The company I work for has one monthly payday. The closer it gets to the end of the month, the more of my coworkers are bringing their lunch from home. The problem is that most of them only do it when they’ve run out of money. A few of us brown-bag it throughout the month, only buying lunch out once in a while so that we’re not running out of money before payday.
I cringe to hear someone say “I’m broke… I’ll just put it on my credit card!” as the group heads out to buy lunch. Skipping the outings to a restaurant and bringing lunch to work just twice a week will save $60 to $100 each month, not to mention a whole lot of credit card interest.
The trick is to enjoying lunch brought from home is to put some thought into it. Make a wrap instead of a sandwich, or pack dried fruits and nuts on occasion. It will also help if you invest in a good sturdy lunch pail to keep from smashing your food. If your lunch is all bashed up, you’re not likely to eat it.
Taking leftovers is an obvious choice – but give yourself a variety of choices. Put your leftovers in the freerzer, so that you have a choice of what to take on any given day. That is what works best for me.
I have to second that …you must enjoy what you make because for the longest time I made anything but half the time I threw it away because I didnt enjoy it. Now I make deviled eggs for breakfast,turkey sausage and saurkraut for lunch…etc. healthy stuff can be tasty!!! I bough a cooler and a couple of ice packs(freezing ice water for drinking works too!)