Frugal Lunch by Clever Dudette
I would like to announce the first guest article by my wife Stacie, aka Clever Dudette. Stacie is a Registered Dietitian in the D.C. region, and runs her own nutrition site at Building Nutrition.
Enjoy!
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Clever Dude and I frequently disagree on lunch purchases. I work in a hospital (and therefore have ready access to the cafeteria) but have packed my lunch daily for over 6 months. The Dude works at a client site with expensive lunch options (cafeteria and food court). I believe that to be frugal (and health-conscious) for lunch, it is imperative to pack your lunch!
Average cost of an insulated lunch box:
$10 at Walmart or on Amazon.com. You can use the Amazon.com product search on the sidebar.
What are good and healthy options for lunch?
Let’s assume that you have a refrigerator but no microwave to heat foods:
Monday Lunch:
PBJ sandwich on wheat bread, raw carrots, baked chips and an apple:
- Peanut butter ($0.11)
- jelly($0.07)
- wheat bread ($0.30)
- raw carrots ($0.12)
- bag of baked chips ($0.28)
- apple ($0.50)
- water from the fountain (free). It’s safe, except where the Dude works, but they provide water coolers.
Cost: $1.38
Tuesday Lunch:
Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, light mayo, carrot sticks, canned pears in light syrup and a snack pack of Oreos (the Dude’s favorite):
- turkey sandwich on wheat bread ($1.30)
- lettuce ($0.25)
- tomato ($0.25)
- light mayo ($0.14)
- carrot sticks ($0.12)
- canned pears in light syrup ($0.69)
- snack pack of Oreos ($0.41)
- fountain or cooler water again (still free)
Cost: $3.16
Wednesday Lunch:
Tuna salad sandwich, banana, celery sticks with peanut butter, baked chips
- tuna sandwich (light tuna canned in water on wheat bread with light mayo) ($1.00)
- banana ($0.25)
- celery sticks with peanut butter ($0.25 + $0.11)
- bag of baked chips ($0.28)
- the infamous water from the water fountain (free again)
Cost: $2.00
Thursday lunch:
Repeat of Monday.
Cost: $1.38
Friday lunch:
Repeat of Tuesday—have to use that lunch meat!
Cost: $3.16
So to calculate the comparison costs, let’s ignore that you may work from home some days, or don’t work all 52 weeks each year:
Cost of eating out (average $6 a day) = $30.00
Cost of packing a lunch for 5 days = $11.00
Total savings = $19.00/week * 52 weeks = $988.00!!!
What if you have no microwave and no refrigerator?
You could spend $10-15 for a lunch bag that comes with a freezer pack. You can also just throw a few ice cubes in a re-usable Zip-lock bag to use as a “free” ice pack.
Each of these lunches will provide about 600 calories, which is appropriate for the average man or woman. So, not only are they inexpensive, but they are healthy too!!!
Photo Credits to [Progodess], [basykes], and [RatRanch]
Try one of these related posts too!:
- Clever Dude’s Week in Review Feb 25-Mar 2, 2007
- Clever Dude is in the Sweet Sixteen - Vote for me!
- Not So Frugal Lunch
- Welcome New Readers!
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What if you put that savings into a high-interest savings account? Then you will have saved even more. Last month I wrote a similar post http://moneyfortherestofus.com/2007/01/17/you-are-what-you-eat-lunch-savings-calculator/
and linked to the “Lunch Savings Calculator” which will calculate the savings for you and add in the interest rate you specify. http://www.dinkytown.net/java/LunchSaver.html
Where do you shop! That menu would easily cost 150% of your quoted value in my neck of the woods. I have found that pre-packing my daily lunch saves me on average $10 / week if I keep the meals marginally exciting … over the course of a year thats $520.
And to boot … the menu you propose is a little bland and boring, but the point you are trying to make gets across. If I ate the menu each week I think I could only last a month before I hit up the office cafe again.
Any options for vegans or vegetarians?
As my wife mentioned, we’re a bit at odds over her proposed menu. She can handle bland foods regularly, but I like ethnic foods, and unfortunately frequent the food court a bit too often. I would die from blandness from this menu every week, but you’re right, it’s to illustrate the per-ingredient cost of some foods we can pack.
We buy in bulk from Sam’s club, but she did the calculations based on proper serving sizes for the average adult just from quick grocery searches at stores like Safeway and Giant. People could go pricier with organic peanut butter. They could throw jam on instead of jelly. They could get cold cuts kits instead of turkey.
In the end, it’s to illustrate a sample menu, but not intended for anyone to try to eat this every day. I definitely couldn’t, but many people actually can.
Another very important factor is the money on gas that you save if you are driving somewhere for lunch. I found that a tank of gas lasts me about 20% longer when I bring my lunch to work with me. 20% is about another $25 a month… $300 in the year.
If you do have a microwave/fridge (or in some cases, even if you don’t), bringing your lunch to work can also be a good way to work through leftovers. I feel a lot better about my health and finances when I bring a lunch to work, and I also feel a sort of accomplishment when I have made my own lunch.
I see one flaw with this idea here….
You fail to take into account that it is impractical and perhaps impossible, in some cases, to buy such small portions of meat, bread or fruit.
I think that your figures need to be recalculated taking into account the food that will inevitably go bad and need to be pitched over the course of a week or so. Unless, you are good friends with the grocer and can ask for 5 slices of turkey every week….
Sounds pretty good… now the problem is whether I can remember to bring them with me 5 in the morning…
What if you hate peanut butter? Canned pears? Come on…and we can’t drink the water out here and water delivery is sporadic and it tastes like someone filled it up from a tap near the place where you can’t drink the water. Nice try, but you’re being so frugal that anyone who were to start this plan would probably be craving jalapenos for the sake of countering the blandness.
Adam, Buy lunch meat in bulk and then freeze it in baggies. It lasts a long time that way.
