"What's more you can cook it in two pans on one ring in 20 minutes."

So next time we take our kids to the museum, I'll drag the camping gas stove along....

OK, so it costs 48p to buy an onion, a tin of tomatoes and pasta at Tescos. Not really the sort of thing to pack for a picnic. Have you also added in the cost that our nearest Tescos is 2 miles away across one of the busiest roads in the area? Because there isn't a direct bus route, that's a minimum of £2 each way. It's pointless buying an onion or tinned tomatoes because no-one in the house eats them and they'd only be wasted. So I've got pasta and a £4 bus fare. £4.49 buys two decent chicken salad sandwiches (of which half will be left because not everyone likes tomatoes, cucumber, or cold chicken) or four nasty tasteless egg mayonnaise sandwiches that only one person will eat. The point that several people have tried to make here is that you cannot force feed children (or indeed, adults) healthy food. A fast food meal occasionally is not going to do any major harm when the rest of their meals are healthy. When the important factor is just getting food into bellies at minimum cost and time, you have to concede that a fast food restaurant may be the only answer.

LTS