Personal finance experts often cite bringing your own lunch to work as one of the ways you can save big. It’s no surprise – at $5 to $10 per meal, eating out at the office every day can put a dent in a young professional’s budget. I haven’t made any specific goals with regards to bringing lunch to work yet, except, well, I should be doing that at least somewhat frequently. For the sake of both my budget and my waistline, bringing lunch to work is a smart way to go.
There are not many appetizing options around my work, so the good news is that I won’t be tempted by an In-N-Out or a good pizza joint right down the street. But I also don’t want to just eat lunch from home all the time – it’s fun to grab a bite outside with coworkers, and sometimes nothing can curb the appeal of a big Chipotle barbacoa burrito bowl (with extra corn salsa, of course). I’ve decided that 4-5 times of eating out at lunchtime a month is a reasonable amount for me, or $40 to $50 a month. Other days, I will bring my lunch.
Right now, my midday culinary choices aren’t the most adventurous – I’ve brought veggie curry & rice, chicken & potato soup, chicken & rice (see a pattern here?), and… chicken & mushrooms & rice. I need to get more easy-to-make but still delicious (and healthy) lunch ideas! I hope to slowly branch out into… more soups, and maybe a salad here or there. Every time I cook, I try to make enough food for at least 2 meals – both dinner for the night and lunch for the next day, or I’d set a pot of soup in the slow-cooker and have it for both meals the same day.
How much do you spend on lunch a month? And what do you bring?
image source: frugalmania.com
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I don't feel pressure to go out to eat for lunch. Mostly because I'm not really friendly with most of my coworkers, and the majority of them bring their lunch, too! Also, there aren't many fast-food joints in the area, so if I do go somewhere with a coworker, it's for sit-down: sushi, Thai or udon noodle soup!
I bring my lunch 4-5x a week, and go out for lunch to the above places about every other week. I'm not a huge fan of salads so I never make them. I bring a lot of hearty soups/chili in the winter but I do a lot of chicken/fish dishes: with starch (rice, quinoa or pasta) and lots of vegetables (edamame, broccoli, asparagus, etc). I make homemade bean burritos that are fantastic and I eat a lot of garbanzo bean dishes, too! Very cheap and delicious with LOTS of spices. But, I'm also sort of boring! I tend to make the same things a lot, but I really like them
There's no pressure to go out to eat at my place, but it's nice getting together with coworkers sometimes because, well, my coworkers seem like interesting people and I'd like to be friendly with them if I can. Your bean burrito sounds fantastic.. I'll have to see if I can make something similar.
when working, i'd meet up with my family for lunch on thursdays (in n out and chiptole being the locales of choice). if any of the parents came they paid, otherwise my siblings and i alternated paying. my out of pocket was no more than $20 a month.
I usually bring leftovers from dinner. Being Asian, that would mean rice with saucy meat on it. For snacks, I always have yogurt, club crackers, special K bars and those 100 calorie snack packs. I don't eat it all in one day of course, but I have those snacks just for variety. Me and my coworker promised each other we'll go out for lunch only 2 times for the whole week, and whenever we go out, we usually spend $5-$7.
The first year at my downtown job, I went out to eat every day. 10 lbs later and a shocking $240 a month realization made me start bringing my lunch every day. Like the above posters, I don't mind eating the same thing fairly often – I stick with what works. Lately I've been buying canned chicken (I know, sounds yuck, but tastes good if it's the white meat kind) and I keep some olive oil mayo and relish in the fridge, and make my own chicken salad. I put it on whole grain crackers and it's only about 250 calories and lots of protein. (Protein keeps you from wanting snacks in the afternoon!) I usually accompany it with an orange or some other fruit.
I went through a shaved Boars Head turkey sandwhich craze, where I'd bring in really good whole grain bread from Publix and a quarter pound of turkey at the beginning of the week, and just make a sandwich every day with some baked doritos or baked ruffles – but i grew tired of that
I also keep around some salted roasted almonds for a healthy protein packed snack. And of course, the office staple – popcorn.
I still do go out to eat about once or twice a month – but I decided I'd rather eat in and spend my lunch hour reading or walking when it's nice outside, and I'm enjoying the cut in calories! Good for you for taking the brown bag lunch plunge lol!