This is very doable. I pack daily - however I am a creature of habit and can stand having the same cold lunch day in and day out:
Half sandwhich:
Turkey - $0.76/day (I buy 1/2lb. @ 7.49/lb. Lasts 1 week)
Cheese - $0.10/day (I buy 1/4lb. @ 6.99/lb. Lasts 2 weeks)
Bread - $0.07/day (I buy loaves and freeze them in separate, 5 slice bags)
Sides:
Yogurt - $0.32/day (one 32oz. tub last 8 days)
Carrots - $0.10/day (I buy whole carrots and cut them up)
Apple - $0.37/day (Apples @ $0.98/lb.)
Banana - $0.13/day (Bananas @ $0.39/lb)
TOTAL - $1.85/day
Re: Adam and small portions of meat. The deli at my local super will quite happily give whatever amount of meat you ask for. I’ve even had one guy tear pieces of meat to hit the .1lbs I requested. It’s also better than the packaged Hormel or whatever.
Regarding how we came up with the 11 cents here or 28 cents there, we calculated serving sizes and used average prices for jars of peanutbutter, or packs of turkey.
We shop in bulk at Sam’s Club. We bought a pack of turkey slices for about $4/lb. It’s 5 slices per serving. I personally eat about 2-3 servings, and I throw mustard and mayo on it. Also, I make a loaf of PBJ sandwiches at a time and freeze them. I throw them in my bag before work and they thaw out just fine by lunchtime without becoming mushy.
Again, this is a sample menu to show you how low you can get the price of your lunches and still get a well-balanced meal.
Instead of peanut butter, try a substitute (almond butter, walnut butter, sunflower butter, etc.). If you don’t like jelly, try jam. If you don’t like turkey, try ham or bologna.
Prices will differ on your location and shopping habits.
This is sort of an extreme example, but it can be done. My wife takes in the same thing every day, but I can only eat this menu about 2-3 times a week. The other times I go for chinese or greek food
I’m curious: how much time do you spend every day/week preparing these meals and shopping? Part of the built-in cost of eating out is the convenience.
We shop at Sam’s once per 2 weeks. I spend about 30 minutes making enough PBJ sandwiches for a 2 week period then freeze them. We buy canned fruit, so that lasts longer and is easier to transport.
I make the turkey sandwiches the night before work so they stay fresh.
Like I said, I still eat out a couple times a week because I like variety, but it comes at an expense. The time to make these meals is minimal if you plan your shopping trips ahead of time, but not everyone can or does buy in bulk. Just think of this post as a way to open your eyes to how much you could really save if you tried a little (and burned your taste buds out of your mouth
)
I’m going to bring into view something that has yet to be mentioned: the opportunity cost of lost networking time. This may depend on your place of business and type of work that you do, but it’s something that does apply to many of us. Yes, we could all bring our lunch and eat at our desk everyday and save $1,000 per year. However, does this equate to the lost value of networking with your peers and managers?
Of course, it’s tough to quantify this, but it is worth thinking about. The $6 per day spent on walking over to the food court, sitting down, and networking for an hour may be worth it in the long run.
I agree on the leftovers comment. We are a family of two and we often cook meals for 6. That way there will be two servings leftover for each of us. It also saves time to prepare meals in bulk and then reheat them later. We pack our own cans of soda (a small splurge over fountain water), but even that is very cost effective at a mere 16 cents per can (12-pack for $2). Fruits are inexpensive and healthy side dishes, as are yogurt, pudding and jello packaged into your own tupperware containers!
We’ve been packing our lunch since the new year. Even if you ’splurge’ on drinks, if you buy them in bulk you’ll still save over buying them one unit at a time each day. For example, a bottle of water at my workplace costs about $1.29. Last time we went to Costco, we bought a flat of 24 bottles for under $5. I usually refill my water bottles for a couple of days, but even if I didn’t, it would still be a savings.
Same goes for other food. It’s about $1 to buy an apple at my office cafeteria. After a few of those, you’ve spent as much as a whole bag costs at the grocery store.
If you can’t give up purchasing your lunch once in a while, another way to cut back is to bring all your snacks and drinks, and then purchase soup or just a sandwich. The total cost of your lunch is still much lower than what you would normally spend to buy the whole thing, and it’s easier to resist adding a chocolate bar or bag of chips to the meal.
Since we started bringing our lunches, my husband has noticed that his waistline is shrinking too. We pack more food, typically, than what is shown here, and often it is leftovers from dinner, which probably has more calories. Still, it’s much better for you than hamburgers and other fast food (most of what’s near our workplaces are burger joints and other greasy options).
Because we don’t restrict ourselves to bland PBJ twice a week, we probably are not saving as much as this couple, but we don’t feel deprived at all by bringing our lunch. We load up our sandwiches with our favourite toppings and buy special treats in bulk.
Once you get the hang of packing a lunch (and identify your favourites) you may actually find that the quality and variety is better than what you can buy, especially if you don’t have many good restaurants nearby or your office cafeteria is sub-par. On the days I forget to pack a lunch, I often feel cross, because I pay $6-8 for a sandwich that is less tasty than what I make at home, a snack that would cost me 1/4 as much if I’d brought it and a bottle of water or other drink. I’m more often disappointed in the taste and quality from the options around here than those in my fridge.
I buy PB and keep it at my desk. Then I buy 2 loaves of bread from sams, the good whole wheat kind and freeze one. I bring a 12 pack of soda to work, and some lunch meat, cheese, lettuce and kashi bars. These all cost about 15 - 20 $ a week and I am always satisfied. My colleagues go to lunch everyday “to get away” but since they are gone, I am really getting away. They spend about 10 - 12 dollars a day. that is a huge savings. That is how I afford ipods and other fun electronics.
When buying lunchmeat and freezing it, how do you avoid the slime that inevitably seems to grow on it after a week or two? I’ve found that if I don’t eat lunchmeat within a week to ten days after purchase, it becomes inedible. I only buy the premium meats, as well, not the $2.99/lb “turkey”.
