Week 8: February 18th-24th, 2007
New Habit: Cheap, Cheaper, and Cheapest Lunches
Frugal Habit? Definitely. Spending less is always cheaper.
I could spend hours at the grocery store juggling coupons and serve
lentils for dinner every night, but if my husband bought lunch every day
our grocery budget would be toast. Seriously, have you checked out
the price of a fast food lunch? They should be sued for calling it an
‘Extra Value Meal’, and that’s without factoring in the multiple heart
surgeries and eight different kinds of diabetes medication one would
need after eating this sludge every day. Even the well-advertised
healthier options at fast food joints are only wholesome compared to
the rest of their menu. Luckily, I am blessed with a husband who is
aware of his health and our budget, and thus willing to take a lunch to
work.
The way I have always figured it, brown-bagging saves enough
money that I can buy those nifty little individually wrapped snacks
without guilt, right? Umm, yeah, kind of. Some savings is certainly
better than none. On the other hand, when I tally up our grocery
budget every week, those lunches take up a sizeable chunk,
especially considering that the rest of the household eats lunch for
almost nothing.
Here is the average lunch for my sweet husband (who, by the way,
would be worth every dime even if he did eat out every day): A
microwaveable soup cup ($1-$1.50), a cup of yogurt ($.50), a fruit
cup ($.30), a bag of chips ($.30), and a “sweet and salty” nut and
granola bar ($.25). I buy the goods at Costco or on massive sale, all
name brand but at very good prices for an average of $2.50 per day.
Certainly less expensive than the cheapest fast food, and quite a bit
healthier as well. Nevertheless, I vowed to bring down the price by 25
cents every day, hopefully ending up with a healthy lunch for half price
by Friday.
Monday: Microwaveable soup cup, a cup of yogurt, a banana, a
home-bagged Ziploc of chips, and a granola bar. Bananas can
always be found somewhere for 50 cents a pound and each weighs
just a bit less than a third of a pound. Chips from a big bag instead of
a box of tiny ones taste exactly the same and save about 15 cents a
servings. I saved 30 cents and brought lunch down to $2.20.
Tuesday: Microwaveable soup cup, sliced cheddar cheese,
crackers, a banana, and a granola bar. Basically, I replaced the
yogurt cup with sliced cheddar cheese, saving 25 cents, and sent
home-bagged crackers instead of the chips, bringing our tally to
$1.95.
Wednesday: Microwaveable soup cup, string cheese, home-
popped popcorn, an apple, and a homemade peanut butter cookie.
Apples and string cheese cost about the same as bananas and
cheddar, so there was no change in cost there. Home-popped
popcorn—the kind you make in a pan, not the microwaveable type—
is next to free, and my peanut butter cookies cost about 5 cents each.
We’ll say they’re 10 cents together, so we saved 30 cents and spent
$1.65.
Thursday: Meat and cheese sandwich, home-popped popcorn, an
apple, and a homemade peanut butter cookie. The sandwich wasn’t
immensely popular because it was soggy by noon, but the lunchmeat
(30 cents for half of a tiny 60 cent package), lettuce (one leaf for 5
cents), tomato slices (10 cents for three decent slices), cheese (free
because we already bring some kind of dairy every day), bread (10
cents), and condiments (5 cents) came to 60 cents, or a 70 cent
savings over the $1.30 average lunch entrée. This brought our lunch
down to 95 cents, or 30 cents less than I hoped to ultimately save with
a day to go. Still, I think my husband’s happiness is worth a lousy
seventy cents, so I knew I would have to come up with a more
palatable option or revert to good old Progresso.
Friday: Wrap filled with leftover chicken and vegetables from dinner,
string cheese, home-popped popcorn, a baggie of baby carrots, and
a homemade blueberry muffin. The flour tortilla cost 15 cents and the
cost of the leftovers was negligible, maybe 50 cents. Everything else
cost roughly the same as the day before, so our total came to 90
cents and my husband was happier with the wrap than with the
sandwich.
