Curb Lunch Expenses By Brown Bagging

Analysis of Eating Out Costs

I typically spend between $5.50 and $7.00 daily when going out for lunch. This lunch is either purchased at my employer's cafeteria or I go to the mall across the street. My weekday lunch consisted of such take out items as deli sandwiches, Chinese food, pizza slices, burgers, burritos, and salads. Not the healthiest of diets as you can see. That is another story. Anyway, I would say the average cost would come out to about $6.25 per meal. The total monthly eating out cost averaged about $130.

Analysis of Brown Bagging Costs

Putting the "Brown bag" concept into practice, I would put together a daily lunch as follows: one deli sandwich, chips, and fruit. Our office was equipped with water cooler and beverages so I did not have to include this into my daily lunch prep. The costs can be broken down as follows:

- One loaf of bread averages about $2.00 a loaf which yields about 20 slices or ten sandwiches. One sandwich or serving is $.20.
- Deli meats (turkey, chicken, salami, tuna etc) average about $5.00 a pound which yields at least six sandwiches. One serving is $.85.
- Chips average about $.25 per serving.
- Fruit (apple, orange, grapes) average about $.40 per serving.
- Packaging (sandwich bags) approximately $.10
- Lunch sack is free. I use the grocery plastic bags or my lunch tote.

So to put this all together one daily lunch costs about (.20 + .85 + .25 + .40 + .10 = $1.80). The total monthly brown bag costs averages about $37. Of course this calculation does not factor in the few days that I brought in dinner leftovers which are "free". But for simplicity, I will not include this in the analysis.

Conclusion

Comparing the two lunch programs, the brown bag practice produces a monthly savings of $93 which equates to annual savings of $1,116! These calculations are based on brown bagging every single day of which I have implemented the last two weeks. Going forward, I do plan on eating out one day of the week. I like to consider Friday a "reward" day thus I will eat out of office. There are fifty working Fridays a year (I omitted two Fridays due to vacation) multiplied by $6.25 producing a new annual eating out cost of $312.50. The other four days a week brown bagging yields an annual cost of $360 or ($1.80 x 200 days). The total anticipated annual lunch expense (4 brown bag and 1 eating out) becomes $672.50 as opposed to the $1,562 spent eating out every day of the work week

Some of the key benefits of brown bagging

1. Have extra cash for holidays, vacation,pay down credit card, etc
2. Great way to clean out refrigerator leftovers
3. Much more inclined to eat healthier
4. Puts greater emphasis on reward meal at end of week

I hope you find my lens to be an "eye opener" for your daily lunch routine. I realize we all live and work within our own economies of scale and these numbers may seem off to your budget or economy of scale. But next time you are at the grocery store, do the numbers and compare to the eating out costs and you will see the difference!