I definitely agree that this can be done. I’ve eaten the same type of meal for the past ten years - turkey sandwich, pbj, tuna or maybe just a yogurt as the main “dish”. I like bland foods and don’t ever crave for different types of things, so it won’t work for those who are more experimental.
for vegetarians, try hummus:
- 1 can of chickpeas (about a buck)
- 1 clove of garlic (or use garlic powder; under a buck)
- juice of one lemon (lemons are what? 3 for $1? leave out if you don’t like it tangy)
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil depending on how chunky and/or olive oily you like your hummus (depends on how pricey you like your olive oil. i recommend cold-pressed extra virgin which is usually pricier, but worth the flavor)
1 tbsp tahini (optional…depends on whether you like or can find tahini)
salt to taste.
mince chop the garlic in a food processor. then add the chickpeas and everything else until it’s mashed to your liking.
Some of the above comments refer to buying out as a way to counter blandness. I make a lot of ethnic food at home and take leftovers for lunch. I just graduated from college a few months ago and have never cooked in my life - but there are plenty of really easy recipes out there even for exotic-seeming sauces. It takes a few hours over the weekend to cook a couple interesting dishes that last me for lunch all week. It would be even faster if I bought pre-made sauces. Just saying there are many alternatives to sandwiches out there.
love this! i keep veggie burgers and buns in the freezer here at work. when i get hungry, i stick them in the microwave for lunch. not as cheap as PB &J but definitely a LOT cheaper than buying lunch in manhattan.
I only like sandwiches occasionally, and I’m vegetarian, but I’ve found that it’s really quite easy to bring interesting and tasty packed lunches… I often make a pot of chili, soup or stew, eat this for dinner on the night it’s prepared and then freeze leftovers to bring in a thermos a few times over the next couple weeks. Or brown rice, salsa and beans hot in a thermos, with shredded cheese carried separately to put on top. You could also bring other tex-mex type fillings in a thermos and wrap in a tortilla or eat as a dip with nacho chips.
Another option is to bring pita, hummus, tabouleh, veggies etc separately and then put together at work/school. Yogurt, fruit and granola is another great combination for lunch time.. For a kidlike alternative to pb&j, try bananas, apples, raisins etc.
There’s a lot of moaning going on here. I can’t understand why people think that making lunch is extra effort or that things will have to be chucked (if you plan ahead and make the effort to eat it it won’t, duh) and what does it matter if the water isn’t palatable, bottles of water can be picked up cheaply (two litres of water costs about 12p, that’s $0.24 no?) then once you’ve drunk it, wash out the bottles and refill them. I once read something about freezing empty bottles to keep them fresh…not sure about the practicality of that though. The sample menu is…strange (i mean why would you mix peanut butter and jam? strange americans lol), but you’re making a sandwich and putting it in foil, how difficult can it be to make it interesting? I make my lunch every day and don’t find it gets boring at all. Salad takes seconds to prepare and things like radishes or onions (i personally love sliced white onion in vinager in a tuna sandwich) can liven up a sandwich. Taking a salad is a great idea too, i pack up leftover salad from the night before with a bit of dressing or dip to make it more interesting. If you don’t like tinned pears, there is always other tinned fruit, chopped up fresh fruit : halve a kiwi, wrap in foil and it’s ready to eat; chop up an apple or something and put it in a container with some yoghurt. These things are all easy to do. I mean if you can be bothered you can make your own houmus and chop up some crudites in what ten minutes? Nothing boring there.
I do the same thing as Dan. I cook more food than I need for two and bring the leftovers for lunch the next day. It saves time since I don’t need to spend the time making sandwiches. My dinners usually have more variety than the same sandwiches every week. This does require a microwave to be available at your workplace. Alternatively, you could make salad for dinner and bring the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Regarding the “drinks” thing, I bought a reusable water bottle and fill it up with my Brita pitcher. It saves me the hassle of going to the water fountain and also I’m not fond of using a fountain where I can see green things growing.
I really find that I save time by preparing my own lunch. I can take a half hour lunch break and leave half an hour earlier rather than going out somewhere and buying food. That usually requires an hour lunch break.
FYI people, I’ve removed the PBJ and Turkey sandwich pics since I found they were “All Rights Reserved” on Flickr. I got permission from the photographer of the tuna salad sandwich to reuse that photo though.
Thanks alert readers!
i’m finding more and more that i need to bring my lunch (or, various light meals as the case may be), but also reaching a debate on whether it is worth it to me, not in a monitary way though.
unlike most folks who go to work/school, which this article can easily be applied to, i’m in constant motion throughout the day and am frequently carrying more than i can handle. i can barely carry or stuff a bag of items into my backpack or side pack. i’m on campuses and offices in different cities throughout the day, so i have no real access to a fridge. however, my options for food are often expensive, unsavory, or unhealthy. $3 bagels, $5-6 sandwiches and an arm full of chips and candy bars can only go so far on my work study salary.
though this point seems obvious, i enjoy finding new articles on this topic and hearing suggestions, since it always motivates me to try something that’ll relieve the pressure on my wallet and also the guilt of spending more and eating terribly.
I love it!!!! You all (through this site and others commenting today) have so many healthy and different ideas for lunch (it even gave me a few). It’s so awesome to see so many people talking about nutrition and healthy meals (and maybe my article sparked some small changes to one person’s lunch (if not more people))???
Sorry that my options weren’t more varied…I will have to work on this for my future posts….
I’m glad to see that you guys are all interested in nutrition and thrifty/healthy eating. I’ll keep those articles coming!!
To Jenn who mentioned having more than she could handle–
I too am a student on the go, so I only bring meals when I really can’t soldier through the day without them. Snacks can get you through, though, and take up less space. On Mondays, for example, when I’m away from home for ten hours and hauling about books for my own class and the class I teach, I pack a Larabar (giving me lots of fabulous fiber), a couple of string cheeses, and a few chocolates (either Hershey’s kisses or Ritter sport, if I feel like getting fancy). As long as I’ve had a good meal first, and drink a fair quantity of fluids, these two tiny meals (chocolates/cheese and Larabar/cheese) keep me from feeling too hungry, and the inclusion of the protein from the cheese keeps my blood sugar from crashing!
