Brown Bag Lunch
22 03 06  19  20
-------- Is it worth my time and effort?
 (Free Money Finance is hosting this week’s Festival of Frugality. I was inspired to write this article by reading his advice)
I believe it is, but faith is not enough on money matters. There are many aspects to be considered about bringing your lunch to work. Here I list some of the reasons.
We do it for our Health
My wife and I don’t require as many calories as you can find on your typical Big Mac Combo (970 calories). When we pack food for lunch we use the same carefully planned and balanced meals we eat at dinner. We also pack it in sensibly sized reusable plastic containers (Rubbermaid / Tupperware type). By limiting the amount of food on the container we avoid overeating and maintain a healthy weight.
Although we could potentially find healthier alternatives to the McPoison combo, or decide to double up our gym routine to compensate for it, it would mean extra trouble for us. Finding an everyday priced healthy lunch is difficult or takes a lot of driving.
We save money!
According to the US Government Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion a home prepared meal serving costs between 1.43 on their thrifty plan to 2.86 on their Liberal plan (divide weekly plan numbers by 21). Sure, you can argue that they are not using the caviar or foie gras you are used to, but I truly believe you can prepare tasty meals for under 2.86 per serving. A meal at my company cafeteria would set me back around $6, not including any deserts or trimmings. A brown bag lunch saves me $3 a meal. It also saves me the time and gas to go out of the office to find food variety.
Buy In Bulk, Cook In Bulk, Save in Bulk
Buying in bulk usually saves you money: less packaging and marketing costs per volume. Cook in bulk also saves you in time and energy costs: you do it all at once! We are two in our home, with the occasional visiting friend, but we usually cook meals with 4 to 8 servings, and freeze the individual servings before we start eating. This controls our food intake (keeping us healthy), controls bacteria growth that may spoil food, and creates our own healthy frozen meals.
Frozen meal servings are convenient not only for lunches, but for those days when you return from work too tired for cooking. It may save you from the risk of ordering an unhealthy delivery pizza. (We eat pizza, but we make our own).
Enjoy The Money On What You Really Care About
$3 a day is $15 a week for one person or $30 a week for two. Those $30 a week could mean a dinner with the wife outside home at an inexpensive restaurant, or half a dinner at a moderate one. It could also mean movie tickets to go out. For those with families, it could also mean extra money to spend with the kids. It is not necessarily about saving money, but about spending money on what is really important.
Or, You Can Save It
$3 a day for 48 weeks (remember vacation / holidays) is around $720 a year. Some people could take a big dent on their debt with that amount of money. It also means 2.5% pretax-converted of gross income for the average family (assuming only one of them work and brown bag lunch). That 2.5% could be enough to feed that 401k and get company matching. Just dream about the possibilities! Free Money Finance argues that over a lifetime it could equal more than half a million dollars.
By All Means, Eat With Friends
One of the advantages of freezing the food portions is that it can be left at the office fridge and used tomorrow. If a group of friends or workmates suggest eating out, but all means I go out with them and enjoy their company and the meal. The fun and friendship value is worth more than the brown bag savings.
For lunches in the company cafeteria area I just bring my brown bag lunch and eat with workmates – the best of both worlds, savings and friendship. | 
