These are just a few tips that I have acquired over the years on how to save money around lunchtime. The hands down best way to save money on lunches everyday is to make a little extra of whatever you had for dinner, maybe add some rice or something small to slightly change it and then eat it for lunch the next day. At first this may seem difficult but like most everything it comes down to persistence and willpower until it becomes second-nature. Allowing yourself to eat out one day a week. Now I get how to most people this seems counter-intuitive however to someone just beginning to consistently bring their own meals from home it can be very easy to quickly run out of motivation and resort to costly old habits like buying lunch everyday. By allowing yourself to eat out one day per week with your coworkers you ease yourself into bringing meals to work, making the transition not only easier but more sustainable. After a decent amount of time you'll find that you skip most of the days you were going to eat out up until you do away with eating out at lunchtime altogether. My last tip and this is a pretty underrated one is if you're unable to save food from dinner for lunch the next day buy a ready-made chicken from the food store. You will be pleasantly surprised when you realize how long a full chicken lasts, especially when you're only eating it for lunch. Combine the chicken with some bread and vegetables to create a sandwich and you have an affordable, healthy, emergency meal that can sustain you for a few lunches. If anyone has any other tips about how to save money at lunch-time I would be glad to hear them as I'm always looking for new methods. Thanks for reading!
Yeah. It used to get to me sometimes when I worked how I was only one there who ever brought a lunch from home. I did it almost every single day whether I liked what I had or not. Everyone else I worked with bought lunch from somewhere every day and I could never figure how they felt like they could afford it since I know none of them could have made much more than I did. Plus, all that fast food all the time! It's such a killer!
It's a good idea to invest in a thermos or insulated bento container so that you can bring soup or stew from home. A pot of lentils over rice is cheap and lasts me a week.
I am a big fan of OAMC. That's once a month cooking. The idea is you spend a day cooking up A LOT of food. Take a day off and make 3-5 really big dishes that are freezer and microwave friendly. Then portion and label them. I like to do this in conjunction with extra portions at dinner, so there is always something easy and yummy in my freezer! Just grab a container and head into work. It also can take the stress off having to cook a meal after work too.
I'm a vegetarian and my favorite lunch is a chickpea salad sandwich. I used to eat tunal a lot before I gave up meat and that is where this "recipe" comes from. I simply mash a can of chickpeas in a large bowl, add mayonnaise(or vegan mayonnaise), a little mustard, some diced onion, salt and pepper. Basically, whatever you like in your tuna or chicken salad;celery, pickle relish throw it in!. I also like to add olives and/or sun-dried tomatoes. If you don't like mayo, you can substitute with greek yogurt. It always comes out delicious. Very inexpensive and versatile!
I just repurposed some leftover baked chicken for tomorrow’s lunch. So that’s a tip I follow as often as possible. Where I work we have to drive quite a way to find anywhere to eat out, so it’s just more practical from multiple standpoints. But I won’t lie, I’ll chip in for the occasional pizza delivery day, though apparently we’ve suddenly gone beyond some arbitrary borderline for deliveries. So that may not happen as often anymore.
Lots of people have lunch out every day, and even if you just pick up things like sandwiches from a staff canteen it is sure to cost you a lot of money. I would always recommend that you take your own lunch. If you have the facilities to do so, it can be a great idea to make extra portions of what you eat the night before and then heat them through at work for lunch the next day. That way, you're not really spending much extra money at all, yet you get another meal out of the one that you would already have made anyway!
How to save money for lunch? I do that by bringing some leftover from dinner. If I need to buy some, it's just veggies, and veggies are inexpensive. Like you, we cook some extras at dinner to save time, energy, and fuel. After dinner, we just stuff the food in the fridge. So, the next day, I have some extras that I can choose from to be my lunch meal. I love to eat out at lunch too, but I realize it was breaking my budget, and I cannot save for the day. My other tip is a bit like what @FuelThePlane said. I indulge in eating out once a week. Mine is, I eat out once in a week, and fast from super good food in the next. That way, it will not seem like I am punishing and depriving myself of the good food that my hard-earned salary can offer.
I've heard of people making their own lunch meats, such as from a beef roast - which is substantially cheaper than buying it from the deli counter. A pound of roast beef can easily run you like $12 - but you could buy a whole roast for that much and make a whole lot more. I suppose you would want to invest in a meat slicer though if going that route, but I've seen some household models online for under $50. Pasta and rice and beans are inexpensive and you can make a nearly endless variety of meals with them - think of all the frozen meals you may be already buying for lunch, and how you can probably make many of them yourself and save a lot of money in the process. Amazon.com actually carries a set of rectangular meal portion containers with corresponding lids, for people who like to prepare a bunch of meals in advance. Frozen pizza's can also be an inexpensive treat in lieu of eating out at fast food joints. Considering many stores sell really good frozen pizza's for under $5 (the Red Barron ones sell at under $3 at Wal-Mart) - you can get about 3 lunches out of one cooked pizza, that's less than $2 for each lunch.
I have made up my mind that I am purchasing everyone in my house a bento box when they go on sale for the back to school shopping month. We all take our lunches 90% of the time as it is a huge cost savings for our family, not to mention that the kids do not like the lunches served in the cafeteria. I like to make a little extra dinner each night and just take that in a resealable container to eat for lunch at work. My husband and the kids usually prefer cold sandwhiches with chips and fruit. My biggest money saving tip is to avoid buying the pre portioned packages of things like chips and fruit and create your own bags and containers of these items. You also save on garbage this way as there is less packaging.
When I worked in an office I would take a very simple lunch like yogurt and granola and maybe purchase out once a week. Eating out daily can ruin the budget if you even have a budget.
Wow, never thought that with simple tips one could really save money, but does not only sounds like it is possible, but also like something I will start trying from now onward. Thank you very much for sharing these tips
Great tips and interesting read. Thank you for sharing! As for me, I don't usually bring lunches with me at work. I often eat out at a restaurant/fast food since it is much convenient for me. But yeah, it is nice to know about these saving advices.
I love some of these tips. I often use parts of the meal from the night before to create lunches, especially if I have roasted a joint of meat. I also often cook a large batch of something and then freeze it in portions as this avoids waste. If I need to shop to make lunches, I often buy reduced items that are close to their best before end date as we will be eating them straight away. I also incorporate cheap ingredients, such as rice and pasta, into many lunch meals.
Thank for sharing those tips. And yes, I feel that most people cook larger portions in the night before so that they have a lunch for the next day. It's not an ideal solution, but at the same time it does save me a lot of money.
Taking a salad from home is another great option, if you can keep it cool. A fridge at work is best, but those insulated lunch bags can be pretty good too, especially if you add an ice pack. My mother freezers a partially filled bottle of water the night before, tosses it into her lunch bag to use as an ice pack, uses it to keep her lunch fresh, and then drinks the icy cold water once it thaws out.
That is the issue about salads and other healthy foods, many of them require a fridge and I don't have one available. Especially in the summer I'd love to bring some fresh salads, that would make my day, but as I can't I simply bring fruits.