Dudette’s ideas are good. Another: I’ve stopped shopping at Costco for food. It’s ok, but I spend a lot more at places like Wild Oats for better food. Not all the time, but as much as I can. Here, Salt Lake City, Wild Oats is practically the only big store and the prices are high, but I know that in other parts of the country there are good stores that have much lower prices. The difference, the better taste, is big. Saves only a little bit over the food court, so if you’re going solely for cost, it may not be better to shop at a place where the organics are plenty. What do I know, I’ve only been doing it a year. But my meals are tasty!
Great post. I’m daily lunch packer as well, without a microwave at my disposal. I do lots of hearty mixed salads (current fave is cracked wheat, cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, lemon juice and olive oil). One of your commenters raises a great point: it is moderately time consuming to pack a lunch. On average, I probably 15 minutes per day (depending on whether or not i have leftovers to work with, how ambitious/lazy I’m feeling, etc.), and since we’re being mathematical about it, that’s 1.25 hours per week. But how much does this inconvenience really “cost”? If you work a minimum wage job, you could have earned about $10 is that 1.25 hours. But if you are going out for lunch, aren’t you losing even more time getting to and from your lunch spot?
Then there’s the whole general goodness in getting out of the office and being social with coworkers thing. It’s a complicated issue and many of the costs are just not that simple!
For me it’s less about the money and more about the quality - in general I prefer my own food to the processed garbage found at most “fast” food joints. And if it’s a nice day, I have my lunch outside (I’m a sucker for a good picnic). Once in a while I treat myself to a nice sit down lunch with my colleagues, which probably throws all my savings out the window. But I’m rich in wholesome lunches, and that’s a good thing. =)
Thanks so much for posting this. I’m in London and plan to do a similar calculation in GBP - it’s going to be scary.
Not to meantion health…you will die alot quicker from the food court fats than you will from blandness. Sometimes I bring cheese and crackers and some craisins or raisins for lunch. Then I can knit or sew or read in the lunch room and that creates a network of sorts for the creatives amongst us.
At my office, it’s the norm to bring your lunch (and eat at your desk while barely pausing from work, but that’s a different story). A lot of people bring a frozen entree, so there’s always that option (though personally I’d rather not eat than eat a frozen entree).
I struggle with bringing my lunch, and only succeed part of the time. However I always eat lunch by myself, it’s not a social time for me. I just have trouble with prepping my lunch the night before. However, when I take my lunch I feel better, eat better and generally am more productive. When I eat out I spend too much ($12 as a rule) and eat too much.
My lunch staples are pbj or a ham sandwich with raw veggie and a piece of fruit. It takes me all of 5 minutes to prep my lunch the night before and keep it in the fridge (it never happens if I wait til morning). Then again I’m a bland food hater, so after several days I always have to go out for some mexican food or something. (what? be organized enough to take mexican? lol)
Oh, and Phill — peanut butter and jam (the proverbial pbj) is a veritable american institution!
This is a great post with some great comments.
To address the networking issue - does your place of employment have a lunch room? We don’t have a cafeteria here but we do have a lunch room (they call it a staff lounge) with indoor and outdoor seating. Sometimes I eat my lunch there and sometimes I sit at my desk. It depends on how much work I need to get done.
I do try to bring my lunch everyday but am willing to save it for tomorrow if a bunch of people are getting together for a nice lunch. Sometimes you just want to be with the group.
And Dudette, it’s too bad so many people dislike peanut butter! I work two jobs, two days a week and have to eat lunch or dinner in my car on the way to the next job. A peanut butter and banana sandwich on light multigrain bread is the only thing I eat on those trips. It is delicious and I don’t have to worry about drips or stains to my clothes!
I ditto the leftovers. Even from when you eatout, I always bring home leftovers. So a $35-40 dinner for us can often net 2-3 meals. Often when we order steak out (or prepare at home) there are enough leftovers for a steak salad for lunch & then we do steak & eggs for breakfast…
When I did work in “Corporate America” I did go out to eat a LOT & am still paying the price for it (just a few extra pounds to go!)(but I was usually being woooed by a sales person) as for networking with peers we had Thursday lunch that was our weekly thing. So maybe you could set up a weekly “Date” we did chinese buffet & the occaisional pizza joint. But otherwise we’d bring our own lunches & hang out in the lounge or someone elses office.
Click my name for a website (not mine) with vegan lunch ideas.
I currently live close enough to work that I can come home for lunch most days, which is even better than bringing a lunch. But, during grad school, I did pack a lunch. You can do hummus, peanut butter and jelly, or seasoned lentils and rice, just to name a few. Since I’m vegetarian instead of vegan, I also like to make tomato and cheese sandwiches, with mustard and black pepper. Pack the tomatoes separately from the rest of the sandwich, and assemble before eating.
If you don’t want to make your own lunch, and you have a microwave, a can of soup is also cheaper than lunch out (although high in salt).
In case any of these ideas are helpful to someone, in my office (with fridge, kettle, microwave, bowl, can opener, chopsticks, spoons/forks/knifes) I often have
- some of those high fiber crackers that don’t go stale (or at least don’t taste different if they do) Ryvita right now.
- some brown rice cakes
- a block or 2 of cheese
- used to have couscous and a tupperware (add boiling water, put the lid on, wait, open and stir) but I guess I got bored of it. I’d put things like canned indian food over it.
- kidney beans, chickpeas, or something like that
- a few carrots (they get rubbery quickly)
- apples? oranges? … bananas, but they don’t last as well
- dark chocolate
- peanut butter
- instant Indian in bags
- noodles (I’ve been into the Annie Chun’s brand lately)
- chili and/or soup in cans
- sometimes bread, with a bunch of the loaf still in the freezer (the one I buy at the local coop, Colorado, comes to them frozen, so I ask for a frozen loaf from the back) but it’s still harder to “maintain” (not having some go bad or running out) than the crackers.
- and sometimes half of the last large lunch I bought
I still go out a fair bit, but often I can scrounge enough from the stuff I’ve left around to be pretty happy.
