Do you want a relatively easy way to save at least $25 a week? Pack your lunch each day and bring it to work (or send it with your kids to school). If you stay at home with the kids, eat your lunch at home or plan ahead and bring a lunch or snacks with you while you’re out.
It’s really not that difficult to do…with a little planning. If you wait until the last minute in the morning when you’re running late, it becomes easy to say, “I’ll just buy today”. But, if you pack your lunch the night before, then you’re ready to go the next morning with little thought.
A little confession…I really don’t like most leftovers. It’s against my frugal nature to throw any leftovers away, but I don’t have to worry about it. My husband loves leftovers! Usually, he’ll bring them to work the next day for lunch. Or, if we don’t have leftovers (which isn’t very often with 2 little, picky-eating boys), he’ll pack a turkey sandwich (or two), some granola bars, a banana, celery, and V8 juice.
How do you save money on lunches? What are some staples that you pack when you bring lunch? For more frugal ideas, visit Being Frugal.
Picture: leftover Frito Pie that hubby’s bringing for lunch tomorrow (it really does taste good…although it looks pretty bad as leftovers)
Corrie is a "cents"able wife and stay-at-home mom of 2 boys.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I work in an office and could easily run to local restaurants and spend $7-15 a day for lunch like the other ladies I work with. That’s crazy!!! Instead, I buy frozen dinners for 4 reasons:
1. PC=Portion control for calorie watching
2. Frugal=The ones I buy are $1.87 each
3. Free Electric=I cook in the office microwave
4. No Gasoline=Since I eat at the office, I’m not using gas for my car either
I feel like I save in many ways for the reasons above. I haven’t had much luck with sandwiches since they become soggy, but would love to see what ideas others have for brown bagging.
I do stay at home and eat here for lunch every single day as well as pack my kids lunches each day and send my hubs with leftovers. But that was not always the case. I have been in the real estate field for 3 years and had become very used to eat lunch out (or in the car) and getting Starbucks twice a day. Not only was that super expensive, but it was also terribly unhealthy and so I was completely exhausted when I would get home each day (just from the horrible foods) and had no energy to cook dinner and so the vicous cycle continued. Eat dinner out, kids eat in the cafeteria at school, I eat lunch out, husband eats lunch out because no leftovers, and so it goes. I did that for about 2 months and couldn’t take it any more…TERRIBLE!! Once the real estate market began to crash, it gave me some time to breathe and take it all in. Now that my real estate career has come to a screeching halt thanks to our economy I am back as a stay at home mom and you couldnt pay me to buy a lunch. My kids take their lunches each day from home and going out to eat is now reserved for special occasions only! I think for so many of us…it takes so much time to cook, do lunches, and all of that because we are not prepared and don’t even know it. MENU PLANNING is the best thing ever and now my pantry is always ready to serve us up something!! Thank you for the post to help us remember!!
And FYI…the plastic container with the screw on lids are the best buy in the world for kids lunches. They fit well and the kids can open them easily which makes way for many options in the lunch bag!!
My family has made not buying lunch a priority. I used to buy McDonalds every other week because an activity I participated in with the kids ended at 11:30. By they time it was over, we got home, I took care of the baby and then made lunch for the boys, they were irritable. I finally figured out that I could pack a lunch for them (when I was packing my older son’s lunch for school) and it would be ready when I came home.
This post is a great reminder for everyone that you can really save when you plan ahead.
I have recently starts Meal Planning and I LOVE it! I always make sure that what I plan to make for dinner is large enough so the hubby and I can take leftovers to work the next day. We have saved so much money by not eating out every day!
I hate leftovers also, but am learning to be more creative with them, rather than eating them as is. Eating leftovers really does save you some money during the week!
Great post! When I was working I ate out quite a lot in the beginning. Eventually I brought lunches but they were boring (peanut butter and jam every day). Then I got smart and started bringing leftovers….yum!