Bringing your lunch to work

I pack my own lunch, though, I sometimes treat myself. There are tons of reasonable restaurants around my workplace but I prefer taking my own lunch, I mean, we can save so much money by doing that . The money that you use for lunch, you can easily save it and purchase something else that you really want. I couldn't find the microwave so I'd eat it cold ^.^' lol

 

I think the key is to not JUST bring a sandwich, if that's not enough food for you. I am gluten-free, so I end up eating some weird lunches, but adding something like a side salad, some tortilla chips and salsa, or a cheese stick/yogurt as part of your lunch can help it feel like a more complete meal. For some darn reason I always end up buying potato chips to eat with sandwiches, when I bring them.
I try to avoid going out to lunch as much as possible, since I both spend too much and eat too unhealthy when I do. I currently have at work: cottage cheese, cream cheese and salame (sounds weird, but it is delicious together), a few cans of green beans, some milk and cereal, and then lots of cans of tuna and cans of soup. Some of those things require a fridge, which I am lucky enough to have access to, but many of them don't need to be heated up to eat, so you can still skip the microwave line.
The hardest thing for me when bringing lunches is trying to keep it interesting. I don't like to eat the same meal day after day, so I try to keep enough options that I can choose what sounds good for that day.
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, you can save about 70 bucks per month or 840 bucks per year (on average) from brown bagging rather than buying lunches out. That is a significant enough savings that I don't mind the inconvenience of preparing meals or waiting for the microwave.

 

Actually I don't bring lunch to work because I can eat there really cheap, under 4 euros for a full meal (soup, dish and drink - no dessert though) and I think that price is hard to beat, plus the convenience of eating it there.

 

I'm working from home so I eat at home at lunch. But as for my husband, his office is only 20 minutes walk away from our house so he walks back home everyday for lunch. He never packed his lunch or spent money for his lunch outside and this does saves us a lot of money by the end of every month.

 

I do bring my lunch at work. It not only saves me a lot of money. It also saves me a lot of time for queuing in a very long line just to order a food I will have for lunch. Not only that, through it, I am able to guarantee that I get to eat what I really like. I get to customize it and I also monitor the nutrient content and calories it might possibly have.

 

I alternate packing a lunch and going out for lunch. Sometimes I like to pack a lunch because in addition to saving money I find that I can generally eat healthier and even though there are a lot of restaurants around my office I sometimes just want a home cooked meal. When I bring my lunch to work I definitely notice more money in my checking account, I didn't realize how much that $6-$10/day adds up, so I am making a concerted effort to not buy lunch too often.

 

I bring my lunch to work. To avoid the lunch room crowd, I pack a certain amount of food at my desk. I also focus more on cold foods. They can either be stuck in the fridge or kept fresh with a cold pack in your lunch bag. Either way, this method is cheap and efficient. You also don't have to clean out someone else's mess that's left over in the microwave.

 

You can make packed lunches for about $1-$2 per day, which is still much cheaper than buying lunch, which will typically run you at least $5, but more than likely it's at least $6.50-$7 at most fast food places. Even if you can get lunch for $5 a day, you're looking at $150 per month vs. $30-$60 per month, which is quite a savings. That money you are saving could easily cover your car insurance or cable bill, for example.

If there was a long line for the microwave each day, I would simply pack cold lunches (assuming you at least have a fridge you could use). For a while there, I was always buying those Lean Cuisine grilled sandwiches for lunch, because our grocery store was always having specials on them for like $1-$1.50 each. But when I changed jobs and was working at a much larger company, it got to be a hassle trying to assemble them on to the cooking tray and all that crap - fumbling around at the microwave while others were waiting, so I stopped buying them.

 

I do try to pack my lunch most days. It's usually something small and cheap. I like to snack a lot throughout the day. I'm one of those people that eats small things constantly rather than just a few "big" meals. So I will maybe eat a yogurt in the morning, a sandwich or frozen meal at lunch, and then something again in the afternoon. It probably does help cut a few costs, although the groceries I like to eat and pack for lunch are kinda pricey...

 

You can definitely save a lot of money by taking your lunch from home. I work from home, so I don't have to worry about that, but I don't usually go out to eat during the week, either. I generally just eat leftovers or make a sandwich or something. It's generally quite satisfying, is a lot healthier than dining out and helps you save money.

 

At my job I really do not get a lunch break. So I usually bring a couple of drinks and bag full of junk food. I try to eat a good meal before I go to work. I try to save money by going to dollar stores to get these. But sometimes I have to get to work in a rush so I end up going through a drive thru.

 

Another option, would be to buy some of the snack items in bulk. In other words, if you enjoy snacking on some sort of trail mix or a nut mix, you can buy bulk bags of these and store them in a cool dry place, then portion off smaller bags of them to bring to work with you. There are also many recipes online to make your own healthy, preservative free oat bran muffins. A tray of these plus some fresh fruit can be your lunches for the week.