One of the ways Donnie and I save money is by bringing our own lunches to school and work each day. We usually pack leftovers from the previous night's dinner. However, some evenings we eat dinners that don't yield many (or any) leftovers. This leaves us without a solid lunch plan for the next day.
In the past, whenever we found ourselves in such a situation, we usually either picked up frozen dinners from the grocery store, or got fast food on our lunch break. Now that we're trying to live more frugally, we make every effort to avoid doing those things. Instead, we keep our freezer well-stocked with frozen "convenience foods," which we can pack any time we need a quick lunch.
Every weekend, I prepare one dish which I immediately freeze in individual lunch-sized portions. Broth-based soups, rice and bean burritos, baked pasta dishes, and meat-and-potato casseroles all work extremely well for this purpose. I also try to freeze individually wrapped biscuits or slices of homemade whole-wheat bread, which we can eat with our convenience lunches, or to complement regular leftovers.
Stocking our freezer with these quick lunches has saved us a good bit of money (and frustration; after all, trying to squeeze in a trip to the grocery store on the way to work is a hassle!) How do you pre-plan for potentially money-wasting situations? Please share your tips and tricks with the rest of us!
8 comments:
Good post!!
I'm currently on maternity leave so I don't have to pack a lunch, but my husband works full time outside of the home and here's what I make for him:
-he loves sandwiches. Not kidding. And it's the only thing he really has time for because he isn't given a lunch break. I buy enough deli meat (variety is good!) to last at least a week (and then buy more for the second week) and make a sandwich for him the night before
-I buy a bag of baby carrots that I open and separate into snack size baggies after grocery shopping and keep in the crisper, so I can just grab a bag and put it into his lunch box
-I buy a bag of pretzels or other such munchies and again, open it and repackage after grocery shopping into snack size baggies
-granola bars
-big jugs of juice or ice tea powder that I pour into his drink container each night
-I buy, wash and chop celery into snack size pieces and package into snack size baggies the day I buy it
-fruit like apples, bananas, pears
Basically I try to get his lunch ready the night before so in the morning I'm not tempted to tell him to place an order with all the other guys who do a fast food run.
I agree, good post! I find that variety helps with lunches, up to a point. As long as we have the standard fresh fruit and baby carrots, anything will make a good stand-in for the main dish. Canned soup, sandwich, leftovers... it all works as long as it's easy to grab in the morning.
Great post - I used to do this and have to get back into the habit as I am returning to work Monday after taking 10 months off.
I find it so much easier to stick to eating healthy if everything is premade too.
Thanks for the reminder.
I used to spend 100.00 a week between my husband and I on breakfast and lunch. Now we bring both and spend none-living frugal is the best way to go. WHat a savings.
I figured once that packing my husband's lunch saves us a minimum of $1800 a year. Yay for that!
His lunch usually contains a frozen leftover (I make extra portions of our dinners on purpose, and being frozen keeps them from spoiling until he can get to the microwave), a box of carrots, a piece of fruit, and a treat of some kind.
As Mama Bear already mentioned, dividing stuff into little boxes or baggies ahead of time helps a lot.
I pack it the night before and leave it in the fridge for him so I don't have to get up at 6am. :)
My husband buys lunch every day and it drives me CRAZY!! I have offered time and time again to pack but he just doesn't like to bring his lunch. I think even if he agreed to pack it, he would waste the money on other things anyway so it really wouldn't save much for us (other than health-wise).
My 19 year has access to a microwave and fridge on the job site, so he can take quite a selection of items. I make things in advance and put them in serving size containers in the freezer so he can pack them in the morning. Favorites are macaroni salad or chicken caesar salad (which doesn't get frozen), chili con carne (with biscuits in a separate container), homemade chicken noodle soup, spaghetti and meat sauce, leftover meat/potatoes-or-rice/veggies in a container. I make several desserts at a time and slice them into sandwich containers, which go in the freezer - then he can pick the dessert of the day. He takes those little containers of applesauce or fruit only because I won't let him take dessert without fruit (what else would you expect from a teenager? :D).
Hubby likes his sandwiches "just so", and likes them WRAPPED "just so" - so he does it all himself, lol.
My go to lunch is usually egg salad which has so few ingredients (eggs, mayo, mustard) its pretty easy to whip up the night before. I also keep bread in the freezer, so I can take out a few slices the night before as well. While the egg salad chills, the bread defrosts and we're all set for the next day's lunch
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