Resisted the temptation to buy lunch all week: how I made do
April 11, 2008
Despite neglecting to pack a real lunch this entire week, I’ve been really good about not caving and buying lunch. This is totally thanks to a post I read last week, sadly I can’t find the post or the blog to which it belongs, about a blogger who avoids going out by scouring the cupboards for any random combination of foods to satisfy hunger before deciding to go out or get take-out.
It was a little kick in the pants to stop letting my laziness and unrest at home cost me lunch money, so I tried all manner of creativity this week to keep myself fed without resorting to the expensive, bland cafes here.
Monday: I brought a container of rice and a fillet of fried fish that I hadn’t finished from the previous night’s dinner. I didn’t have much appetite, so I didn’t even finish that. I did eat my orange, though, so no scurvy for me.
Tuesday: My leftover biscuits and gravy, and part of a vegetable and ham scramble, from the weekend were combined with a couple of fresh eggs. Brunch!
Wednesday: We had fresh Roma tomatoes, so I sliced that up. I’d brought some wheat bread for breakfast toast earlier in the week, and had a slice left, so I made a half sandwich of fish and tomatoes. It was surprisingly yummy. My banana from produce bargain day was dessert.
Thursday: This may or may not be considered cheating: we planned a potluck for this day. The goods (and boy, they were good!): Honey Baked Ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans roasted with almonds, roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, white rice, and homemade macaroni and cheese with bacon.
Note to readers: the Honey Baked Ham store is a complete ripoff! C3 paid $25 for enough to serve 6 people. There was apparently an unbelievable amount of fat and bone, so they probably only got about 2 good pounds of ham from it. We won’t be making that mistake again.
It almost makes me feel guilty for contributing the cheapest and easiest items on the list. I roasted the asparagus in our toaster oven, having gotten a great deal on it, and steamed the broccoli in the microwave. Cheap and easy! I guess the asparagus could easily have cost me more than $3/bunch, and I could have wasted $5 on a bag of broccoli crowns, but it would have tasted the same.
Friday: Leftovers from Thursday. Mmm-mm delicious!
Many people simply don’t realize how much they’re spending on lunches out. It doesn’t seem like much at a time: “I always order from the Value Menu,” or “It’s the $5.99 special.” Multiply that by five, and don’t forget to add in tax and tip (where applicable).
I wrote an article for MSN Money called “Take the Brown Bag Challenge,” based on a thread from MSN’s Smart Spending message board. Readers had many wonderful and creative tips. If you follow the link below you can read it for yourself. Contained within the article is the URL to the message-board thread, which as I said had tons of useful info.
The article can be found at:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ConsumerActionGuide/TakeTheBrownBagChallenge.aspx
Best regards,
Donna Freedman
ROFL.. “ate an orange …so no scurvy for me”
~donna freedman~ Thanks for commenting! It’s very easy to lose track of spending on lunches, especially during the workday, and especially if your work gives you an ID card that you can swipe which deducts from your paycheck. *shudder* It’s a dangerous tool! Good for when I’m flat out of cash and haven’t a bite to eat, but very easy to abuse.
~FB~ *nod* Yep. Very important. I hear scurvy’s hell on your skin. š