Comments on: The Myth That Making Your Own Lunch Saves Hundreds Of Dollars

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:19:26 +0000

The title of this article is a bit misleading and you’re not really hitting on any points like the type of food someone is consuming or the cost of living in various areas. I buy sandwich bags maybe twice a year in bulk, in addition to condiments, and rarely do I bring home used dishes that require so much water that my utility bills will be astronomical – these kind of expenses are mere throwaways. The real cost is the actual food. For example, I can spend $5.00 on a package of turkey at the grocery store and $2-3 bucks on a loaf of bread. Throw in $3.00 for cheese and $2.50 for a bottle of mustard or mayo. that will last half a year. By doing this, I can make a sandwich 6-8 sandwiches at a cost of $11-15. If I go to a deli to get a little higher of quality, I’d be paying about $4-5.00 minimum each sandwich. Do the math – it balances out and you’re free to spend the extra money on other things. From what it sounds like, you’re arguing more so that you would, in fact, save a few bucks by bringing in your own lunch but the convenience of not having to take the time to prepare it is more beneficial to you. That’s fine and dandy, but bringing in your lunch to save money is no myth.

By: katie

katie — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:34:44 +0000

Lunch out easily costs $8-$10 a day. I can make and bring lunch for WAY less than that!

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:30:43 +0000

Definitely depends on the area in which you live–it’s hard to get a substantial lunch around my workplace for under $5.

I also like to think about the health benefits of bringing my own lunch–whatever you bring will almost always be lower in calories than what you can buy premade.

By: Pattie, RN

Pattie, RN — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:57:10 +0000

Really depends on where you live and what you consider “lunch” to be. For me, buying a decent lunch is a minimum of a five dollar expedition for take-out, eight bucks for sit down. Now that I work in a remote location with a limited lunch time, I either bring in what is left of yesteday’s dinner or a frozen entree, being what is on sale. My household is now just DH and I, and entrees for two are not enough food, and for four is too much….but just enough for two dinners and a lunch. Your family size, appetite, and general mileage may vary!

By: rob62521

rob62521 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:26:56 +0000

I would say your article is right in some areas…however, it think it depends on how much the cost of living is where you live and what you have to do to get to a restaurant.

One has to eat, so there is a cost there, whether it is lunch or dinner. Brownbagging lunches is often more reasonable, even where I live where the cost of living is fairly reasonable. One must also factor in the cost of traveling if you have to get in your car to go to the restaurant. I work in a school and there are no places besides the cafeteria you can walk to…so driving would be a necessity. However, with only 30 minutes, one is hard pressed to go someplace, order, and get back in time.

I would say that the insurance company is just trying to convince folks they are on our side. Yeah, right. I’m with you…lower the premiums!

By: Two Pennies Earned

Two Pennies Earned — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:18:11 +0000

Hi David,
I think you make an excellent point in your article. One restaurant that I don’t feel guilty about spending money at is Panda Express. Because they give such generous portions and because I don’t eat large meals, I’m able to stretch a $6-7 restaurant purchase into three meals. For me, that cost is comparable to what I’d spend on a grocery store meal–but it saves me time and tastes better. (I realize this is kind of sounding like a plug for Panda, but it’s really my genuine, unbiased opinion.) And by picking up food on the way home from running other errands, the extra time and gasoline factors are negligible. Thanks for another thoughtful article.

By: michelle

michelle — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:55:48 +0000

What about the gas and wear and tear spent on the car to go and get the food? A typical family has 2 adults and 2 kids. If both adults ate out at lunch with a conservative $5.00 spent on take out, that’s $10.00 a day…$50.00 per week just for the two adults. It is a huge cost savings to brown bag it for the adults as we are already buying lunch foods for the kids.

Gas saved, wear and tear saved, calories saved, money saved!

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:49:47 +0000

When I was working 12-16 hour days, going out for lunch was a necessary stress break. When hours were under control, bringing lunch meant being able to spend a half hour carving… didn’t have to worry about socializing ’cause everyone stopped by to see what I was working on! LOL

Now my main concern is when I travel. (Obviously, I tend to be driving.) I find it more economical and, equally important, healthy to pack a small cooler with hard boiled eggs, cheese, crunchy veggies and fruit. My water or iced tea is in a thermos. Much less expensive than restaurant eating and eating healthy things increases my alertness factor. The accoutrements were a one-time cost that has been recouped many times over and “refills” are a quick, inexpensive stop at a grocery store.

Most of those inexpensive meals you see at fast food or even deli places are not the healthiest things you could be eating. Going out to lunch was (to me) sitting down for a meal, which was never less than $7 (rare) and more likely $12-20 (even more, if it was good sushi ), so there’s definitely money to be saved!

All that being said, sometimes getting out of the office is an absolute must, if you’re going to retain your sanity.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:00:29 +0000

I agree that it’s misleading to say that brown bagging saves you all of the costs of eating out, of course it does not. However, I do think that the net benefits of bringing your own food – reduced costs, the ability to better control the healthiness, meals made entirely to your taste, etc – outweigh a lot of the costs of eating out. However, sometimes it’s just more convenient and fun to eat out. Funnily enough, once I reheat all of the components of my meals, it’s almost the same amount of time as if I had run down to McDonalds – so it saves me almost no time (if it’s a warm, reheatable meal) during my lunch “hour”
to bring food rather than running down to the nearest fast food. Of course, it’s still healthier and cheaper for me to bring food.

If anyone’s ever read the Tightwad Gazettes, Amy Dacyzcyn will calculate costs from all of the ingredients to the approximate cost of energy usage for however long they use their oven/stove/microwave. She was really dedicated to finding out, as close as she could, the true cost of making things from scratch.

By: PrincessPerky

PrincessPerky — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:27:15 +0000

Well if you can afford $2 or so a day go for it.

But if you are in debt, you might be better off suffering with cold sandwiches than high interest rates.

Generally lunch here is leftovers, cost not zero, but certainly less than $1 per serving. When we have no leftovers, the meal is still cheap.

While I have no objection to folk using money smartly, I find it annoying when someone says ‘it is only a dollar’. One dollar can go quite far if needed (as shown by the ‘eating on a dollar a day’). If you have the dollar go for it, but if you are in debt, or if you are planning on whining later about not having money, please stop.