Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

No they aren't. And frozen meals tend to be high in sodium which isn't good for you. Even Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine. And Lunchables for kids are disgustingly unhealthy and high in sodium.

I bought into the marketing and used to eat them 1-2x a week for lunch. Then stopped and went back a while ago due to nostalgia and now they taste gross to me, all I can taste is the salt.

I am talking about the prepared food section where you get 1 meat and 2 sides for 5 bux.

Also do you value your time? That's not free.

Anonymous wrote:5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

No they aren't. And frozen meals tend to be high in sodium which isn't good for you. Even Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine. And Lunchables for kids are disgustingly unhealthy and high in sodium.

I bought into the marketing and used to eat them 1-2x a week for lunch. Then stopped and went back a while ago due to nostalgia and now they taste gross to me, all I can taste is the salt.

Anonymous wrote:Pack 4 days a week, go out to lunch the other day.

Same with me, with some flexibility to add lunches out when networking opportunities arise.

Anonymous wrote:5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

I can make a good dinner (soup, chili, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and rice, etc) for around 5 dollars, give or take a couple of dollars. Then I can get dinner and lunch out of it, and sometimes freeze a lunch portion for later use. When doing the math, I can have one serving for around 2 dollars or less.

For example, chicken and mushroom with rice and corn. A pound of organic chicken that I bought on sale is 5 dollars, I use half and save the other half for another meal. 1 cup of rice, 1 cup of corn which isn't a full bag so probably about 50 cents or less. Cream of mushroom is about 1.50-2 dollars. Half of a pound of chicken is 2.50, plus 2 dollars for cream of mushroom, plus 50 cents worth of rice and corn. Half hour in the oven and on the stove and I have lunch and dinner for a total of 5 dollars.

It all depends on what your cooking. I learned a lot about living frugal from my parents growing up (my mom could stretch a meal across a week), and there are a lot of blogs out there now about living on a budget. You also stock up on things when there on sale and use coupons. Whenever meat is on sale I stock up and freeze it for later use.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy every day - spend about $9 or $10 bucks. I've been thinking about alternating and packing a couple days a week

I'm sure you've done the math, but that's 50 dollars a week, 200-250 or more a month. Great if you have the money for it I suppose, but I've found that buying lunch is not only expensive, but can also be really unhealthy. You'd be surprised at how many calories or how much sodium, preservatives, etc is in restaurant food. I went through a stretch of buying lunch a couple of years ago and I gained quite a bit of weight, and I was eating at 'healthier' places, not McDonalds and the like.

I'd rather use that 200 dollars a month for something else. But my finances are also pretty limited at the moment. I pack leftovers most of the time, and eat out maybe once or twice a month for either lunch or dinner.

I do alright-- but yeah I think about the math sometimes. A 2013 resolution is to see about packing maybe 2 days a week.

Anonymous wrote:

5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

No. No they aren't.

Especially if you factor in the quality of food.

Pack it about 85-90% of the time. Every once in a while I forget (or just don't have the time, like this morning when I had to get both kids to school solo b/c DH is on a trip), or meet a friend for lunch, which is maybe once a month or so. But the rest of the time I bring it. Usually nothing fancy, leftovers, or a sandwich, or a bowl of the big pot of soup I made over the weekend.

5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

No. No they aren't.

Anonymous wrote:I buy every day - spend about $9 or $10 bucks. I've been thinking about alternating and packing a couple days a week

I'm sure you've done the math, but that's 50 dollars a week, 200-250 or more a month. Great if you have the money for it I suppose, but I've found that buying lunch is not only expensive, but can also be really unhealthy. You'd be surprised at how many calories or how much sodium, preservatives, etc is in restaurant food. I went through a stretch of buying lunch a couple of years ago and I gained quite a bit of weight, and I was eating at 'healthier' places, not McDonalds and the like.

I'd rather use that 200 dollars a month for something else. But my finances are also pretty limited at the moment. I pack leftovers most of the time, and eat out maybe once or twice a month for either lunch or dinner.

Pack 4 days a week, go out to lunch the other day.

I bring lunch every day. I have a lot of food-related allergies, and the choices around my workplace (L'Enfant) are atrocious. I do a lot of cooking on weekends and bring that stuff to work during the week.

5 dollar HT meals are cheaper then packing

I mostly pack lunch. Buying lunch adds up too fast, plus I don't want to waste my half hour lunch break standing in line.

I buy every day - spend about $9 or $10 bucks. I've been thinking about alternating and packing a couple days a week

or do you do both? do you give yourself a weekly limit on what to spend on workday food or never spend or only spend?