How much to spend on lunch each day?

[Anonymous]

i wish I could buy every day. I would be happy to spend $10 on lunch. But I would get fat! There are too few healthy options in downtown. Even those salads are loaded with salt. If you look beyond the calories it's all terrible.

[Anonymous]

Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

[Anonymous]

I try to bring lunch at least three times a week. Going out on the other days is a reward.

I'm a pretty good cook, and I've had too many terrible $10 restaurant salads to tell myself that's easier. Bringing lunch is good for our bank accounts and for fitness. Also, it makes me feel like I can eat whatever I want on the days I do go out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I try to bring lunch at least three times a week. Going out on the other days is a reward.

I'm a pretty good cook, and I've had too many terrible $10 restaurant salads to tell myself that's easier. Bringing lunch is good for our bank accounts and for fitness. Also, it makes me feel like I can eat whatever I want on the days I do go out.

We pack our lunches, not because we can't afford to (DINKs, 340ish HHI), but because it's good for our waistlines. Not to mention, sometimes you just don't want to spend time picking up food when you can go for a walk during the lunch break instead. Then on the weekends, we feel like we can splurge on whatever we want, within reason of course. It's also nice not to drop minimum $12/weekdayday on food ($24 for each of us) = $540/month. That's dinner at a really nice restaurant once a month. I would gladly stick to my home-cooked food for a month. I'm not counting the lunch meetings that DH sometimes has with his colleagues or teammates, which may happen once every two weeks or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I typically don't eat lunch. Or breakfast for that matter. I eat dinner only and then some fruit/snacks later in the night.

However, if I did eat lunch, I would bring my own, and limit the cost to about $5. I think I can do that while buying high quality deli meat, cheese, and bread to make really interesting sandwiches.

Why are you even posting? Also, you may be anorexic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

Who talks like that?? Our HHI is over $300k and I don't think $280 is "nothing." SMH.

[Anonymous]

I try to compromise and bring these things most days:
- coffee
- sparkling water
- cut up veggies and sometimes tiny hummus containers
- bananas, clementines, berries
- yogurt
- cheese and crackers
- good leftovers

I often buy these things (I work in Foggy Bottom):
- "thin" Potbelly sandwich ($4.50)
- small Poppabox bowl ($4.50)
- bowl or salad from a regular lunch place (Roti, Chipotle, etc...) ($9)

If you DIY your drink and sides and coffee on days you buy lunch out it helps. I can usually keep it to $25 a week and still get something out for 3-4 days (Potbelly sandwich, Roti salad, small entree like a Poppabox mini bowl, Starbucks x 2).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

Who talks like that?? Our HHI is over $300k and I don't think $280 is "nothing." SMH.

Seriously! If you think that's nothing then you clearly know nothing about managing money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

Apologies. Some of us were talking to the other 98% of the population to whom $280/month matters.

[Anonymous]

You will only feel deprived if you fail to plan ahead. I almost never buy lunch out because it is a colossal waste of money.

Good pointers here:

http://www.frugalwoods.com/2016/08/01/what-does-a-frugal-person-eat/

[Anonymous]

I spend about $6 a day on average on work lunches. (Subsidized cafeteria).

X 200 work days a year is $1200.

But I make $140k do that is less than 1% of my income.

Also, I hate making sandwiches or lunch and already make 2 meals a day at home.

Bottom line, it is my "splurge" and I'm not sorry about it. I'm also not going to sweat the $1k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

+1. Its not that much. Plus its not $280 even at $14/lunch. It's the difference between $280 and the amount you would be spending if you made your own lunch (for me, that's atleast $5/lunch but others are doing PB&J so could be less). So it's ~$190. I think of it as housecleaning - sure, I could spend the time to do it but its a relatively low cost to outsource.

Fwiw, it hasnt affected my waistline so far. I usually end up eating a pretty light dinner since portion sizes for lunch are bigger (some of the salads are huge!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's do the simple math here.

$14 lunch x 5 day work week x 4 weeks = $280 per month spent on lunches you're not bringing to work. That's almost $300/month you could be putting elsewhere -- e.g., into your retirement fund, home renovation projects, vacation, your child's college fund, etc.

The same goes for lattes. Buy two $5 lattes every day during the workday (morning and afternoon), and that's $200/month spent on cups of coffee.

In total, you're losing roughly $500 from your monthly budget. Gone. Poof. But you don't see it, because you're not adding it up.

Bottom line: Making a sandwich and brewing your own coffee isn't hard.

For most of us $280 is nothing.

+1. Its not that much. Plus its not $280 even at $14/lunch. It's the difference between $280 and the amount you would be spending if you made your own lunch (for me, that's atleast $5/lunch but others are doing PB&J so could be less). So it's ~$190. I think of it as housecleaning - sure, I could spend the time to do it but its a relatively low cost to outsource.

Fwiw, it hasnt affected my waistline so far. I usually end up eating a pretty light dinner since portion sizes for lunch are bigger (some of the salads are huge!).

NP - that was m my thought too. I haven't done the math exactly, but a normal homefixed lunch for the office would be something like this:

Deli meat $2.50
Cheese $1.00
Sandwich thin $0.50
Grape tomatoes $1.50
Nuts packet $1.00
Fruit strip $0.50
Total: $7.00

$7x5= $35/wk, $140/month

Given that, I'd 50/50 or 60/40 home to take out ratio and probably use that other money to go on my sanity saving coffee walks (2 mile loop on a greenway to get to Starbucks).

[Anonymous]

Let's just say that if I didn't work near Sweetgreen, I would save a lot of money.