Altogether, Friday’s lunch was less than half as expensive as and
slightly healthier than Monday’s. The only change that was rejected
was the sandwich. My husband asked about his yogurt cups on the
third day without, so I will continue sending them occasionally. The
best mode of converting your family from packaged foods to
homemade ones is by doing a “low price limbo,” introducing new and
frugal foods one at a time and slowly cutting back to your target cost.
The hardest part of this experiment was trying to think up new and
cheaper versions of our standard lunch fare. I solved this by breaking
my husband’s standard lunch into categories and making a list of
cheap and healthy(ish) options for each.
Bargain main dish options: Homemade soup, bean burritos,
sandwiches, or wraps; attractively repackaged leftovers; pastas with
sauces.
Bargain dairy options: Cheese slices; string cheese (on sale);
yogurt in a reusable cup from large container; dips made from cream
cheese, sour cream, or yogurt.
Bargain fruit and veggie options: Bananas, or other fruit costing
less than $1/lb; bagged carrot or celery sticks or baby carrots;
pickles; raw veggies costing less than $1/lb—remember to send
peanut butter as the salty snack or a yogurt dip for the dairy.
Homegrown garden produce is free!
Bargain salty snack options: Home-bagged pretzels, crackers,
chips, chex mix, or popcorn.
Bargain sweet snack options: Homemade cookies, cake, muffins,
brownies; popcorn balls; homemade or bulk-bought granola.
Amount Saved: It depends on what you are currently spending. At
250 work days per year, I could save anywhere from $75 dollars
(switching to Monday's lunch) to $400 (switching to Friday's lunch). If
your husband currently buys lunch, an eventual change to the more
frugal brown-bag options could save thousands of dollars annually.
Difficulty on Scale of 1-5: 2. Popcorn? C'mon. Your eight-year-old
could do this.
Time: 5-10 minutes per evening
Next Week's Frugal Habit:
Check out the Frugal Habit of the Week Archives
New Habit: Cheap, Cheaper, and Cheapest Lunches
Frugal Habit? Definitely. Spending less is always cheaper.
I could spend hours at the grocery store juggling coupons and serve
lentils for dinner every night, but if my husband bought lunch every day
our grocery budget would be toast. Seriously, have you checked out
the price of a fast food lunch? They should be sued for calling it an
‘Extra Value Meal’, and that’s without factoring in the multiple heart
surgeries and eight different kinds of diabetes medication one would
need after eating this sludge every day. Even the well-advertised
healthier options at fast food joints are only wholesome compared to
the rest of their menu. Luckily, I am blessed with a husband who is
aware of his health and our budget, and thus willing to take a lunch to
work.
The way I have always figured it, brown-bagging saves enough
money that I can buy those nifty little individually wrapped snacks
without guilt, right? Umm, yeah, kind of. Some savings is certainly
better than none. On the other hand, when I tally up our grocery
budget every week, those lunches take up a sizeable chunk,
especially considering that the rest of the household eats lunch for
almost nothing.
Here is the average lunch for my sweet husband (who, by the way,
would be worth every dime even if he did eat out every day): A
microwaveable soup cup ($1-$1.50), a cup of yogurt ($.50), a fruit
cup ($.30), a bag of chips ($.30), and a “sweet and salty” nut and
granola bar ($.25). I buy the goods at Costco or on massive sale, all
name brand but at very good prices for an average of $2.50 per day.
Certainly less expensive than the cheapest fast food, and quite a bit
healthier as well. Nevertheless, I vowed to bring down the price by 25
cents every day, hopefully ending up with a healthy lunch for half price
by Friday.
Monday: Microwaveable soup cup, a cup of yogurt, a banana, a
home-bagged Ziploc of chips, and a granola bar. Bananas can
always be found somewhere for 50 cents a pound and each weighs
just a bit less than a third of a pound. Chips from a big bag instead of
a box of tiny ones taste exactly the same and save about 15 cents a
servings. I saved 30 cents and brought lunch down to $2.20.
