda and Sainsbury’s.

Elsewhere, there are freebies up for grabs at Bill’s, Angus Steakhouse and Travelodge.

Free food at Tesco

Tesco has announced it will be bringing back its Kids Eat Free scheme to its 310 cafés across the UK over the school summer holidays, for Clubcard members only.

The scheme will run in cafés between the following dates:

  • England & Wales: 24 July –1 September
  • Scotland: 3 July – 11 August
  • Northern Ireland: 3 July – 1 September

The supermarket’s cafes will be offering one free Kids Hot Meal Deal, Kids Breakfast or Kids Pick ‘n’ Mix deal with each item bought by an adult from as little as 60p when showing their Tesco Clubcard at the till.

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Popular menu items include beans or avocado on toast, fish fingers, baked chicken goujons or a sandwich. Hot main meals include a vegetable side dish, while the sandwich pick ‘n’ mix includes a piece of fresh fruit and two snacks.

A free kid’s meal at Morrison’s

Your child can eat for free at Morrisons when you purchase any one adult meal with a value of £4.49 or over.

The free meal must be a kids meal purchased from the customer Café kids menu or chilled kids snack pack. The kids’ meal includes a sandwich, snack and drink.

£1 meals at Asda

Asda is offering kids’ meals for £1 – but with no minimum spend or any adult meal purchase requirements.

The supermarket’s ‘Kids Eat for £1’ café meal deal has been extended until the end of the year and will be offered alongside half price adult main meals in its café’s from 3pm onwards each day.

The combined offers mean a family of four can spend just £8.24 in total dining in an Asda café.

Asda’s Kids for £1 includes new vegan and healthy meal options, while the adult menu includes dishes such as steak and ale pie (£3.25), fish and chips (£3.25) chicken tikka masala (£3.25), mac and cheese (£3.12), lasagne with garlic bread and salad (£3.25), scampi, chips and peas (£3.25) and sweet potato and spinach curry (£3.12).

The supermarket launched the offer for kids under 16 to enjoy a £1 hot meal in any of its 205 cafés in June 2022 and has now served 1,700,000 million meals to kids from its cafés nationwide.

Kids eat for £1 at Sainsbury’s

Kids can also eat for £1 in Sainsbury’s cafes – as long as an adult with them buys a main meal.

Adult hot main meals start at £5.20 and enable you to pick up a child’s hot main meal or lunch bag for just £1. The lunch bag includes a sandwich, crisps, jelly pot, piece of fruit and a kid’s drink.

Non-supermarket offers

It’s not just supermarkets offering free or cheap meals for kids – several restaurants do it too.

At Bill’s up to two kids can eat free all day from Monday 24 July to Friday 1 Sept (excluding weekends), if one adult orders any main dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The children’s menu includes buttermilk pancakes, mac and cheese, and fish fingers and chips.

If you’re staying at a Travelodge, each adult can get an unlimited breakfast for £8.99 and two kids under 15 can eat completely free.

At Angus Steakhouse, kids under 10 can eat free from the children’s menu when an adult orders a meal. This is deal is available every day from 12pm to 5pm.