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How Cheaply Can You Brown Bag Your Lunch?
By JLP | July 15, 2008
Today’s Wall Street Journal had an article ($) comparing the cost of taking your lunch to work or eating out. Here’s their comparison:
Homemade Lunch:
1/4 pound of turkey - $1.99
1/8 pound of swiss cheese - $1.00
2 slices of whole-wheat bread - $0.28
Tomato - $0.38
Lettuce - $0.20
Chips - $0.30
20 oz. Soda - $1.09
TOTAL - $5.24
Lunch from an Upscale Deli:
Sandwich - $7.95
Chips - $0.99
20 oz. Soda - $1.75
TOTAL - $10.69
I think their homemade lunch is too expensive. Here’s how I’d do it:
For one, I would bring tea or water in place of the soda. I have no idea how much I would save but I have to think it would cost me less than $1.09 to make my own tea. Estimated savings: $.50
The example in the paper shows one of those small bags of chips that typically comes in the multipack. We all know those are a lot more expensive than buying a large bag of chips and making your own smaller serving. Of course that means that you can’t eat the chips during other parts of the day! LOL! Estimated savings: $.15
There’s nothing worse than a soggy tomato on a lunch that’s been packed for several hours. So, I would cut out the tomato. Of course, that’s just my opinion. Estimated savings: $.38
An eighth of a pound of cheese? Is it just me, or does that seem like a lot of cheese? Based on my numbers, that’s like 3 slices of cheese. I usually use one slice. Estimated savings: $0.66
Finally, 1/4 pound of turkey seems a bit much to me. I usually just throw two or three slices of meat on a sandwhich. I’m almost certain it’s less than 1/4 pound. If I had to guess I would say my sandwiches usually have 1/8 pound of meat on them. Estimated savings: $1.00
JLP’s Total Homemade Lunch Cost: $2.55
JLP’s Total Savings: $2.69 per day
JLP’s Estimated Annual Savings: $645 (48 5-day weeks per year)
What about you? How cheaply can you take your lunch to work?
Topics: Budgeting, Miscellaneous |
