I pack almost all the time. Maybe once a month or so I will treat myself to a lunch out.

My office culture isn't such that going out to lunch together is important. Most people run out & grab something, then eat it at their desk.

And since I pack, my boss allows me to only take 30 minutes for my lunch break instead of the standard hour. That extra 30 minutes makes my afternoon commute much more bearable, and means extra time with my kids. Win, win, win.

I pack. Healthier and cheaper. All my coworkers and bosses likewise eat over their keyboards, so not an issue. I use my lunch break for the gym.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if you don't eat out you are missing out on valuable work discussions and can be seen an out lire . It's not just food but it's a social / business aspect.

So it may be cheaper but you are missing out on potential time with your boss which can result in more raises / bonuses. so in the end you may save 20 bux a week on lunch but you won't be getting that big bonus and raise which would more then cover that.

So if you are not a smoker, then you could also be missing out. I assume you are not in a technical field, or one where your expertise would matter more than who you humor

Our cafeteria has a decent range of healthy options for around $4-6/day, so I do that. Whenever I resolve to pack lunch it either sucks up way too much time or I end up buying prepared foods - barely cheaper, and definitely worse for me than a salad or sandwich from the cafeteria.
I save my cooking energy for family dinners.

Anonymous wrote:So it may be cheaper but you are missing out on potential time with your boss which can result in more raises / bonuses. so in the end you may save 20 bux a week on lunch but you won't be getting that big bonus and raise which would more then cover that.

I guess there are workplaces where this could be true but I've never worked in one (an office where you can go out to lunch somewhere with your boss AND going out to lunch together gets you more raises and bonuses AND eating out with the boss only cost $20/week)

I mostly pack, like I will buy lunch once every two weeks. But i am in the burbs and I really have limited options (esp if you factor in time, health, and $$).
When i was downtown I was buying most breakfasts, lunches, and probably 1/2 my dinners...
Lunches with the team/boss are not an issue, we plan going-out-group lunches way in advance. And I have enough flexibility to just leave lunch in the fridge for tomorrow, if there's a spontaneous lunch.
Yes, i could buy a salad. But when I buy, I tend to buy the quesadillas, or taco salad with all the fixins, or pizza, and a brownie to go with it. If I pack a salad, I feel satisfied and don't miss the cafeteria junk.

I am committed to packing my lunch from now for both health and financial reasons. I usually have dinner leftovers so that is easy enough.

Pack 4 days a week and go and get something at WF salad bar the other day. No lunches with the team/boss so that's not an issue. It's way cheaper and healthier. We do a once a week brown bag lunch group with some coworkers as well which is nice.

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.

NP here. I go through phases of packing and/or buying my lunch. Recently I've been mostly buying, why? I'm getting burned out because I have no personal time. I get up in the morning, get ready, take the kids to daycare, work until I have to go pick them up from daycare, come home, we feed them dinner, bedtime routine, then get them to bed. I have about 2-3 hours and those are usually keeping up with household chores, that have stacked up until bedtime, lather, rinse, repeat. Weekends are errands and more household chores. My wife is visually diabled and currently on bending and lifting restrictions due to recent surgery and that means that I'm the only driver in the house and have to do most of the physical labor and heavier chores. I have to do all of the errands/chores that involve driving, shopping, etc. While she does a lot of household chores and a good share of the childcare, the chores, etc that I do are more physically taxing leaving me frequently just plain physically exhausted by the end of the day. Right now, other than a few minutes here or there, my only downtime is my lunch break. So, we've talked about it and while we could use the money elsewhere, it's worth the money for me to get out of the office and have 30-45 minutes a day for personal time. Another side note is that whenever I bring my lunch and eat in the office, I'm frequently interrupted and essentially have a working lunch. Hopefully in a few more weeks, when my wife is off of bending and lifting restrictions and we can rebalance the household chores (washing dishes never looked so good!).

I allow myself $20 per week for lunch, which means I'm packing.

I bring my lunch most days. If I cooked the night before, I bring leftovers. Yum. If I didn't, I have microwave meals in the freezer. I'm good about my sodium intake otherwise, so a meal that has 30% of my recommended intake once a day is not an issue. I usually add extra veggies, like steamed broccoli and grape tomatoes to the microwave meals.

In DC where my office is, a sandwich is over $6 so I save a little money - and some calories - by bringing my lunch.

I usually pack b/c while I'm making the kids lunches, it takes me just a few extra minutes to (assembly line) make an extra lunch for me.

Saves money; more healthy than buying (given the limited choices around where I work); and saves time (don't need to go out and buy lunch).

I sometimes get by with a chocolate bar. When I was younger I would occationally skip lunch and just drink coffee. Coffee's caffeine stuns your sense of hunger, so that helps.
I used to, (used to) get by with spending $5 per week. That is without packing a fancy lunch.

Now I buy good salad ingredients and splurge on salmon etc to make myself elaborate lunches. But cannot bring myself to spend at work. Sometimes buy but not a lot. Seems like such a waste. Don't know why

Anonymous wrote:Also if you don't eat out you are missing out on valuable work discussions and can be seen an out lire . It's not just food but it's a social / business aspect.

So it may be cheaper but you are missing out on potential time with your boss which can result in more raises / bonuses. so in the end you may save 20 bux a week on lunch but you won't be getting that big bonus and raise which would more then cover that.

Also if you don't eat out you are missing out on valuable work discussions and can be seen an out lire . It's not just food but it's a social / business aspect.