I bring my lunch four out of five days a week and the only reason I buy my lunch on that one day is because I can't eat in that office. I am freelance so different rules apply to each workplace.
I prefer bringing my lunch as it is usually tastier than a bought boring sandwich, you know what you are eating and you can use that money for something more exciting. I have written a few posts called Sexy Packed Lunches if you want a few ideas of what you can bring in your lunch box.
i can't believe it, but I just figured out (due to your post) that I haven't eaten lunch out at work in probably a year! I always bring stuff for sandwiches and I make my sandwich at my desk. I eat it while checking my personal emails and facebook (takes about 10 minutes tops!), then I stretch, take a quick run up and down the stairs, and start work again. My coworkers aren't big on eating out and the only stuff around is takeaway packed full of MSG or shellfish (i'm allergic) or sushi or fatty bakery food (NOT my favorite foods). Most of us eat at our desks or in the lounge area–and I try to keep work relationships business-like, anyway. There's just too much work to go far away for lunch, and I love my work so much that only hunger and other necessary needs drag me away from it during weekdays.
i am looking forward to some crockpot or soup concoctions that I can bring into the office for winter, though, so whatever yummy recipes you find, please post!
If I order takeout or go out for lunch once a month, it's a lot. I usually bring my dinner leftovers or make a sandwich. I can eat the same things over and over again, so it's easy for me to brown-bag it.
I'm not working now but back in the day, I'd either bring my own lunch or just drink coffee straight through the day (I know, I know, so bad). Then I'd eat dinner. hah!
Also, I really like to eat leftovers for lunch. It keeps things more varied. Pasta dishes, sides of veggies etc make great things to microwave. For my husband's lunches this year, I also occasionally make a giant rice salad or quinoa salad at the beginning of the week and just pack it to go on a daily basis. (definitely better than subsisting on coffee)
I have been bringing Trader Joe's burritos (chicken verde or bean and rice). I also keep a bag of their trail mix at my desk for my 10 o'clock snack.
If I cook pasta, I'll bring that, turkey and zatairans dirty rice or black beans and rice is good too.
We have a cafeteria at my work, and all of my girlfriends sit there every day, so we either bring lunch or buy from the cafeteria. The selections are boring sometimes though, so it's better to bring lunch.
Chicken roll-ups are quick to make at home. Pound the chicken, stick a slice of ham or prosciutto inside with any kind of cheese, roll it, stick toothpicks in it, pop it in the oven, and you're good to go. Take fruit as as a side dish.
Your chicken roll-ups sound delicious… I think they'd also make good appetizers for parties, no?
Buying lunch is one of the few luxuries that I let myself have. I spend about $10 a day on lunch and coffee.
It's delicious.
I go from extremes… Sometimes I'd pack my lunch religiously and not go out for lunch for weeks/months at a time. Then I slip and I end up eating out every day for a week. EEP. It's quite pricey after awhile.
I usually bring leftovers and it's all Chinese leftovers plus fruit. Pretty boring actually.
I also take dinner leftovers often. Today I have hummus, pita and carrots, yogurt with berries, and an apple for a snack. In the winter I make big pots of soup, freeze it in individual containers and bring them to work. In the summer I make big pasta or bean salads (my fave is chickpea and lentil) and bring it for the whole week, as I don't get bored. I actually prefer to bring my lunch because I don't have a lot of coworkers in my office, so I would be going out alone. It's more of a pain if I don't bring my lunch, because then I waste time finding somewhere to eat. Occassionally my husband will call me to go out for lunch-if by some miracle both our schedules permit, we go. This happens maybe once every two months and it is a treat, as we are so busy throughout the week we don't see much of each other.
I love hummus and pita. Your lunch sounds very healthy.
I try to bring things to work that have great aromas, as it makes it much more appealing when I'd rather go out for lunch. Currently, I eat out maybe 3 times a month. My key to bringing my lunch to work has been to invest in some awesome Pyrex bowls and make things fun to eat. I like to browse the Bento blogs, because it inspires me to arrange my food in delicious ways. It's all about making your food from home seem more desirable than eating out.
