More on Saving Money by Taking Your Lunch to Work

Lots of great comments on Saving Money by Taking Your Lunch to Work that are worth sharing with everyone. We'll start with a simple tip on how to do this without it costing you a lot of home time in preparation:

Personally, I use my lunch break on Mondays to go to the grocery store to buy my breakfast and lunch for the week.

Good idea, huh? One day a lunch is taken and food is gathered for the rest of the week.

Next came a good reminder from a reader that this is not an all-or-nothing proposition:

Remember that you don't have to brown bag for all the 5 days to save money, even 2-3 days would do it.

That's right. If you're eating out five days a week now, just cutting back to two or three days out a week will save you a ton.

The next comment:

My husband and I bring our lunches everyday, and I love it for a variety of reasons:

1) It's cheaper
2) I like my own food better
3) It saves me time at work, like FMF says, and I can get out on time
4) Fast food is unhealthy

I think this is an especially smart option for twentysomethings out there. Many of my peers eat out daily, and I don't think they realize what a difference a couple of dollars a day makes. Frankly, I'd rather save or spend that money elsewhere.

Me too. I'd rather save time and money here and spend both of them elsewhere. Besides, she's right, it is MUCH healthier (on average.)

Finally, we end with a great tip -- something we do as well:

We prepare a bit more stuff for dinner so a day's lunch is leftovers from previous days dinner. This way, I get to eat home cooked food which is way healthier than restaurant food, and also saves the commute time.

Comments

[Valerie]

I was surprised this week when my boyfriend and I prepared a menu for five days' worth of dinners and found that it all cost under $100. That includes (mostly) four-portion meals -- meaning leftovers for lunch, spices we didn't have in stock, not to mention it also includes five side dishes. We bargain-shopped at about 4 stores to get the best prices, and I am certain we could still probably go lower, but it was still impressive to me!