Parents spend over 430 hours a year on school meal routines amid rising demand for simplicity and value

A new survey reveals parents dedicate more than 430 hours annually to planning, shopping, packing, and cooking for school children, highlighting the ongoing challenges of meal routines and the shift towards familiar, cost-conscious options.

A new parent survey suggests the school-year meal routine is one of the most time-consuming parts of family life, with the average mother or father spending 432 hours a year on meal planning, shopping, lunch-packing and cooking for school-age children. The poll of 2,000 parents, commissioned by izzio Artisan Bakery and carried out by Talker Research in June 2026, points to about 12 hours a week devoted just to keeping children fed during term time. That sits alongside broader back-to-school pressures identified by Deloitte and PwC, which found families are still spending heavily and shopping with a sharp eye on value.

The survey also underlines how much of that time is absorbed by the day-to-day mental load of feeding children. Parents said they spend 3 hours a week planning meals, 3 hours shopping, 2 hours packing lunches and 4 hours cooking. The finding fits a wider picture in which family routines are squeezed by competing demands: Pew Research Center has reported that parents continue to juggle school-related responsibilities with work, childcare and household duties, often with mothers carrying a larger share of the load.

Picky eating appears to make the task even harder. In the survey, 71% of parents said their children are selective about food, 56% said they adjust meals to suit them and 58% said it is difficult to find dishes the whole family will enjoy. Lunchboxes are another sticking point: parents said only 68% of packed lunches are actually eaten, leaving nearly a third to come home untouched. That waste problem helps explain why so many families keep coming back to simple favourites rather than elaborate packed meals.

Sandwiches came out as the clear winner, with 80% of parents calling them a lunchbox essential. Ham and turkey were the most popular fillings, while cheese, mayonnaise and lettuce ranked as the top add-ons. The survey also found 74% of parents are more ingredient-conscious than ever when shopping, echoing the value-and-quality focus seen in Deloitte’s and PwC’s back-to-school research. For many families, that means leaning towards familiar foods, shorter ingredient lists and routines that reduce waste, even if they do not make the lunch line any more glamorous.