The High Cost of Buying Lunch Everyday

[NJCher]

Last edited Tue Jun 2, 2015, 12:26 PM - Edit history (1)

I was inspired to post this by SheilaT's post on yesterday's June 2 What's for Dinner thread. SheilaT remarked on how little fixing your own costs. This got me to thinking about people who buy lunch every day, and I found this:

snip:

Your costs may vary. Based on this calculator, if you live, say, in New York, and spend $15 a day on lunch instead of brown bagging at a cost of $3 per day, you’ll save $31,200 over 10 years. If you invest your savings over that period at 2% you’ll earn $3,307.11 in interest for total net gain of $34,507.11.

This is math that every worker, especially young ones starting their careers, should consider. Annual lunch savings of $2,000 gets you half of what you need to contribute enough to your 401(k) plan to get the full company match, assuming a $34,000 salary and typical 50% match up to 6% of pay. By starting at age 22, that level of lunch savings in a 401(k) could grow at 7% a year to $640,828.71 at age 62–just because you bring your lunch to work.

On top of that, you’ll save time and may be able to finish work earlier or use your lunch hour to exercise, run personal errands or pay bills. But the real bonus is that you’ll be eating healthy and be in control of your calorie, fat, sugar and salt intake. Here are some sample lunch savings from Meighan’s book:

Peanut butter, apple and granola wrap Cost to make: $1. Restaurant price: $4.50. Eat that just once a week and you will save $168 in a year. Your actual savings over a more typical restaurant meal of $10 would come to $450 a year. A similar savings all five days would come to $2,250 a year. Meanwhile, you are consuming just 473 calories (and a fraction of the fat) vs. nearly 700 calories with a cheeseburger and fries.
Basil and tomato on wheat Cost to make: $1. Restaurant price: $5. Annual savings (eating once per week): $192. Annual savings over a $10 lunch: $450. Calories: 273.
Chicken salad on wheat Cost to make: $3.50. Restaurant price: $7.50. Annual savings: $192. Annual savings over a typical $10 lunch: $450. Calories: 299.

http://business.time.com/2012/08/29/how-to-save-2500-a-year-on-lunch/

snip

Pretty amazing.


Cher

[flamin lib]

1. I fix lunch for my wife and daughter every day.

We figure it saves $150-200/month each.

I make two soups and alternate them with a salad and fruit for desert. I make a smoked salmon bisque that gathers a crowd in the break room!

[Warpy]

2. No reason not to take your lunch now that most workplaces

have microwaves for reheating leftovers. Back in the bad old days, things used to get really weird after sitting in a thermos for 4-6 hours and a cold sandwich just wasn't very satisfying, especially when you were hoping the mayo on it wasn't going to poison you after 4 hours in your desk.

I usually took leftovers to eat when I worked nursing night shifts. Too many places didn't have cafeterias open for night staff, leaving them with hockey pucks from vending machines.

Learning how to cook saves you the most money. Putting some of it aside in a small container for the following day's lunch will save even more.

[madinmaryland]

3. Leftovers are the best. I always try to fix extras

Such as pasta and stews.

[fizzgig]

4. i try to pack lunches for the husband

mostly sandwiches, pasta salad or hummus as he doesn't have access to a microwave for lunch, but i don't do it as often as i should.

[pinto]

5. Retired, so don't have to schedule lunch or other meals. But rarely eat out. It's a treat when I do

Homemade is so much cheaper all around and more fun for most us...

When I was working, usually took in a sandwich for lunch. Break time out was a group thing, always fun. And my boss gave me free access to her string cheese and hard boiled eggs - always on hand - if I had to have something right now!

[csziggy]

6. When my husband was working he took a sandwich to work every day

There was no point in trying to have anything more than a sandwich that could be gulped down quickly since he seldom got even 30 minutes for lunch or time to sit down to eat.

His co-workers would try to get time to go to a fast food place for hamburgers or other things, but usually they couldn't get away from the registers to clock out.

The best thing I could do to make my husband's lunch better was to make the bread for his sandwiches. I would make a loaf of whole wheat bread once a week and my husband loved it.

The money we saved by him not going out for lunch was part of what we added to the withholding to go into his 401k retirement fund - we could add several thousand a year more AND his employer matched it dollar for dollar. So not only did he save money it was doubled!

