Does anyone actually get Starbucks every day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Packing lunch is not free food. You either spend it at Giant or some local cafeteria.
If a cup of coffee is your enjoyment in life and you do not have time to make it every morning, or if you prefer it when you arrive at work, then go for it.
What is wrong with this?

I could save more by buying cheaper coffee for the house, making my kids drink water instead of fruit juice, not buying cheese, cooking meals with low quality sausage instead of real meat

But why must I? Food is going to cost, you need your little luxuries for enjoyment of life.

No need to judge anyone.
My parents struggled financially, but still had the newspaper subscription. Reading the morning paper was my dads joy in life. He could have heard the news through the radio, but so what?

Packing your lunch ends up being cheaper.

Let's say for example you pack a ham and cheese sandwich. You buy a loaf of bread, divide the cost by the number of slices in the bag. Divide the amount of ham in a container by the cost, same with the cheese. That is the real cost. In addition, you are getting multiple meals (although it gets old) from buying 3 things that have a high quantity in it.

I do not drink coffee as I do not like the taste of it.

Another example, let's say you get TV dinners. Safeway (that is where I shop) usually has 5 for $10 on certain brands. If you go to Subway, Chiptole, or a restaurant, you are spending close to that in one day. That is $50 a week (give or take). $200 a month (give or take).

Lunches also come down to health choices. TV dinners are not the most healthy, but the cost savings is pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Packing lunch is not free food. You either spend it at Giant or some local cafeteria.
If a cup of coffee is your enjoyment in life and you do not have time to make it every morning, or if you prefer it when you arrive at work, then go for it.
What is wrong with this?

I could save more by buying cheaper coffee for the house, making my kids drink water instead of fruit juice, not buying cheese, cooking meals with low quality sausage instead of real meat

But why must I? Food is going to cost, you need your little luxuries for enjoyment of life.

No need to judge anyone.
My parents struggled financially, but still had the newspaper subscription. Reading the morning paper was my dads joy in life. He could have heard the news through the radio, but so what?

Packing your lunch ends up being cheaper.

Let's say for example you pack a ham and cheese sandwich. You buy a loaf of bread, divide the cost by the number of slices in the bag. Divide the amount of ham in a container by the cost, same with the cheese. That is the real cost. In addition, you are getting multiple meals (although it gets old) from buying 3 things that have a high quantity in it.

I do not drink coffee as I do not like the taste of it.

Another example, let's say you get TV dinners. Safeway (that is where I shop) usually has 5 for $10 on certain brands. If you go to Subway, Chiptole, or a restaurant, you are spending close to that in one day. That is $50 a week (give or take). $200 a month (give or take).

Lunches also come down to health choices. TV dinners are not the most healthy, but the cost savings is pretty good.

Not with me, I cannot eat the same loaf of bread the whole week, and end up not having the time in the mornings to spend 15 minutes doing sandwiches. I just am not a morning person and the bread does not feel so fresh if I make the sandwiches the night before.
I have tried with home made salads and salad dressings, buying nuts and taking yoghurts to work. That also ends up costing as I pick more healthy choices and those are costlier.
Perhaps I could save more money by not eating?

[Anonymous]

What about leftovers from dinner for lunch? A nice chicken/veggie stir fry over rice (or cauli "rice") is better than a ham sandwich.

[Anonymous]

^And you can pack leftovers the night before and just reheat at work in the microwave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several people mentioned getting lunch out daily for less than $10. Where are you eating? Do you have cafeterias? I like healthy stuff and salads generally get very close to $10 or more if sit down. Personally I'd rather eat out once or twice a week at a nicer casual place than five days of something cheaper.

Subway, Chiptole, Panera, Quizno's, that may be a starting point.

I don't eat out every day either, one day a week at most.

Regarding the person that says Starbucks is a business expense.....no it isn't. It if your choice. If every company allowed that, you would be significant layoffs more often than you already do.

Chop't and Cava are in that same neighborhood also. I have the Chop't app that gets me $10 off every $100 I spend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Packing lunch is not free food. You either spend it at Giant or some local cafeteria.
If a cup of coffee is your enjoyment in life and you do not have time to make it every morning, or if you prefer it when you arrive at work, then go for it.
What is wrong with this?

I could save more by buying cheaper coffee for the house, making my kids drink water instead of fruit juice, not buying cheese, cooking meals with low quality sausage instead of real meat

But why must I? Food is going to cost, you need your little luxuries for enjoyment of life.

No need to judge anyone.
My parents struggled financially, but still had the newspaper subscription. Reading the morning paper was my dads joy in life. He could have heard the news through the radio, but so what?

