Pack Your Lunch and Save $200 a Month

Posted on April 25, 2007

After switching jobs last year one of my goals was to pack my lunch as much as possible. It was tough at first because I wanted to get to know the people I worked with better and they all went out to lunch everyday. So for the first few months I went out everyday spending between $10 and $15 on lunch. I enjoyed getting out of the office each day, conversing freely with my coworkers on a more personal level. Then after a few months of the same Applebees, TGIFridays, Boston Market, and so forth, I got very sick of the salty, fatty, expensive meals. A coworker from my last job joined the company at this time and we both vowed to pack at least 4 days a week. The transition was hard initially not getting out everyday but here are a few tips of how we did it:

1. Start off slow at first if needed, and eat out one or maybe two times a week.

2. Pack your lunch at night ahead of time.

3. Cook larger portions of food and use leftovers as lunches.

4. If you go out to dinner, save half for lunch the next day. (The portions are huge at restaurants anyhow)

5. Bring food you actually like to eat.

6. Bring food that tastes better as a leftover. For example, soups, casseroles, and chili all taste better leftover in my opinion.

7. Bring a piece of fresh fruit each day.

8. A salad is an easy, quick side dish or complete meal if necessary.

9. Do not eat the same thing each day.

10. Limit canned products to a minimum. Canned tuna and chicken can get old extremely quick.

11. Reward yourself with going out to lunch at least every now and then.

12. Go for a walk after your lunch to get out of the office.

This has been so successful at my company that our lunch sessions started off with just two people packing and the rest going out to lunch. Now we have about eight people packing lunch everyday and then four going out for the walk.

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