[intheflow]

7. Some of us don't have the option of eating out for lunch.

Egads, I wish I could save the money I save by eating leftovers every day. Alas! that money has to go straight to other bills.

[NJCher]

12. ignorance is not bliss

Yeah, but that's because you're aware. Aware of the condition of your finances, aware of how to have things in the refrig to take to work the next day, etc.

I actually have friends who go out for $15 lunches in Manhattan every day and at the end of the month, tell me how they're barely able to pay their mortgage or rent. They are so unaware of this lunch-$$ connection. Of course, most of these people of whom I speak are men. They're highly educated professionals, but are lame when it comes to knowledge about cooking.

If they run short, this is what they do: have bagels for lunch or dinner.

This drives me nuts when I hear it, because there is nothing like a bagel to drive your glycemic levels sky high. V-E-R-Y unhealthy.

I've done some education, and it appears to be paying off. A little.


Cher

[SheilaT]

8. As long ago as the 1970s we had a refrigerator

and a microwave, or maybe a toaster oven sort of thing at work. Which made if phenomenally cheap to paper bag it for lunch at work.

One of my coworkers, still a close friend, wasn't very inclined to fix his own lunch, so I persuaded him to let me fix him a brown bag lunch every day. I think I charged him all of 50 cents. I made money, and he saved a lot.

Completely apart from the saving money aspect:

We were airline employees, working at DCA (National Airport) so of course we worked weekends and holidays. One year I arranged with the above friend that I'd fix us Thanksgiving dinner. I made Cornish Game Hen, with a wild rice stuffing and I forget what else. (This was a VERY long time ago.) I also brought in a bottle of wine of some kind. So towards the end of our shift (I arranged that my friend and I would have a late dinner) I warmed up all the food, and just as we were cutting into the food, glass of wine in front of us, a friend from United Airlines walked in, looked at what we had, and said, "Holy shit! This is better than what we have!"

I do love cooking for myself.]

And the savings over restaurants or prepared foods is amazing. I happen to be at a financial place where I must pay careful attention to such things, and it's pretty amazing how much you can save. When I first divorced and relocated to my current city I was in fairly dire financial straits. I learned that a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter can go a very long way.

[hippywife]

9. Been packing husband's lunch nearly every day for 18 years.

Has to include his breakfast because he only eats yogurt (sometimes by itself, sometimes with fruit) while listening to and reading the news, before getting dressed. What I pack depends on what he wants, I try to give him options, but that's for me as he'll eat the same thing for a week or two. Sometimes breakfast is just a boiled egg and a banana, with either a bagel or English muffin with cream cheese and sometimes preserves. He's like a kid and sometimes wants pop-tarts with his egg and banana. Other times over the weekend, I'll made some kind of portable hot breakfast he can throw in the microwave every day when he gets to work. Stuff like bacon or sausage on biscuit, breakfast burritos, or mini quiches.

Lunch is usually a sandwich, one that can be heated in the winter and a cold one during the summer, PBJs, tuna salad, ham salad, lunchmeat and cheese, hummus and pita, or avocados and veggies on pita. I add either a soup or a side that can also be heated in the winter, and in summer a cold salad of some kind (potato salad, macaroni salad, tabouli, cole slaw or cottage cheese with either fruit or tomatoes chopped into it), cookies or brownies (usually has to involve chocolate in some form), and another serving of a different kind of fruit for his afternoon snack.

I try to make sure he has plenty since he's stuck with whatever I put in there. Sometimes he does buy his lunch, but not very often, usually on a payday when the weather's also nice so he gets outside for awhile.

[NJCher]

11. that is one lucky husband

to have the resourcefulness of hippywife.

I'd love to have any of the lunches you described. Lots of variety there.


Cher

[hippywife]

13. Thanks, Cher.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Have been very busy and haven't logged on here in a while.

[NJCher]

14. was wondering about you the other day

Maybe you picked up on it--ESP?


Cher

[Aerows]

10. Make a nice sized pot of Red Beans and Rice

and you have lunch (or dinner) several days in a row - and not a crappy lunch, but a delicious, wholesome one for far less than many things. I make a lot of RB&R - it's easy as heck, delicious, and inexpensive.

[sam_i_am]

15. Eating out can be insane.

The food is, generally, not as healthy. I used to say it was MORE expensive to eat out, but maybe that is not true anymore. Bulk food for restaurants has gotten very cheap.