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!!!
More from Cleverdude:
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!