Bring your lunch to work.
Sure, lunch at that rooftop restaurant across the street from your job is always fun with your co-workers, but at the end of the month when money is tight, those overly priced tuna melts seem foolish. With most work places having refrigerators and microwaves, there's no reason to waste money eating out everyday. A little planning ahead is all you need to save money and enjoy a variety of healthy and tasty homemade lunches.
Plan Ahead of Time
You're not going to feel like taking time to prepare your lunch in the morning when you are trying to get ready for work. On the weekends, plan your lunch menu for the week and go to the grocery store if necessary. Prep ingredients needed for the week on Sunday nights. Then, each night before bed, it should only take you a few minutes to prepare and pack your meal so that all you have to do is grab it and go in the morning.
Keep it Interesting
If you've prepared just sandwiches for the week, by Thursday, you may want to eat anything that doesn't come between two pieces of bread. Instead, prepare a variety of lunches that you will look forward to so that you won't be tempted to eat out. Include a variety of soups, hearty salads, pasta and stir fry. You can bring leftover dinner for lunch as well.
Avoid the Brown Bag
While brown bagging is the unofficial term for bringing your own lunch, you don't have to literally bring your food in a brown bag, wasting money on disposable bags that don't hold food well. Instead, purchase several plastic containers in different sizes that you can reuse over and over again. You will also find sturdy reusable plastic utensils as well. Not only will you save money this way, you will help out the environment by reducing waste.
Gather a Group
There's power in numbers. Encourage your co-workers to start bringing their own lunches by telling them how much money you are saving. Start a lunch group that will support each other so that you aren't tempted to eat out all the time. If it's successful, you may want to consider taking turns having one person prepare lunch for the group each day, saving you all even more money in the long run.
Tags: your lunch, lunch group, save money, that will, your co-workers