Tuesday: Microwaveable soup cup, sliced cheddar cheese,
crackers, a banana, and a granola bar. Basically, I replaced the
yogurt cup with sliced cheddar cheese, saving 25 cents, and sent
home-bagged crackers instead of the chips, bringing our tally to
$1.95.
Wednesday: Microwaveable soup cup, string cheese, home-
popped popcorn, an apple, and a homemade peanut butter cookie.
Apples and string cheese cost about the same as bananas and
cheddar, so there was no change in cost there. Home-popped
popcorn—the kind you make in a pan, not the microwaveable type—
is next to free, and my peanut butter cookies cost about 5 cents each.
We’ll say they’re 10 cents together, so we saved 30 cents and spent
$1.65.
Thursday: Meat and cheese sandwich, home-popped popcorn, an
apple, and a homemade peanut butter cookie. The sandwich wasn’t
immensely popular because it was soggy by noon, but the lunchmeat
(30 cents for half of a tiny 60 cent package), lettuce (one leaf for 5
cents), tomato slices (10 cents for three decent slices), cheese (free
because we already bring some kind of dairy every day), bread (10
cents), and condiments (5 cents) came to 60 cents, or a 70 cent
savings over the $1.30 average lunch entrée. This brought our lunch
down to 95 cents, or 30 cents less than I hoped to ultimately save with
a day to go. Still, I think my husband’s happiness is worth a lousy
seventy cents, so I knew I would have to come up with a more
palatable option or revert to good old Progresso.
Friday: Wrap filled with leftover chicken and vegetables from dinner,
string cheese, home-popped popcorn, a baggie of baby carrots, and
a homemade blueberry muffin. The flour tortilla cost 15 cents and the
cost of the leftovers was negligible, maybe 50 cents. Everything else
cost roughly the same as the day before, so our total came to 90
cents and my husband was happier with the wrap than with the
sandwich.
Altogether, Friday’s lunch was less than half as expensive as and
slightly healthier than Monday’s. The only change that was rejected
was the sandwich. My husband asked about his yogurt cups on the
third day without, so I will continue sending them occasionally. The
best mode of converting your family from packaged foods to
homemade ones is by doing a “low price limbo,” introducing new and
frugal foods one at a time and slowly cutting back to your target cost.
The hardest part of this experiment was trying to think up new and
cheaper versions of our standard lunch fare. I solved this by breaking
my husband’s standard lunch into categories and making a list of
cheap and healthy(ish) options for each.
Bargain main dish options: Homemade soup, bean burritos,
sandwiches, or wraps; attractively repackaged leftovers; pastas with
sauces.
Bargain dairy options: Cheese slices; string cheese (on sale);
yogurt in a reusable cup from large container; dips made from cream
cheese, sour cream, or yogurt.
Bargain fruit and veggie options: Bananas, or other fruit costing
less than $1/lb; bagged carrot or celery sticks or baby carrots;
pickles; raw veggies costing less than $1/lb—remember to send
peanut butter as the salty snack or a yogurt dip for the dairy.
Homegrown garden produce is free!
Bargain salty snack options: Home-bagged pretzels, crackers,
chips, chex mix, or popcorn.
Bargain sweet snack options: Homemade cookies, cake, muffins,
brownies; popcorn balls; homemade or bulk-bought granola.
Amount Saved: It depends on what you are currently spending. At
250 work days per year, I could save anywhere from $75 dollars
(switching to Monday's lunch) to $400 (switching to Friday's lunch). If
your husband currently buys lunch, an eventual change to the more
frugal brown-bag options could save thousands of dollars annually.
Difficulty on Scale of 1-5: 2. Popcorn? C'mon. Your eight-year-old
could do this.
Time: 5-10 minutes per evening
Next Week's Frugal Habit:
Check out the Frugal Habit of the Week Archives
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |