YESTERDAY'S DINNER

So I have been working full time since I was 16 years old. When I was young I didn't pay attention to the cost of food too much, because, well, I didn't have too many responsibilities. When I started to go to college, my money started to disappear which resulted in me trying to cut down. I took a few years off work, once I got married to focus on college and about a year ago, started working full-time again. This time, I started to really think about how to save money on lunch. At first I would eat out, but the cost added up very quickly. I was spending between $40.00 to $50.00 a week on eating just lunch.

Then I decided I would only eat at Subway everyday because of the $5.00 foot long special. This was bring my cost to about $30.00 a week (tax included). Still that wasn't doing the trick. So I switched to making sandwiches for lunch. Sadly my lunch would cost me a little more then it would to buy my subway sandwich. Yes it was delicious, but the cost went up.

I started to get microwavable dinners, and that did in fact cut down the cost. But there are only so many kinds you can get. Also, they are full of sodium, something you really don't want to add to your diet when sitting in front of a desk 40+ hours a week. A decent microwavable meal is $3.00-$5.00 each and on sale you can get them for 3 or 4 for $10.00. I was still spending between $15.00 to $20.00 a week on lunch.

I Started to think of my dinners. There was always two of us, now three that I cook dinner for. When I had to double our meal for accommodate a third mouth, I started to have leftovers. I never planned for leftovers before, because, well I am not sure why. So as I started to have leftovers on a daily basis, I started to think, let me take it for lunch the next day. I noticed my groceries going down in cost. That was $15.00 - $20.00 I wasn't spending on microwavable meals. Adding the cost to make a meal for four, didn't add to $15.00. But humor me a little, lets say it costs you $10.00 extra a week to accommodate for leftovers. You are still saving around $5.00 to $10.00 a week on groceries. That is $520.00 a year!!!

Left overs did the trick in cutting down a lot of money from our weekly grocery budget. I know many of you probably don't spend as much as I used to on lunch but, it is amazing how a little change in your lunch plans can make a drastic change in your wallet.