Another cheap way to eat is to go Japanese and eat “bento” style: cold lunches of steamed/pickled vegetables and rice plus other goodies. It’s easy to prepare the night before as part of dinner, it can be vegetarian as some here asked for (it doesn’t kill us omnivores to go without, you know), it will keep without refrigeration (if you go meatless), it uses foods you usually have in the kitchen, and it provides an alternative to the tedium of sandwiches. It’s also satisfying in that eating it feels like a proper meal, not just what you can get your hands on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento
http://moderntraditional.com/magazine/bento/bento.html
http://www.cookingcute.com/packingbento.htm
My husband sent me a link to this thread. Great examples in the OP and fantastic comments since then. I, too, work in a hospital, where we have a cafeteria. The price isn’t too bad, but, it’s not exactly all healthy, so I bring my lunch most of the time.
I take sandwiches (or sandwich ingredients in a tortilla) only occasionally and leftovers sometimes and when Lean Cuisine freezer meals are on a good sale, I’ll pick them up. But, my biggest staples are ‘coffee cup snacks’. If you’ve got a microwave or hot water tap, you’re good. I like oatmeal (good fiber in all brands, but, check the sugar) because it’s filling. A soup is good (I get the low-fat and low-sodium varieties when they’re on special). There are also some single-serve pasta (from mac and cheese to ’sink noodles’ aka ramen) that can be pretty cheap. If you need some protein, a small can of turkey vienna sausages comes really cheap and can be added to two or three servings of soup or mac and cheese. I’ll can the same thing repeatedly for a few weeks then totally change it up.
Oh, and I eat lunch in my office unless I’m going out to eat with colleagues. My boss says I’m anti-social for not eating in the cafeteria with him and the rest of the guys, but, I like my quiet time in the office. Catch up on newsletters and other geeky things.
I, and my whole family, have sandwiches every day:
- I work regular 9-5
- My wife works 3 part-days/week
- My youngest goes to a childminder on those 3 days
- My eldest goes to school 5 days/week
We have jam, Marmite (do you have that in the USA?), ham (with or without cheese, cucumber, mushrooms, etc), peanut butter, and so on. (The kids also have a snack and some juice. My wife and I get coffee at work).
I wouldn’t say that it “saves” a huge amount of money; more that we would be spending a huge amount of money if we were to eat out.
PS. I’m confused; there was reference to “jelly”, which I thought was what we in the UK call “jam”, but the same post also mentioned “jam”?
My current job provides me with lunch free of charge, so all of this is null to me at this point. However, I do occasionally go somewhere during my break and grab something extra if the meal was not enough or something I didn’t like.
I left my last job about a month and a half ago. I worked at a very small preschool lacking in a staff lounge or anything like. Each person’s lunch break was built into his or her daily schedule, and mine was from 10:30 to 11:30. I hated having a break this early and often found myself grabbing a snack and then eating real food later. Having a break meant that I had the opportunity to go buy food (or anything else) and often would. I hated having a break because there was nowhere on campus where I could go to hang out. When it was warm, I sometimes went for a walk and ate lunch when the kids had all fallen asleep or with them if I got a chance. Now I have a break but get fed lunch earlier, so I still have to find something to do during my break, which means I may not save on gas.
Until July, I worked part tine at the school and was a nanny in the afternoons. I ate lunch of snack stuff bought mainly at Costco in my car and/or when I got to the nannying job. I occasionally ate at the school with the kids before I left. I would stop to get food elsewhere only if I was really really hungry or had a specific craving.
Personally, I prefer not having a break. It’s nicer at my new job because I have more space and so can go somewhere on campus during break to read, rest, etc., plus there are computers I can use during my break. But, since I have already eaten, if I’m hungry during this time, I will be spending money I don’t need to spend.
We don’t have marmite here. I looked it up on wikipedia and it sounds like Vegemite, which is banned, or was banned, from the US for some reason.
In the US, jam is more of the original fruit (e.g. strawberry jam still has bit of strawberry in it). But jelly has no resemblance to the original fruit whatsoever. It’s more like jello.
Um, you can get Vegemite and Marmite at any Cost Plus/World Market. I should know — I was the Gourmet Foods Department Head here in Tucson, AZ. I had lots of customers who purchased it! So it is not “banned in the USA.”
We’re also DINKS who eat a lot of leftovers. DH rarely eats out try once every 3 months in the 15 months he’s been working. And he makes 6 figures, so everyone at work notices he brings his lunch everyday religiously. In fact it’s so religious that they’ve commented.
But instead we indulge by eating out together. So to us it’s worth the sacrifice to bring lunch so eating out happens together, not apart everyday. Don’t know how others feel but I’d rather eat out with DH than my work friends anyway.
Thanks for the many ideas! I’ve been super busy so even boiling vegetables seems like a chore. I ate peanut butter on whole wheat sprouted bread 3 out of the 5 days last week and as much as it gets bland, when you’re hungry, you’re hungry! and it’s food. instead of peanut butter, every now and then i’ll substitute with cashew or almond butter even though it’s 6 bucks each. almond butter is high in good fats also.
investing the savings for 40 years results in a nearly $1000/month income when you retire!
http://wealthbuildinglessons.com/2007/03/29/how-to-have-an-extra-1000-in-monthly-retirement-income/
Summary: If you were to permanently switch from the $6 product to the $2 product, and then invested the resulting monthly savings in an investment that earned 6% per year, between now and age 65, you would then be able to withdraw $960 from your investment each month…for the rest of your life!
Don’t under estimate the saving power of canned soup. As stated above, it can be a little salty but there are reduced salt varieties, and during Can-Can sales you can find these “lunches” for a dollar a piece, and most non-cream based varieties tend to be relativly healthy for you, 200-300 calories, under 5 grams of fat.
There is something to be said about variety, and soup keeps me happy for a while with so many choices to choose from but after a while like all other lunches I’ve gotta have something else to mix it up.
I ended up here after reading a story on Blogging mistakes, which brought me to Clever Dude. Cool site, great comments and I wish you continued success.