Also, I completely second keeping snacks on hand. Pick up boxes of crackers, 100 calorie packs, and all sorts of goodies to hide away in your desk.
I definitely agree with bringing leftovers – I make sure to make two extra servings at dinner just so I have lunch the next day. For sides and snacks in lunches, I hit up my local farmers' market. There are great deals on fresh produce, dried fruit, nuts, and other locally grown and pesticide free options. I do allow myself to eat out 1 lunch a week, and it's normally something $7 or less – sushi with miso soup and edamame, Subway sandwich. Something else that has helped – keeping snacks at my desk. That way, I don't become so famished that I crave getting fast food for lunch.
As much as I'd love to stay away from frozen meals and pre-packaged stuff, I find it's the only way that I can consistently bring my lunch. Because we often do the meat+veggie+carb meal at home for dinner, we don't always have leftovers. I buy frozen veggie burgers and whole wheat buns to heat up at work. When I'm feeling particularly lazy, I bring a Healthy Choice meal. When I'm feeling motivated, I'll make a batch of egg salad for sandwiches. I also typically have Greek yogurt on hand (more filling) and whole wheat bread for peanut butter toast. (I eat breakfast at work too, because I typically don't feel hungry until I've been awake for two or three hours!)
I just decided that I need to start bringing my lunch to work again. It is so expensive to eat out all the time!
Until this year, I was spending $20 a week by eating off of dollar menus most of the week and having a sit down lunch once a week or so. Starting in 2010, I've been consistently bringing my lunch instead. It costs less than $15 a week and seems much healthier. I've only gone out twice and spent less than $4 both times.
So far, I have been loving leftovers (pretty much everything we eat at home reheats okay in a microwave), sandwiches, and pasta. I buy a large container of tortellini from Sam's Club and convince my husband to make a large batch of his spaghetti sauce every few weeks. Voila, lunch for about $2.00 a serving. My sandwich days are probably around $1.50 and leftovers would usually get thrown away in our house anyway.
When I forget a lunch or feel too lazy to pack one, I buy two breakfast burritos at work for $1.29 each. I eat one for breakfast and reheat the other one at lunch.
Until this year, we sort of sucked on the whole food budget…$600 a month for 2 people has turned into $350-$400 simply by eating out a few days less and planning out meal ideas for two week periods.
My husband usually takes left overs for lunch…or some canned chili. Then he eats out with coworkers twice a week, on average. He always takes some nuts or fruit or something light like that to snack on, so that he doesn't spend $15 on a meal at lunch time. So he spends maybe $30 a month on purchased lunches.
I do a lot of salads and leftovers. I also always have a few microwave meals (bought on sale, of course!) in the freezer in case I'm feeling lazy. Just grab and go!
My problem is that I wait too long to eat and then I am "starving" and find it too easy to run to McDonalds for a cheeseburger or next door for Chinese. Expensive and unhealthy. To combat this I make sure I always have a well stocked drawer of snacks – trail mix, kashi cereal bars, and rice cakes.
If I'm not over hungry then I don't mind eating the soup or boca burger I brought to work.
For a while, I was spending about $60 a week (when I was eating out), then I decided to try and experiment where I put the money in a dividend stock, and then buy my lunches that dividend money… during this phases I was eating for about .60+ cents a day ($3.00 a week).
Currently I'm spending about $25 a week.
Haha, I eat out and spend WAY too much. Definitely one of my failings as a PF blogger.
But I pretty much plan for it, so at least it doesn't catch me by surprise! This way, when I actually DO bring my lunch, it's like I've saved money! What a great feeling!
Although I certainly would like to bring my lunch more often. My issue is that I can't eat the same thing twice, and I often don't plan in advance, with no time or motivation as the cause.
If I guesstimate, I spend from $7-$10 a day on lunch. Ugh. So that can potentially work out to $200 a month for lunch! eep!
I definitely bring my lunch most days. It's just simpler and it does save a ton. It makes going out for lunch all that more fun. Although I'll admit to those lazy days when you need to grab a quick lunch for Subway or something.
I'd love to see a post with recipes for quick, easy, and healthy office lunches. Some great suggestions in the comments already!
