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It's amazing how much you can save just by taking a lunch to work instead of buying it from some fast food place. This Lunch Savings Calculator uses the example of a $6.50 lunch, 5 days a week. It was compared to taking in your bagged lunch which costs $3. Do you know what you'd save in 4 years? $3,793! On lunches! Try it out and see what you'd save on an average day.
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Yes, cutting back and going simpler with lunch is a great way to save money. I wish I had thought of it sooner than I did. I would probably have been able to keep off a few more pounds, as well.
There are a lot of other ways to save money on food too. By cooking more at home, you could actually reduce some of your heating bill, too.
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Here are several innovative ways to cut down on lunch expenses. I prefer left overs but the other 6 ideas will also work.
Leftovers Deborah Hamilton, a work-at-home mom who runs a blog on packed lunches called lunchinabox.net, suggests making a larger dinner and bringing in the leftovers.
It's a step up from that cold sandwich and doesn't take you any time in the morning because you already cooked the meal the night before.
"At night, when packing up your leftovers, pack them into container to take to take to work," she suggests.
"Don't hesitate to pack food left over from dinner," she adds. "Leftovers can be your weapons against boring lunches, maximize payout for the time you already put into dinner by making a little extra food."
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/Story?id=6966973&page=2
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Yes, cutting back and going simpler with lunch is a great way to save money. I wish I had thought of it sooner than I did. I would probably have been able to keep off a few more pounds, as well.
There are a lot of other ways to save money on food too. By cooking more at home, you could actually reduce some of your heating bill, too.
That's true, MikeV! I used to snack on a lot of rubbish out of the vending machine at work but would never think about going to the store to buy a chocolate bar. It was just too convenient and I put weight on because of that habit.
Good point about the heating/cooking there. In winter I always open up the oven door full when I'm finished to get every last bit of heat into the room from the oven. I might as well get the benefit of it since I already paid for it!
I bet it saves you even more than the cost of the lunch. When I worked in town, I'd go out to buy a sandwich and spend the rest of my lunch hour in and out the stores. I never arrived back without having bought small odds and ends I didn't need apart from the food . When I took lunch in to the break room, I never bothered going out at all. It might have only been a dollar here or there but when you add that in as well every day, it's a lot.
The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments. - Mad Magazine.