This post is intriguing, if not only for the annual lunch savings projected by Clever Dudette, but the fallout from Flickr image use and server load issues due in part to heavy site code… this little journey to CD has taken up a half hour and its been a great investment.
I have read nearly all the comments. While some seem to have strayed off course (jam vs. jelly, etc.)… I thought I would revive the essence of this post which was saving money by bringing your lunch to work.
The cost-analysis is fantastic (light mayo $.14) - great stuff and you can probably beat the per serving costs by using generic or purchasing the five gallon tub ‘o mayo at Sam’s Club (Wholesale Buyer’s Club Stores in the USA and part of Wal Mart)
What struck me as one significant cost not attributed (apologize if it was brought up) is the time to prepare the lunch.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that Clever Dudette earns $50,000 per year working a forty hour week that works out to roughly $961.54 per week or $24.04 per hour. If Clever Dudette spends 12 minutes per lunch, she spends approximately one hour per week preparing lunch. Clever Dudette invests 52 hours per year or $1250.08 (at $24.04 per hour) of her own time.
Based on giving your personal time a “value” factor, it appears Clever Dudette is spending $5.04 per week in time over the weekly cost-saving value ($19.00) or an annual investment of time valued at $1250.08 which eclipses the $988.00 projected savings.
Should we consider our time spent outside of work to be any less valuable than when we’re on the clock?
Ok, I spent 45 minutes total. Time well spent, but now I can’t afford lunch! LOL
Thanks Stevie K.
In response, what about all that time each day you travel to the cafeteria, or food court, or restaurant to eat out? It takes me about 5 minutes to get to the food court, and 5 minutes back. Add in the time to order the food, pay for it, and find seating, I think you’ll find that you’ll still save some money by making your own lunch.
Especially if you’re just boxing up leftovers from the night before.
I plan on writing a series of posts summarizing the best of the comments here, as well as my own method for preparing lunches in advance.
I know this post is long, but every comment is appreciated, viewed and valued!
Regarding the actual lunch break, unless you can use that time for preparing future lunches - travel time to and from, specifically the actual time you spend “eating” lunch wouldn’t seem to factor into the equation.
As a working professional with an established hourly rate of compensation we should consider the time required to complete the work itself and physically being on location to perform that work - as being part of the compensated week. Or simply, a time when one cannot prepare lunch.
Thanks for the note and will be looking forward to all the Dudes’ future posts.
We ran into this kind of thing where I work (Well, not where I work right now… I’m in stupid Iraq!), and we all thought about the “networking” part of it. Our solution? A group of us started a “lunch bunch,” and we all pitched in $10 or so. Then we sent two or three people to the store to buy meats, cheeses, bread, etc.
We took a list of things people didn’t like or were allergic to, and never had a major problem with that. Then we just kept it in our department refrigerator. That allowed us to make sandwiches and chips for lunch (at work, no less), and we would join the other “lunch bunch”-ers in the conference room or outside or somewhere together.
So, not only did we get sandwiches for less than it would cost us to eat out, we got a larger variety, as well! We would often have four or five types of meats, three or four types of cheese, two types of breads… The list could go on! This just goes to show that money can be saved *AND* you can network!
great ideas, im not a meat eater but i can sub turkey for soy meats or hummus… i see people spending 10-15$ daily on lunch, its such a waste + the $5 on coffee its crazy
Thank you Clever Dudette for this great post! I wanted to add a few ideas for vegetarians:
Wraps: Tortillas, Canned Black Beans, Little bit of lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
Also, instead of peanut butter, hummus is great with celery/carrot sticks. It’s relatively easy to make a big batch on Sunday night and package in five small containers for the week. Ingredients are simple: chickpeas, lemon, tahini, garlic, and anything you’d like to add (roasted red peppers are good!)
Thanks!
RYC: I think a guy who is comfortable enough with his masculinity to take a pink lunchbox to work is alright in my book.
BTW, your wife’s website is awesome! I was looking at it today and I got so many great ideas. I think a woman that talented deserves a $100.00 lunch set…
Good luck on training for the marathon!
Love these ideas!I bring my own daily, despite a shifting schedule. Raisins, cheese, fruit are all good snacks. The only time I struggle with is when I work back to back shifts (home at 11pm, up at 5:30). It means bascially packing/planning 2 days at a time, which is a whole lotta coordination on my part.
Stevie K:
No, you cannot just claim a value for your time equal to your hourly pay.
Your time is only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. Alternatively, your free time is only worth what you are willing to pay someone else to secure yourself that free time. You only really have so many peak-productivity working hours in a given day before your start making serious mistakes at your job and becoming inefficient– significantly lowering your value to an employer.
You need time off the clock, but nobody wants to pay you for the time you are relaxing, watching TV, sleeping, or cooking (unless you are a cook).
If CleverDudette is not willing to pay someone else 24 dollars an hour to make lunch for her, then her time making lunch is not worth 24 dollars. She is essentially taking the hour or so of her week that is worth the least and using it to save money.
At the end of the day, nobody pays you for your free time. You can either use that free time productively and save yourself money, or you can use that time unproductively and cost yourself more money in the long-term.
Limewater:
Agreed and in a roundabout way, you’ve actually kind of made my point.
You could pay someone far less than $24 an hour to prepare your lunch, so in Dudette’s situation, making her own lunch doesn’t seem cost-effective.
My position is based on the assumption that all of our time has value. One could argue “free” time is more valuable than “work” time - it’s not a question of if someone will pay you, its what you feel your time is worth.
The attorney that bills out at $400 per hour is inclined to pass up $100 per hour clients. The attorney’s value is $400 per hour, whether or not someone actually pays the rate or not.
Making lunch to save money at work seems more like an effort to maximize one’s compensation or value - not something done for the sake of recreation, free or otherwise “non-billable” hours.
Just my opinion and thanks for sharing yours,
Stevie K
All of our time does have value, but it is not necessarily the type of value measured in currency.
All of your points also seem to be based upon the assumption that everyone can work as many hours as they want every week. This is generally not the case. Hourly workers are usually capped at 40 hours a week, and salaried workers have few options to boost their weekly income.