Packing your lunch ends up being cheaper.

Let's say for example you pack a ham and cheese sandwich. You buy a loaf of bread, divide the cost by the number of slices in the bag. Divide the amount of ham in a container by the cost, same with the cheese. That is the real cost. In addition, you are getting multiple meals (although it gets old) from buying 3 things that have a high quantity in it.

I do not drink coffee as I do not like the taste of it.

Another example, let's say you get TV dinners. Safeway (that is where I shop) usually has 5 for $10 on certain brands. If you go to Subway, Chiptole, or a restaurant, you are spending close to that in one day. That is $50 a week (give or take). $200 a month (give or take).

Lunches also come down to health choices. TV dinners are not the most healthy, but the cost savings is pretty good.

Not with me, I cannot eat the same loaf of bread the whole week, and end up not having the time in the mornings to spend 15 minutes doing sandwiches. I just am not a morning person and the bread does not feel so fresh if I make the sandwiches the night before.
I have tried with home made salads and salad dressings, buying nuts and taking yogurts to work. That also ends up costing as I pick more healthy choices and those are costlier.
Perhaps I could save more money by not eating?

Sandwiches were an example. I have seen people bring in individual containers of soup to work.

As someone else suggested, leftovers are another thing. I have done that plenty of times.

I don't think you are looking at this from a cost perspective. Look at the serving size on things that you add meat too (like Hamburger Helper).

I don't dispute you avoiding salads, I would only get those from a buffet and eat it right after or at a restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^And you can pack leftovers the night before and just reheat at work in the microwave.

You are assuming the family has leftovers every night
Sometimes we keep the left overs for another meal, and that only works if there is extra meat. Potatoes, rice and vegetables we almost never have left over

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^And you can pack leftovers the night before and just reheat at work in the microwave.

You are assuming the family has leftovers every night
Sometimes we keep the left overs for another meal, and that only works if there is extra meat. Potatoes, rice and vegetables we almost never have left over

You aren't saving much time if you're only using the meat for the next meal and then still have to come up with a starch and veggies. You are still cooking two separate meals.

If you adjust to making enough to have leftovers for lunch, you save the cost/prep time of lunch every day.

[Anonymous]

You people would put a lot of people out of jobs if everyone followed your miserly advice.

[Anonymous]

How can you people tolerate the calories?? I'd rather eat my extra calories - or better yet, drink them in the form of wine! Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people would put a lot of people out of jobs if everyone followed your miserly advice.

Not really....most major cities have tourists visit all the time, and restaurants get their money from them at the very least.

This comes down to where one wants to spend money.

Starbucks changed their rewards program recently, and that probably contributes to people going there multiple times in a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My coworker buys breakfast about 3-4 times a week, lunch 5 days a week then complains to me that she can't lose weight and/or can't pay such and such bill. I just say "you should cut down on buying breakfast/lunch everday."

I can't afford to buy lunch everday. I don't eat breakfast.

Do we work together? Not! That was me pp about 2 years ago, started to eat breakfast at home and bring my lunch and lost about 80 pounds within 9 to 10 months

[Anonymous]

I am actually shocked that anyone living/working in a city would consider it weird for people to buy their lunch daily. I have done this every single day for the 22 years I have worked in DC, including low-paying summer jobs during college. When I worked in biglaw, I can honestly say I did not know a single attorney who brought their lunch. Now I work at a non-profit, and I continue to love venturing out with my coworkers to find something good to eat.

Getting outdoors, eating delicious foods rather than something packed or frozen -- it is one of the joys of working in a city. I especially love food trucks.

[Anonymous]

I'm actually in the process of dropping the daily lunch out habit. I didn't spend a ton, but replacing a $10 foodtruck lunch with a homemade sandwich or leftover fried rice turns out to be a pretty sizeable saving. and i was never a starbucks person but the coffeeshop i pass on the way to work everyday makes a superb cup of coffee, which i miss already, 2 weeks into this cost-cutting venture.

I will say, there are ways to buy lunch that aren't terribly expensive - my husband swears his usual lunch out is a $5 turkey sandwich and a sprite. But picking up a pre-made turkey sandwich lacks some of the joy of a fancy foodtruck lunch.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher so there isn't much time to run out and get food where I work. We might go out once a month and get something for a special occasion. In a way, I am glad I bring my lunch. If I ate out everyday (even if it is just a sandwich or salad), I wouldn't look forward to it. It would become routine and routine is usually boring. On my salary, I wouldn't want to spend half of what I make per hour on lunch everyday.