How much do you spend on lunch daily? [work] (buy, money)

[happeemommee]

You do realize that's actually lunch meat? Sorry, couldn't help it.

[Everest209]

Originally Posted by wsamon

food is one spot where I blow a lot of money I'd say I spend about $8 - $12 / day on lunch. I also spend roughly $12 - $15 / day or so on dinner.

I've done the fast food / ramen noodle thing before and refuse to go back to that. It takes 2-3 lean cuisine type meals to satiate my hunger (not make me full!) so that even costs money and is terribly unhealthy. I eat out a lot but I've found that it really isn't much more expensive for me to do that than to make food myself. I don't gain too much value from leftovers because I hate eating the same thing over and over. I also try to avoid too many carbs, just on principle, so that knocks out frequently making cheap things like rice and pasta. When you add in the time spent buying the groceries, preparing the food, and the spoilage, it's just not worth it most of the time, especially since I don't get home until 7 or so on a good day and often not until 8 or 830

Looks like I found someone that has the same problem I do, I spend atleast 10 dollars a day on something in the morning, and lunch. I work in construction so I need fuel throughout the day. Also, going to a store to get lunch breaks up the day, I kind of look forward to it. I've thought of the whole cup of noodles thing, but as long as I can get by, I'm not going to put myself through that.

[Everest209]

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Everyone has different values. I have a co-worker who bought $35 tires for her car. Cheapest ones there, slap em on and go. I researched my tire selection for several days and then placed a Tire Rack order for $220 tires (each). I find the idea of skimping on tires to pay for a mortgage or opulent lunches every single day bizarre.

$10 gets me half a month of lunches. I don't know about where you work, but I don't have time to sit around nonchalantly eating a big $10 meal. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

Everyone is different, I think 220 is a bit much for tires. As for 10 dollars gets you half a month of lunches, lets say you work 5 days a week, that's a dollar of food everyday, no offense, but what are you eating?

[wsamon]

$10 gets me half a month of lunches. I don't know about where you work, but I don't have time to sit around nonchalantly eating a big $10 meal. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't know where you live, but for where I do, a $10 meal is not a "big meal" that would take a while to eat. $10 where I am will get you roughly a chicken sandwhich, fries, and a Coke from a fast food place that's not McD, BK, etc.; or you could get a taco salad with a small side of chips and guacomole (no drink); or roughly a pound and a half of food from a hot/cold salad bar (not small, but not as much as you might think). As I said, I usually take about a 15 minute break for lunch to actually get my food and then continue working as I eat it... And seriously, $1 a meal? What do you eat? That's like a bologna sandwich with 3 slices of luncheon meat on it, a small dab of generic mustard, and nothing else...

Looks like I found someone that has the same problem I do, I spend atleast 10 dollars a day on something in the morning, and lunch. I work in construction so I need fuel throughout the day. Also, going to a store to get lunch breaks up the day, I kind of look forward to it. I've thought of the whole cup of noodles thing, but as long as I can get by, I'm not going to put myself through that.

Yeah, I hear you. I don't work in construction (though I sometimes wish I did), but my job keeps me running around all the time too. I'm a computer programming & business analysis consultant for a software company. I averaged over 60 hours a week - not counting commuting or lunch - for 2 years until I recently managed to get it a lot closer to 40. I never had time to eat breakfast (not a morning person) and often didn't eat dinner until after 9, so having a reasonable size lunch was usually key to making it through the day and being able to remain sharp.

[opalminor]

Dinner leftovers, homemade soup, or lean cuisine which is good and less than $2. I save thousands of dollars a year by not buying food at retail mark-up price for lunch.. it's a no-brainer. You spend $10 a day, that's $200 a month, about $2400/year. But usually you end up spending closer to $15 ($300/mn, $3600/yr). It's one of these easiest things to save money on.

[wsamon]

I guess the homemade soup might work out to < $1 if you stick mainly to cheaper ingredients (that doesn't mean bad ingredients!). Most Lean Cuisine is over $3 / item unless you get it on like a BOGO or some other big sale. FWIW, you're also not factoring in opportunity cost (the time it takes you to make the food, shop for it, etc.) or shoe-leather cost (wear and tear on the car for shopping, gas, etc.)

That said, what you do is a great way to save money, and if you can pull it off and be happy more power to you. Unfortunately, it doesn't work well for everyone due to circumstance, personality, or whatever reason. For example, as I mentioned, I need more than a couple cups of soup or a single Lean Cuisine to keep me going for the 14 hours or so between breakfast and dinner (when I even eat breakfast), rarely have the time to make any significant food, let alone shop for it, don't particularly like frozen meals - especially the meat portions (though I will eat them), and really dislike eating the same food over and over. I've done the food-as-fuel thing before multiple times in my life. I've done the Ramen every day thing. I hated it. I can afford to do better now, and I don't want to go back to that. If I had the time to cook frequently, I'd love to make my own food and bring that in for lunch. I can cook pretty well, or at least I used to be able to. However, the type of food I make still winds up being relatively expensive, so I don't save that much money. I just get higher quality stuff.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by Everest209

Everyone is different, I think 220 is a bit much for tires.