I forgot..don't forget about soup in a can. Bring your soup, crackers and a container, and heat it up for lunch. I started having high blood pressure, so I had to stop bringing tv dinners to work. It was a sad, sad day, but that forces me to have something else on hand that's quick. TV dinners have so much sodium, it's ridiculous. So, while they're quick and easy, they're not the best for you. I think I haven't had a tv dinner since last May. I miss my Stouffer's mac and cheese.
I almost always bring lunch – we only get 30 minutes, which isn't a whole lot of time to go out, walk somewhere, get lunch, eat lunch and walk back. As a group, our office will go out once a month as a lunch break kind of thing (but our boss will pay for lunch, and knows we will go over our 30 minute lunch). I get "fast food" maybe 3 times a month, and spend no more than $20 a month on eating out at work (including timbits, meals, etc).
Lunches: predominantly leftovers. I often try to split my lunch portion into two things, so that one can go in the freezer (at least with the soup, rice and pasta combos), since they freeze well, and I can pull one out of the freezer if I'm not around for dinner the night before. Sometimes sandwiches, or tortilla wraps; I also like tacos – bring the mixings for the tacos (or taco salad!), heat and put together (yum!). So far this week, I've had tacos, ravioli, and today is chicken and rice.
I also start the day with a (made-at-home) smoothie full of lots of fruit, and something like a piece of toast with peanut butter / homemade muffin / whole wheat crackers, plus a mid-day snack of yogurt, followed by an early afternoon lunch with a snack (like pudding, fruit, etc), and a granola bar type thing mid-afternoon. I find that when I start getting hungry, it's a lot easier to go down to the coffee shop to get a donut, or some other "not good" snack, so I try to keep myself stocked with options. I don't always eat all the snacks I brought with me, so I'll leave them in the fridge, or in my desk drawer for when I *do* need it.
When I have worked on site my favorite lunch to bring was a pasta salad I'd make each morning before work: pasta, vegetables (mostly grape tomatoes, cut up celery & peppers), olives, capers with vinaigrette dressing. Grapes for dessert. Daily snacks: hard boiled eggs, puffed wheat & dried fruits from health food stores. When you bring your own lunch, you save a bundle, know exactly what you are eating (won't identify certain revolting pics taken at NYC restaurants here) plus you have a nice quiet hour to do whatever you want to do while eating.
For a long time I would bring sandwiches of cold cuts and crackers or something like that, but I get pretty bored pretty quickly of eating the same thing every day. So now part of my menu planning includes making enough food for leftovers for lunch for my husband and I. I have started to freeze lunch sized portions of things that I probably won't be able to finish (or will get sick of) before it goes bad. I only eat out once in a great while for lunch.
I was lucky that I never got into eating out at work bringing something in just always seemed natural. I think your compromise is perfect, although if your coworker tend to eat together at the cafeteria or something, you could always tag along and bring your own food!
There is no question that bringing a lunch to work is cheaper.
I have to admit that I do eat lunches out more often than I should and for that I will blame Subway lol. Those damn $5 foot longs are just to hard to pass up.
I have a tough job though. I work 12 hour shift work and sometimes I have to bring all 3 meals to work. It can get quite annoying packing an entire day’s worth of food.
Cheers!
Brandon
When I worked as a teacher I always adheared to the double dinner rule. I was addicted to the veganlunchbox blog, and so I actually bought a laptop lunch system. many bento boxes display your food so adorably you feel compelled to throw a couple extra touches on–which is easy at 6pm.
And the benefit was the extreme interest and jealousy of my coworkers as they looked at their own sad-wrapped take-out and microwave boxes. I'm just not used to that kind of attention, and it was fun!
For 10 years I’ve always worked within walking distance of the house (3 different jobs). Your blog post reminded me how much living close to work can save you money.
.-= Craig Ford´s last blog ..How To Start A Business For Teens This Summer =-.
i did this for over a year straight at one point in my career and also really portioned my food. Before you know it I lost 10 pounds and had some extra money left over for personal spending or savings.
We've got a page on our Web site devoted to lunch ideas athttp://www.laptoplunches.com/lunchmenus.html. We send one lunch menu each week by RSS. You can peruse them on the site, or sign up to receive the free RSS. Hope this helps!