'Mums have no time': Hawke's Bay mother comes up with 'affordable lunches' idea

CAPTIONS: 22050320HBTPTfood.JPG KaiTime co-owner Tina Sheree Rangi preparing food parcels to deliver to schools. Photo / Paul Taylor

Tina Sheree Rangi is a busy mother with three kids under the age of 12, all pupils at Flaxmere Primary School.

She knows first hand what a struggle it can be to make lunches for children with financial and time restraints.

So Rangi, from Hastings, decided to do something about it, to help those in the same boat as herself. And she came up with the idea of KaiTime in February.

The KaiTime team prepare and deliver morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea straight to schools, all for $5 a day per student or $20 a week.

"As a mum you have no time. I have three kids who to go to Flaxmere Primary and every day I would do about 10 lunches which included their friends who went to school without lunches," she said.

"And I felt that if I am feeling like this, then others with time and financial restraints would also struggle to provide food for the entire family."

She and her partner Jonny Tawhara came up with the idea of KaiTime to ensure every child had at least one nutritious meal a day.

"We wanted to provide nutritious, sustainable and affordable lunches. Just because a child doesn't attend a low-decile school doesn't mean the parents are not struggling," she said.

The meal items differ every day but include a hearty sandwich, or wrap or roll, yogurt, fruits, carrots and dip, water bottle, chips, and drinks.

"Everything is prepared in a registered commercial kitchen by certified handlers," she said.

"The kids are way happier and the teachers have started ordering it for themselves.

"And with the price of $5 it is affordable for struggling families, and at the same time it is providing healthy sustainable food."

Nearly a fortnight ago KaiTime ran a Facebook competition to get its name out to the community and paid for four schools - Otane Primary, The Terrace School, Tamatea Intermediate, and Te Ara Hou School - to get lunch.

"Parents voted for schools and the four won. We provided a total of 900 free lunches to the schools."

The cost of the lunches to the tune of $3500, came out of their own pockets.

"We get fruit and veges, food and bread donated to us, but we pay for everything else ourselves," she said.

"We are trying to find a meat provider."

Currently KaiTime caters mostly to primary schools in the region with orders from all over.

"We have five staff members and start at 2am because we service CHB and I felt that rural residents shouldn't miss out," she said.

"We have capped our orders at 500 a day."

To place an order or for more information go online at www.kaitime.co.nz