Yup, everyone's different. I love my new tires, they have outstanding traction on the twisty roads (also realize they're big fat low profile tires which increases the price range for all tires that fit on the wheels).

Originally Posted by Everest209

As for 10 dollars gets you half a month of lunches, lets say you work 5 days a week, that's a dollar of food everyday, no offense, but what are you eating?

Originally Posted by wsamon

And seriously, $1 a meal? What do you eat? That's like a bologna sandwich with 3 slices of luncheon meat on it, a small dab of generic mustard, and nothing else...

Maybe you missed my earlier post, here it is:

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I'm extremely frugal/healthy for lunch. Here's my daily:
--Planter's lightly salted peanuts -- about a third of a cup -- 29 cents -- 215 calories
--Quaker 10 minute oatmeal dry -- half a cup -- 13 cents -- 150 calories
--one scoop of ON whey protein in tap water -- 53 cents -- 120 calories
--one piece of xylitol gum -- 7 cents -- 5 calories

= $1.02 per day or $5.10/week or $233/year
= 490 calories for lunch

However, sometimes I bring along a broccoli stalk, carrot, or apple (peeled!!). The caloric contribution is never more than about 40 calories for these. I don't eat breakfast or consume anything else but water. I also take several supplements including B Complex, Zinc, D, Fish Oil, and CoQ10.

Lest anyone get the wrong impression, I eat a hearty and often expensive or even debauched dinner. Lunch is always at my desk in between working. I don't have time to get up and go cook something or buy something and don't see the point. Lunch is just to sustain -- I'm at work. I use it as an opportunity to eat cheaply, easily, quickly, and healthily. I don't need a lot of calories while mostly sitting. I leave work feeling alert and ready to go work out, play basketball, cook up a feast, or hit a bar or restaurant. My associate employee contemporaries can spend $7/day, 40 minutes, and 1400 calories on lunch. Ugh. I just don't get it. It's also appreciated that when I'm at work, I'm AT work.

Originally Posted by wsamon

I don't know where you live, but for where I do, a $10 meal is not a "big meal" that would take a while to eat. $10 where I am will get you roughly a chicken sandwhich, fries, and a Coke from a fast food place that's not McD, BK, etc.; or you could get a taco salad with a small side of chips and guacomole (no drink); or roughly a pound and a half of food from a hot/cold salad bar (not small, but not as much as you might think).

It is possible $10 goes a bit further here. I still consider anything over a couple bucks (on a recurring basis) to be a curious extravagance considering I'm at work, but different strokes...

[DrEarth]

Around $1.5 per day. Beans, 4 tortillas, and 2 oranges. Or rice/pasta.

[eatfastnoodle]

I eat out with my friends around 2 to 3 times a week for lunch, nothing fancy, but it's a proper meal that usually cost each of us around $10 to $15. The rest of the week, I either pack lunch (Salad) or buy some muffins. For dinner, I usually eat out at least once a week, again, nothing fancy, just the usual restaurant we go to, it can go from a little more than $10 to mid 20s. The rest of the time, I cook myself. I don't keep record, but I'd imagine it won't exceed more than $5 to $6 a meal. Personally, I don't pay much attention to my expense as I'm single and I carry no debt. I eat what I want to eat when I want to eat, so it's not a cost thing for me. However, for health reason, I completely give up soda (only water now) and snacks of any kind, whenever I don't want to cook and can't find people to go out, regardless which meal, I eat fruits (apple, oranges, pears, etc, but mostly apple) and veggie (cucumber, carrot, etc.) and drink one cup of milk. I'd say it's pretty cost-effective and healthy.

[wsamon]

Nepenthe, my comment was in reference to someone else's statement. I understand how yours works out, but 490 calories is not nearly enough for me, especially when I don't eat breakfast. As I said, that usually has to bridge a gap of anywhere from 14 - 24 hours between the last time I've eaten and the next time I will eat. I also don't often eat dinners as big as you apparently do. While I sometimes eat a large amount, they are also sometimes as little as a bag of salad, or a couple pieces of sushi. It all depends on how hungry I am and how much time I have. I prefer to eat before or during when I'm burning it off, not right before I go to bed. That's not to say that I burn much off at my desk job, but it's more than when I'm sleeping and on the off chance I do get to work out, that's right after I get home. Also, like I said, I don't want to do the "food as fuel" approach like you do. It's a good approach if you can do it - and I used to - but I love food and the thought of going back to eating something boring and bland like oatmeal every day is not pleasant.

FWIW, I typically only spend about 15 minutes getting my food at work and the rest is a working lunch, so I don't disappear for large stretches of time either. Even if I did, my company allows me to have an hour for lunch every day (unpaid). I only take advantage of that maybe 2x / month but longer isn't even a big deal so long as I don't miss anything important and I get in my requisite 8+ billable hours and admin work.

Eatfastnoodle, we have a lot in common to our approach I think. I'm also single and have no debt other than about $15k in student loans (and at ~3% interest I'm in no hurry to pay them off). The one big difference is that I don't really have time to cook very often, though that's starting to change a little now.

It's definitely something worth thinking about and analyzing. Is spending this kind of money on food really worth the benefit you get? I see food as a bit of an art, so to me it is. To many it probably isn't, and there are great opportunities to save money there...