If Dudette has the option of working an extra hour every week and can also find someone who is willing to work for less than $24 an hour AND is willing to make the commute to work twelve minutes a day, AND has a fool-proof method for avoiding the IRS then sure she should do that. I’ll write more about the IRS below.
You don’t have the option to get paid your normal working wage for as many hours a week as you want. When Dudette makes her own lunch every week and saves $19, she is essentially paying herself $19 an hour (tax-free) to make lunches.
Her options are most likely not a)work an hour at $24 an hour and b)work an hour making lunches and make $19. Her options are more probably a) Do something that will not yield any income or b) make $19 tax-free in an hour of lunch-making.
If Dudette does get to work an extra hour every week and make $24, though, then she has to pay taxes on that $24. At a 30% tax rate, that means her take-home pay for that hour is $16.80. However, she does not have to pay taxes on the $19 she saves. She actually comes out ahead even in the situation where she can bill hours as she wants.
But this whole scenario does not seem to jive with what you wrote previously. Earlier, you wrote that the travel time and wait involved in buying lunch is part of one’s lunch hour. However, if you are in the position to bill people per hour, then the travel time really is lost time you could be collecting income. If you are in a position where you have an enforced, unpaid lunch hour, then you also most likely also have a weekly or bi-weekly cap on your billable hours.
It just doesn’t seem to work out.
The attorney in your scenario does not yield the result you claim. In your given scenario, if the attorney really is unwilling to work for $100 an hour, then he has set his time-value to at least $100 an hour. That is all we know. That does not mean that his hour is worth $400. From the given information, his hour may only be worth $105.
Non-billable hours are non-billable, regardless of how one spends that time, whether one spends it making sandwiches or trying to get one’s calculator to spell dirty words. Making one’s lunch is an effort to maximize one’s value– though many people find it enjoyable. And, since “work more hours” isn’t an option for most people, it is a good use of one’s time.
Granted, I had to go back re-read my entire post from April, but here goes…
Yes, yes, yes - the assumption is that all time has value and Dudette’s original savings projections did not take into account “time to prepare”. I went on to say that “travel time” to work is not directly compensated, but is certainly a factor if you place value on your time. To that, so would preparing lunches for work, picking up dry cleaning, pressing your shirts or simply laying out your clothes for the next day at work.
Agreed, based on person’s income (hourly or salary, it still can be equated into units of compensation ie; rate per hour)… based on a person’s income, I feel there is certainly a point of diminishing ROI.
Saving money for the sake of being frugal doesn’t always justify the time spent, if one attaches any value whatsover to their “time”.
The value, in fiscal terms, of our time is based on our rate of compensation. Personally, I feel my time is priceless, but my clients see it otherwise.
One point of contention in your observation of my previous statements: I said that Dudette spends an hour PER WEEK at 12 minutes PER DAY preparing lunches. At her rate of compensation or “fiscal value in units of time”, I feel Dudette at an estimated $50K salary is not actually saving money.
To your arguement, if a person has a fixed or otherwise limited income, Dudette’s projections start making fiscal sense. But at $50K, I think her time could be better spent if saving money was the only goal.
Granted, the value of creating your own lunch, to your specific tastes is virtually impossible to attach value, but the prepartion takes time - that is undeniable. From my experience in business and life - time is money. If the task is making lunch to save money then I feel “time spent” is a COGS or Cost of Goods Sold.
I’m enjoying the challenge of backing up my statements, so keep it coming!
Thanks,
Stevie K
I sort of agree with you about diminishing return on investment, though I hesitate to call it a diminishing return. The amount of time spent and the amount of money saved remains fairly constant when adjusted for inflation. If you have a large income you just naturally care less and less about the $19 a week, even if it does add up to almost $1000 a year.
You may value your time very highly, but that’s not really the type of value you can readily measure in money unless you can easily convert that time into money. Time is money when you’re on the clock. Time is money when you only value your time spent by its opportunity cost. But without money-making options for that time, your opportunity costs don’t really translate to dollars.
From a purely monetary point of view, frugality always makes sense unless one engages in frugal behavior that prevents that person from engaging in other, more financially profitable behavior. It’s when you start dealing with other, non-monetary values that suddenly clipping coupons is not worth the time.
I followed your original discussion about the twelve minutes per day spent making lunches. I’ve based all of my replies upon it. Perhaps I was unclear in my little joke paragraph about the practicalities of hiring someone else to make one’s lunch.
Assuming Dudette has the option to work 41 hours a week, she still comes out ahead by packing her lunch because the $19 a week she saves is tax free. I discussed that in my previous post. Assuming she pays about %30 in taxes, she only takes home $16.80 per hour. If she can save $19 for an hour’s work, then she is $2.20 ahead for that hour. That’s really her most highly-paid hour of the week because she doesn’t have to pay taxes on it!
Even assuming he time is worth $24.04 an hour, I don’t see how you can say she isn’t saving money by making lunch.
But again, your measurement of “fiscal value in units of time” is erroneous because she can most likely only convert 40 hours per week into fiscal units. There is no opportunity cost for her time past that unless she starts working a second job.
You wrote:
“To your arguement, if a person has a fixed or otherwise limited income, Dudette’s projections start making fiscal sense. But at $50K, I think her time could be better spent if saving money was the only goal.”
Who ISN’T on a fixed income? Is a salary not a fixed income? It seems that most people in the workforce are on a fixed income.
If Dudette makes $50K a year working 40 hours a week, how do you suggest she can better spend ten or twelve stray minutes a day, or even one hour a week saving money? And how does her salary affect what she can do to save money in her free time?
Can you really calculate unbilled time as a cost of goods sold? I think that’s a little inconsistent. Here’s why:
I’ll attempt to apply my understanding of what you are saying.
Say I want to make lunch over the course of a week. This costs me an hour. We’ll say that hour is worth $24 and I live in some tax-free wonderland. Making lunch saves me $19, so I’m five bucks in the hole.
