I’m in the lovely little city of Madison Wisconsin today to visit the Oscar Mayer HQ and attend and event called “The State of the Sandwich”. In honor of the event, I thought I’d remind you all of some of the great, frugal benefits of packing a lunch.
#1-Packing a lunch simply costs less than a restaurant meal. Those savings can add up. Even if you pack lunch just 2 days a week and save $5 each time by doing so, that’s $208 saved in a year!
#2-You can use leftovers. That brings the cost of the lunch itself down to practically nothing! It also ensures that those leftovers get used up rather than thrown out. Throwing out food is NOT frugal.
#3-You’ll save on gas & transportation. Many of us leave the building and the immediate area to go “out” to lunch. When you pack a lunch, you tend to stay put! That saves on gas money as well as wear & tear on your vehicle.
#4-Lunch from home usually has smaller portion sizes & is made of healthier stuff than a restaurant meal. . . especially if its a fast food restaurant. The healthier you are in the long run, the less money you spend on Dr appointments, co-pays, medicines and such.
So what are your favorite benefits from packing a lunch?
Photo by Keuynish
I pack a lunch every day. While my co-workers go out and waste an hour plus of time away from the office, I take a quick 15-20 minute break (or a few shorter breaks) to eat my lunch. They end up being “at work” from 8:30-5:30 to work 8 hours and I can leave at 5. That extra half an hour helps me to get dinner on the table earlier!
I work from a home office, so “packing” my lunch simply means visiting the kitchen to whip up a quick bite — usually eating last night’s leftovers or throwing together a quick salad. Working at home can make you feel like a hermit, so about once/week or every other week, I treat myself to going out to lunch. It’s a nice break to get out of the house.
In my old “office” days, I almost always packed a lunch for the reasons you described: I ate healthier and saved lots of money. The downside was that I usually ate at my desk – which was good for productivity, but didn’t give me a good mental break. During decent weather, I would usually eat my lunch then take a good 30-minute walk as my break.