Cutting Lunchtime Costs by Brown Bagging your Meals

Sometimes it is nice to treat yourself to lunch out, but if you do that daily, the costs add up very quickly.  Even if you factor a simple $10 lunch per day, you are looking at $50 per week and $200 per month!

When you consider that sandwich meat, sliced cheese, and bread will cost you approximately $12 at the grocery store, you are now looking at $12 for lunch for the entire week instead of $10 per day.  Even add chips and a bottle of water and you are still looking at maybe $20 for the week.  If you want to really save, buy larger bags of chips and portion them out yourself.  Factor in sales and coupons and the price only goes down from there.

• $5.00 sandwich meat
• $4.00 sliced cheese package
• $3.00 loaf of bread
• $3.00 large bag of chips, portioned for each day
• $5.00 flat of water bottles

$20 for a week’s worth of groceries is a savings of $30!

Some of us are crunched for time in the morning and are worried about fitting the lunch-making into the schedule.  You can make most of it by prepping on Sunday afternoon.  If you want veggies, prepare them in advance and store them in a separate container from your meat, bread, and cheese.  For your condiments, dab them between the meat and cheese so that your bread does not get soggy.  Stack all of the containers in the fridge, and your lunch is ready to grab and go!

The extra bonuses to this plan?  You now get to enjoy your full lunch hour instead of having to spend part of your time waiting in line at the nearest restaurant, and your lunch will probably be on the healthier side.