Lunchtime For Less?

i saw a really neat thing on tv this morning, it is summer over here and all the kids have gone back to school for a new year!
Its a lunch box and its covered with a special material so no heat should penetrate and then when its cold outside it doesn't freeze the food.
it has a little zip thing at the top to put in these ice packs that you freeze the night before. Then there was good Tupperware so none of the food leaked out! Was thinking of getting one my self but then i realized i only work on weekends and its at a cafe so i get fed for lunch!

But what i do considering im traveling for 2 hours is eat some flavoured instant porridge all you need is milk and a microwave!

Salad is a great lunch to pack because you can put whatever you like in it. Just pack the dressing separately so it doesn't get soggy.

I usually bring what ever is left over from dinner the night before. If there aren't any then I usually pack a can of soup of chefboyrd. Sometimes a salad. Today I have 2 chicken legs and some brussel sprouts for lunch, some fresh veggies and dip for an afternoon snack and I just made a PB, banana & honey sandwich at my desk. I think the trick to some things is to keep the wet stuff separate as long as possible. If you want a sandwich, make it but leave off the mayo/mustard/dressing and pack it separately. Just don't forget a knife to spread it on with later. If you can run to your car between classes you could easily pack a decent size cooler for the day and then you wouldn't even have to spend on pop/drink and most campuses have a cafe with at least one microwave.

I must be lucky that my lunches at my campus are cheep and good.. we have a few classes that teach culinary arts here so the foods pretty good to boot. I spend around $4 3 days a week on my lunches. The other 2 days I have a bagel and coffie... morning class.

I take leftovers when I have them, and sometimes I get my parentsâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] leftovers when I visit them. For most of my lunches though I go on a special “office food†shopping trip once every couple of weeks. I pick up lunch meat and a loaf of bread, a large fresh fruit salad, salad mix, etc. and keep it all at work in the fridge and can make my lunch fresh there. I also buy snacks to keep at work so I stay away from the vending machines (granola bars and nuts usually). You could buy special lunch food and just pack it in a lunch box to take with you daily. If you want to pack snacks in your bag, I would put them in a Tupperware container so they donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t get crushed and become unappealing!

If your car is close enough to go to for lunch time I also support the idea of a cooler in the car. With a few reusable ice packs you could keep your cold lunch things as well as drinks for the day in there. Its amazing how quickly $1.50 here and there on a bottle of juice/soda/water adds up! I work in an office where I have a fridge, but I still keep drinks (not cold) in my car so I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have to remember to bring them from home. I just bring a couple in as needed and put them in the fridge, it is much cheaper than buying them in the machines or cafe.

If you currently buy coffee out, I would recommend a good travel cup and just bring your coffee from home. I use flavored cream and make my coffee at home and bring it to work. I spent $15 on a good travel cup and now I spend less for a month of bringing coffee from home every day than I would buying Starbucks for just 1 week. Also since I make it myself I can make it a lot healthier.

Best of luck with your new lunch budget - Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m still tweaking mine!

I make my high-protein cornbread every week or so, cut it in squares, and freeze the squares in their own little baggies. Then I toss one in my purse before I leave for work, and by lunchtime, it's room-temperature... or I can microwave it.

(My cornbread is just Morrison's Corn-Kit mix with applesauce instead of eggs, some protein powder added, plus some frozen corn and shredded cheddar. I spread it on parchment on a pizza pan to bake. Fairly healthy, I think!)

I work a night shift and the cafeteria is not open, so it's bring your own or go hungry. I have access to a microwave, which helps. There is a refrigerator at work, but it's usually jammed full so I never even try to put anything in it. I have an insulated lunch bag that works very well.

When I'm cooking for myself at home I always make extra so I can freeze two or three meals. I put the frozen meals in the insulated lunch bag, and by the time I take my lunch break it's usually thawed but still cold, ready to zap it in the microwave. Casseroles work really well this way. If it's meat and vegetables they may thaw too quickly, so I put in a small ice pack as well.

Salads are great. Just don't put salad dressing on and it will stay fresh. If I haven't gotten around to cooking or making a salad I sometimes just throw in yogurt, a piece of fruit, and a protein bar or cheese sticks.

I ordered a resuable lunchbag from the animal rescue site, and put away some left over ravioli in a ZipLoc Twist & Lock container. (I used these containers over the summer to keep a sandwich dry in an ice chest, and they worked!) I was most of the way to school before I realized that I had left my ravioli at home!

I do have some microwave soups and juice pouches in my desk. I really liked the idea to store snacks in small containers and keep them in my desk, and will get some snacks the next time I go to the grocery store. I can probably store a case of soda in my desk too.

Thank you all for the great ideas!

Originally Posted by Going Nova

I was making a budget for myself, and realized that I spend a lot of money eating out. One reason for this is that I'm at school all day most weekdays, and it's less time consuming to eat on or around campus than hike to my car and drive home.

Once I saw where all my money is going, I decided to spend no more than $5 on lunch each day. It isn't impossible to eat out for $5, but it'll probably be easier on my wallet if I bring food from home.

What do you all do for lunch? Do you bring lunch from home? If you bring lunch from home, what sort of things do you bring? I'd love to hear your suggestions.

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A few hints:

Soft drinks have gotten expensive. It's really easy to spend $2 on a soft drink, even at a fast-food restaurant. Get water, or take your own.

Most restaurants have some low-priced items they advertise a lot. At McDonalds, for example, you can get two hamburgers for less than $2, but one Quarter Pounder is almost $3.

By the way, even at a sit-down restaurant, a little careful choosing can save you big money. At Chili's and Cheddar's restaurants, you can get a great hamburger for not all that much money.

I never buy lunches when I go to work. I always take mine. I normally take leftovers, make a salad or a sandwich to take with some healthy snacks, or take a lean cusine. (Our grocery store puts their lean cusine's on sale sometimes for around $1.50 on certain ones, and sometimes depending on the one you get they're pretty yummy.) We have a refridgerator/freezer at work so I just put my lunch in there when I get there at the start of my shift. As far as snacks go- I always take my own, usually a yogurt, fruit, or chips/etc - I don't buy the individual sized packages though- you pay more for packaging that way, I get the normal size and just take the time to set aside smaller portions for myself the night before I go to work.

As far as drinks go- I have a 32oz. waterbottle I take to work with me (and actually use it at home, working out,etc. I love it.) I just wash it out and refill it whenever I want. I always pack it full of ice water and drink on it throughout the day. I normally just drink water. I haven't had a soft drink in over 10 yrs so I definitely save money not buying those. On occassion i'll put juice or sweet tea in my waterbottle when I want a change.

Hey I bring my lunch from home.

I usually pack up whatever I had for dinner the night before. Acutally what I do is pack my LUNCH BEFORE I dish out dinner that way my fiance and I have lunch taken care of and then we don't over eat at dinner time! (instant portion control)

as for drinks....and snack....i usually bring a piece of fruit and some snacks again I buy a big box then dish it out into smaller sized bags. And I always have a giant Sigg bottle full of water.

My weakness is coffee...I just don't like drinking it out of a travel mug prefer freshly poured coffee but I'm lucky there is a store nearby that sells a great cup of coffee for $1.25.

I used to always buy my lunch at work, now I pack one since I started a new diet.

I usually do leftovers from the night before, because I'm usually just cooking for one, I'll do a double portion (aka cook two chicken breasts or two hamburgers). Then I just put them in a container add veggies and there we go.
For example, today I brought
Snack: single serving yogurt
Lunch: frozen veggies, piece of beef
Snack: cottage cheese