There may be no free lunch. I’d settle for affordable. The high cost of lunch smacked me in the face today.
I usually eat a salad from my garden, leftovers, or a homecooked lunch. But now, it’s lunch time. I’m hungry. I don’t want to cook. I’d like a BBQ baked potato. Easy enough to order one.
I opened an app, selected my favorite nearby BBQ joint and the pop-up told me the price before tax is $21.95. For a baked potato? In fairness, that’s topped with brisket and with a taste of ribs. If I drop the ribs and change to pulled pork, we’re down to $16.24….for a baked potato with a small portion of pulled pork. At least it’s a large potato. Still, I don’t want to pay $18 But that is what it will cost once tax is added. That’s if I pick it up. If I have it delivered, it will be close to $30.
More and more frequently, I look at ordering restaurant food and cancel the cart before I place the order. If it’s not something special, is that really how I want to spend my money? And if there are two adults in a household eating lunch out every day, they can easily spend $400-$800 per month on meals. That adds up fast!
I removed everything from the cart, closed my app, and decided to eat a snack while I cooked something similar to what I wanted. While I couldn’t smoke any brisket quickly, I had some thin-sliced steak and a couple of golden potatoes on hand.
I sliced the potatoes thinly and placed them in a casserole dish along with seasoned steak. Then I covered it all with BBQ sauce put it in the oven to bake while I prepped some bok choy to cook as a side.
Sometimes, making lunch more affordable means settling for a flavor profile rather than the specific food we’re craving.
Making lunch more affordable can mean carrying an ice chest. Last week when I had jury duty, I packed a chicken salad sandwich, grapes, and cucumber in an ice chest and left it in my car a quick walk away. Not only did it save me money, it meant I didn’t have to hurry to find something compliant with my restrictions near the courthouse.
In the rare event that a lunch portion is too large, take the doggie bag! Obviously, a lunch is more affordable when you turn it into two lunches or a lunch and dinner. And even if you don’t leave with enough for a full meal, use what you take to supplement the food you already have at no extra cost.
Mixing things up at work with once-a-week potluck is an option for variety. This not only promotes teamwork, it means you only have to prepare one dish, not a whole meal.
Make lunch more affordable by purchasing larger portions. If you regularly eat chips, crackers, or cookies, it’s easy to grab individual size bags. Usually, those cost more per ounce than their bulky counterparts. Consider creating your own smaller portions in ziptop bags.
Making lunch more affordable can also mean eliminating one small thing. Skipping high profit items like sodas and tea can reduce your bill a little with each meal. That little adds up fast. Skipping the tea would save me $60 a month if I ate lunch out M-F every week and had tea each time.
Making lunch more affordable also means taking advantage of promotional specials, rewards, family days, senior discounts, and coupons.
There may be no free lunch, but there are ways to make it more affordable. I plan to use them all!
