Retailers Step Up Summer Support To Keep Kids Eating Fruits And Vegetables
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As the long summer holiday begins, several UK retailers, including Tesco, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons, are using the six-week break as an opportunity to encourage children to continue eating fruits and vegetables when school routines and access to free school meals are interrupted.
From free fruit and vegetable giveaways to voucher schemes and educational campaigns, supermarkets are increasingly recognising the role they can play in maintaining healthy eating habits during one of the most challenging periods of the year for many families.
The initiatives demonstrate how retailers are positioning fresh fruit and vegetables not only as an affordable staple but also as a key part of their wider community and health strategies.
Tesco Brings Back Free Fruit For Kids
This week Tesco announced an expanded package of support for families over the summer holidays.
The UK’s largest retailer is reintroducing its Free Fruit For Kids offer across more than 800 stores, alongside extending its popular Kids Eat Free in cafés deal to all regions of the UK and now including weekends throughout the school break.
This summer, Tesco will also sell pre-filled food donation bags in all large stores, containing healthy and nutritious long-life food and essentials, with the donated items going directly to Felix and Trussell for distribution to charities and food banks across the UK.
The support through the summer holidays comes in addition to Tesco’s existing Free Fruit & Veg for Schools programme.
In April, the retailer confirmed that it will increase its funding for schools from September to double the number of participating schools to more than 1,000 with the aim of reaching one million children.
The combination of immediate support during the holidays and longer-term investment in school fruit provision underlines Tesco’s commitment to improving children's access to fresh produce beyond traditional promotional activity.
Indeed, Tesco’s UK CEO Ashwin Prasad commented this week that the food industry, stakeholders, and government must now “go faster and further” to help millions of families make healthier choices.
“At Tesco, we recognise we need to support families and children to make healthier choices,” Prasad explained. “As well as structural, long-term change, we know we also need to make a difference now.”
Prasad said Tesco reached its 65% health sales target at the end of last year, up from 58% in 2019.
“We are now focused on achieving year-on-year improvements on healthy sales until at least 2030,” he revealed.
Lidl Combines Value With Education
Lidl GB is taking a multi-pronged approach over the holidays by offering families Lidl Plus vouchers to make healthy eating more affordable, while building interest in healthy eating via free summer cooking clubs, and making shopping more engaging for younger customers.
Citing new research this week, the discount retailer said over one in five children in the UK (22%) don’t know where broccoli comes from, with suggestions including a factory, a freezer, and a tree.
One in four children surveyed (28%) were also unsure about the provenance of strawberries.
The research of 1,000 UK 8-11 year olds by Censuswide revealed several key misunderstandings around healthy food, such as one in five (19%) school children believing strawberry milkshake and ketchup count towards their five-a-day.
In response, this summer Lidl is combining practical food education with Lidl Plus vouchers to make healthy eating more affordable.
With Lidl research showing that nearly a third of parents (29%) struggle to afford nutritious meals, shoppers have the chance to win £25 Lidl vouchers through the Lidl Plus app in order to stock up on fresh food during the summer holidays.
Alongside this, Lidl is partnering with OnSide to deliver free Lidl Foodies Summer Clubs in five UK cities during the school summer holidays, reaching an estimated 1,000 children in Bristol, Carlisle, Croydon, Manchester and Wolverhampton.
All children attending the clubs will receive a free fruit coupon, redeemable via Lidl Plus.
“This summer we hope to give kids the tools to experiment with healthy dishes at our cooking clubs and at home,” explained Georgina Hall, Director of Corporate Affairs at Lidl GB.
Earlier this month, Lidl announced the launch of interactive ‘Fruit & Veg I Spy’ activities on its children’s shopping trolleys.
The initiative encourages children to identify different fruits and vegetables as they shop, helping to build familiarity with fresh produce in a fun and accessible way.
Sainsbury’s Funds Additional Holiday Club Places
Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, has pledged £8 million to combat school holiday hunger this summer.
The retailer will invest donations raised through its partnership with Comic Relief to complement the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.
The funding will help to create additional holiday club places for families who miss out on the Government-funded holiday provision.
Sainsbury’s is also calling on the Government to expand HAF to cover all school holidays, including half-terms, and align eligibility with Free School Meals to avoid children losing vital support when term time ends.
“Too many children are at risk of going without the food they need during the school holidays – something we simply can’t ignore,” stated Ruth Cranston, Director of Sustainability at Sainsbury’s. “We need continued, systemwide action to close the holiday hunger gap, so that no child goes hungry.”
The £8m pledge for holiday club provision, which includes this summer and runs until at least March 2029, builds upon two years of support as part of a three-year commitment by Sainsbury’s.
To support the drive, thousands of Sainsbury’s and Argos colleagues are taking on physical challenges to raise money for Comic Relief, with the retailer matching all donations.
The fundraising push works towards Sainsbury’s ambition to raise £30m by 2030, helping to donate a total of 120 million meals donated to children and families across the UK since 2022.
Morrisons Keeps Fruit On The Breakfast Menu
Morrisons is continuing its free Breakfast Club throughout the summer holidays, providing children with cereal, milk, and a piece of fruit in all its cafés nationwide.
While the initiative in partnership with Kellogg’s focuses on tackling holiday hunger, it also ensures fresh fruit remains part of children’s morning routine during the school break, when dietary habits can often become less structured.
Research commissioned by the retailer and Kellogg’s found that one in three (33 per cent) parents often struggle to feed their children during the school holidays, rising to two in five (40 per cent) of parents aged 25-34.
A Growing Role For Retailers
The range of initiatives reflects a broader shift in how retailers view fresh produce. Rather than relying solely on price promotions, supermarkets are investing in programmes that combine affordability, accessibility, and education to help shoppers, especially children, establish lifelong healthy eating habits.
Such campaigns create additional opportunities to showcase fresh produce, engage younger consumers and reinforce the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables well beyond just seasonal marketing.
As schools break up for the summer, the message from retailers is increasingly clear. Fresh produce has a central role to play in keeping children healthy, well-fed, and engaged with nutritious food throughout the holidays.