Was curious to how many fatwalleters choose to pack their lunches versus eating out. I was recently going over my expenses and noticed that I was spending about $35/week-> $140/mon on eating out everyday for lunch during the work week. I was talking with my roomate who packs lunch everyday and I was trying to find out how much money he really saves by packing a lunch. It seemed to me that he was still spending around $4/5 on groceries per lunch, which made me wonder whether it was worth the savings.

Things I've considered:
-Additional gas costs driving to lunch VS. oppertunity cost of time having to actually pack a lunch

-Saved money VS. The need to get out of the office for an hour.

What do you guys do for lunch and how do you justify it? I've gotten into the habit of completly removing soda from my diet. Saves me $1 per lunch and is more healthy to drink water.

I usually bring my lunch 3 or 4 times a week. Leftovers are my main meals because it is easy to cook a little extra food the night before and bring it in the lunch and probably doesn't cost much more.

I can make a sandwich and bring some fruit as well and that doesn't cost more than 2 or 3 bucks so I save a little where I can.

I usually just eat a good breakfast at home and then skip lunch. Since I work very close to my house if I do get hungry I just go home for a snack and sometimes a nooner

Message edited by: scott1961 on 2007-07-17 09:11:22 CDT

We ususally cook two meals at night, one for dinner and the other for lunch. It costs roughly $3 to $4 for the lunch foodstuffs which can typically go toward 4 lunches (alternate with leftovers.) I've sort of gotten into the habit since I sit in front of a computer all day and sometimes don't want to break my concentration, however other times it's nice to get away but those times it costs me more, is sometimes a hassle with crowds, takes more time etc.

My wife and I recently started cutting back on going out to lunch, because of how much we spend. Figure $7-$10 each per day, and we tend to eat dinner out a lot, too. We decided to keep the dinners, and trim back on lunch. We each go out for lunch 1-2 days a week, now. For packing lunches, we buy the bagged salads and split them up in Tuppperware type containers (each bag easily makes 3-4 salads) and she takes that with a Lean Cuisine or leftovers. I take mine with a sandwich I make, or some canned spaghetti or something similar that costs <=$1. Coupons help a lot on the cost (and often determine what I'll be eating, as I'm not that particular).

Cutting out the soda is a good idea, too. I've cut back, but haven't cut it out. My employer has a stocked snack kitchen (including chips and sodas), so sometimes I just go out and buy 1/2 a large sandwich - or a whole one and split it for 2 days.

Message edited by: cclyde on 2007-07-17 09:12:45 CDT

I notice my biggest savings when I cook in bulk - a couple of times a month, I'll cook 3 pounds of taco meat and have tacos for dinner the night I cook it and tacos for lunch the next four days. I save good money on bringing lunch by per meal cost averaging; the more times I can eat it, the more I save.

I also find eating at work is much more relaxing, my day tends to flow a little better if I have down time at work (vs waiting in line to order food, etc).

Edit: Throwing in some figures, for my taco example:

Cost to eat random fast food joint: $6 * 5 days = $30 / week
Cost to eat tacos: $3 / lb * 3 lb + $0.50 seasoning packet * 2 packet + $1.50 tortillas = $11.50

Obviously, not many people will be interested in eating tacos all week, but sometimes the frugality bug bites me...

Message edited by: Freno911 on 2007-07-17 09:21:47 CDT

I used to skip lunch until I finally realized it was the cause of my relatively frequent late afternoon headaches. Every since I have pretty much always brought lunch from home. From leftovers to sandwiches to a can of soup and crackers, it is always cheaper than eating out for me. There are a few occasions where I will eat out; lunch meeting, lunchtime appt., etc... The few times that I do eat out though, I try to spend as little as possible. If I'm eating fastfood, I only order as much as I think will hold me over until dinner, I don't try to get "full".

Others in my office eat out everyday and they typically say it costs them $30-$70/week to eat out. My wife and I combined can pack a lunch and not even go above $30.

Thanks for the input fellas. Seems like most agree here that it's worth the time to pack a lunch. Any devil advocates? In my case I have an extremely high metabolism and like to have a good size lunch. Chiptole seems like a pretty good steal for lunch. $5.25 for a huge burritto w/ out a drink.

Does anyone have a breakdown of pricing for an average "filling" lunch?
-The thing that boosted the cost for my roomates lunch is the lunch meat isn't that cheap. With decent meat (honey ham) costing around $5-$6/lbs and cheese costing around $3-$5/lbs. If you want a decent sized ham sandwich with swiss (8oz ham & 4 oz cheese) you are still looking at around ~$3 just for the sandwich not including condiment costs and veggies. Then you add in $.75 for a yogurt. $.25 for a string cheese. $.75 for an orange. And you are looking at almost the same price as a Chiptole Burritto.

I do like the idea of using leftovers from dinner. I never thought of that before, and since I cook only for myself I always have some leftovers that get tossed.

For those, like myself, who want to bring some pop with them, get it at CVS.

I combine the following to get Coke or Pepsi for about 15 cents per can.:
'Extrabucks' Cash Back
coupons such as $5 off a $15 purchase
my credit card rebate

If you are paying $1.00 for a bottle/can of pop, you really need to spend more time reading FatWallet forums.

Absolutely!!! Recurring daily expenses like cafe meals really add up to become big bucks.
I've been brownbagging it for years. The cost is pennies on the dollar relative to cafe food and it's usually healthier for you. I also rarely buy work coffee. (just bring a thermos)

I also can't believe the people that buy these fancy Starbucks coffee drinks several times a day at about $5/ea then whine that they're always broke.

If you're serious about saving money focus on anything that's recurring no matter how small you think it is.

(ex: $5 cafe meal + 2X$5 coffee drinks = $15/day. $15/day X 260 work days/yr = $3900/yr. Assuming a 40% tax bracket you need to earn about $6700/year to pay for this!!!)

Message edited by: henny on 2007-07-17 09:53:00 CDT