I also go in to work five days that week. We’re in wonderland, so I don’t have to spend time on a commute. My hours are worth $24 and I make $24 an hour. So by the end of the week I’m netting $0 because the time I spent at work is COGS.
So, by making lunch and going to work, I’ve lost $5 this week.
Of course that’s silly. This is why I think it’s a little misleading to start declaring the value of your time this way. One can’t directly treat one’s time as money, especially at one’s normal pay rate. One has different opportunity costs for different hours of the day, and one’s work hours have a higher opportunity cost than one’s other hours. If I don’t go to work, then I don’t get my $24 an hour. But, after my work hours are over, I don’t have the option of working at $24 for any more hours that day, and the monetary value of my time is lower. My time might be valuable in other ways, but these don’t translate directly to dollars.
When I spend an hour during the week making lunch, it doesn’t cost me $24. It costs me an hour’s-worth of whatever else I would be doing with my time.
Thanks,
Limewater
My favorite lunch/anytime meal:
Leftover pasta! You can get pretty good pasta for about $1 a pound, buy some cheap canned sauce, cook it (adding herbs and garlic and things to make it tasty), and then refrigerate separately. I am of the opinion that cold pasta is delicious, so I just put it in tupperware and bring a fork. Yum!
Uh actually I have to disagree here. You see I have a bunch of time on my hands and really need to belittle this idea.
When you consider the geometrical shape of said turkey, and incorporate the tangential velocity of a walmart lunch bag strap (see where I’m going here dudette) this is just not plausible.
My lettuce also costs $0.27 so these figures are entirely out of whack.
When you sit down next time to tap on plastic squares with white or black stickers in shapes of letters on them, please consider the grossly miscalculated and utterly inaccurate facts you are about to state.
Sincerely,
Dick
[/sarcasm]
Russians rarely microwave their food, since it destroys the nutritional value of the food! If you are microwaving, might as well eat the cheapest junk food in existence, and then do a daily vitamin!
Yes, oreos, chips and pears in syrup are very health conscious choices.
I appreciate the post. But I have two personal problems with the lunches. I have terrible teeth and would have issues with the carrot sticks. Also, the apple wouldn’t be too easy unless I cut it up. Also, none of it could be too cold or it would hurt my teeth.
And as for the bread, the levels of constipation would be rather high in no time flat.
According to wikipedia the vegemite ban was a hoax:
“In October 2006, the Melbourne newspaper, the Herald Sun incorrectly reported that Vegemite had been banned in the United States, and that the United States Customs Service had gone so far as to search Australians entering the country for Vegemite. The story appears to have originated from an anecdote from a traveller who claimed to have been searched, and a spokesperson for Kraft who made a misinformed comment to reporters. The story led to some anti-American comments in blogs and newspapers. The Herald Sun blamed the US President for the ban, and encouraged readers to post comments on its website and send emails to the White House.
The US Food and Drug Administration later stated that although it is technically illegal in the US to add folate to food products other than bread or cereal, there were no plans to investigate whether Vegemite contains folate, to subject it to an import ban, or withdraw it from US supermarket shelves. The United States Customs and Border Protection also tried to dispel the rumour, stating on its website that “there is no known prohibition on the importation of Vegemite” and “there is no official policy within CBP targeting Vegemite for interception”.[3] The story of the “ban” later took on the status of urban legend.[4] While Vegemite has never been popular in the U.S., it can still be purchased at supermarkets that stock imported food items.[5]“
Many times I will bring dinner leftovers for lunch the next day. I have cut down on bread usage so a lunch of chicken drumsticks or cold meatloaf with ketchup or barbecue sauce is good and filling. Carrot sticks are easy to prepare. Store packaged sticks are too expensive so by cutting them yourself is saving $. Grapes are good when frozen and easy to pack! Large boxes of crackers go a long way. Prepacked snacks are costly so by figuring out good snacks that are healthy is fun and usually much cheaper. Cheaper than hitting the vending machine mid afternoon. Soda is also another money guzzler and really not healthy. Water is good and most companies provide a water cooler so fill that cup with water and ice if available. Homemade lemonade and iced tea are other good options to quench the thirst when one is tired of plain water . Lemon or lime wedges can also be added to that plain ol water to change the taste. Necessity is the mother of invention and now is the time to pull out all the stops and think of how to do things cheaper yet retain the healthy lifestyle. Shop at the produce discount places and either freeze extra if possible or share with a family member, neighbor or friend. that way, nothing is wasted.
I am so surprised at the number of intelligent people here that are taking the suggested menu as a guideline instead of a suggestion! Obviously we will all adapt it to meet our tastes, the example is still valid. It IS less expensive to pack than to eat out. (And really- $6 dollars on lunch is way cheaper than the places my husband insists on indulging in, for an average range of $9 to $15 a day.) You can walk to the cafeteria and eat with co-workers, just take your lunch with you. Most workplaces tolerate this rather well. And even eating out just 1 or two times a week will be a nice savings. I think Stacie did a great job of pointing out a place to potentially save money while enhancing health, and we should use it as a starting place to consider implementing change in our lunch, not a doctrine on how to successfully change over. You go girl!
My husband and I have been brown bagging it since our poor college student days. We evolved from sandwiches, chips, cookies, drink to dinner leftovers. I look at it as double savings. You see, having leftovers get spoiled and tossed because they got pushed to the back of the refrigerator really got to me over time. Now, each night as I clean/close down the kitchen, I pull out our microwavable corning ware (with rubber/plastic lids) and put leftovers in these serving containers. The leftovers always consist of a meat, grain and vegetable.
My husband has to socialize as he stands in line at the microwave and is forced to get exercise by taking the stairs to the microwave. He is often the envy of others with his leftovers which could range from meatloaf to salmon, or roast beef, pork chops, etc. (my husband would not eat pbj if paid!).
I enjoyed the exchanges between Limewater and Stevie K. Naturally, I feel that Limewater was spot on!! I am putting the food in the kitchen away anyway what difference in time does it take for me to put the leftovers in one or two extra containers? Great posting to all!!