Liz Dennis

I have packed lunches for years and will continue to do so. Mostly I take left overs from dinner the night before so nothing is wasted.

Laura

This tip will save me $15.92 by reducing my runs to Panera.

Jon

Chris, if you have already cut down your spending as much as you can, then the next thing you need to focus on is making more money.

Richard

Obviously you need to take extra home-cooked food to work and sell it for a profit

It is good advice of course. This should be an interesting series but if I cut $1000/month from my spending I’ll be living in my car.

Today's Budget

I’m with Chris on this one. I telecommute meaning that I never eat out for lunch (or breakfast or dinner for that matter). I’m able to feed a family of five on $100 – $125/week, so no savings for me on today’s tip. Maybe tomorrow will bring a tip I haven’t already implemented.

Jenni

I definitely do this! Buying food “in bulk” at the grocery store costs less, and can be healthier if that’s a goal of yours. Also, it doesn’t mean you have to eat alone! I bring my lunch to the student union building while some of my friends purchase food.

If I bought food (just food, no drink) every work day it would cost about $140. I estimate I pay about $50 for lunch food items – savings of $90 a month!

berimbauone

I already pack lunches, i buy a case of tuna at costco and a bag of romaine hearts. i keep a weeks supply of tuna in my office and one lettuce in the lunchroom fridge. i make tuna salads and complement with fruit and/or leftovers from dinner.

Susan

I pack lunch every day already- I’d never get to eat if I had to try to find time to go out. I used to eat out a lot- packing lunch has been healthier and has had the unintential side effect of being cheaper, especially compared to eating at restaurants where you were also tipping wait staff.

Benita

I try to do this all the time…I’m usually pretty good. What I have found too, making a lunch from left overs or a sandwich etc is way cheaper than frozen meals! I used to buy them all the time, now I only wil if they are on sale. So I am forced to make my lunch instead of grabbing from the freezer. I will plan my lunches for this month, I liked the idea of labeling the bags for each day! Looking forward to tomorrows tip!

Rachid

I already only eat out once a week I really don’t want to cut back more than that. On top of it I only spend $5 at lunch on the day I do it out.

Susan

Like most everybody else, I already take my lunch most days.

If you don’t already and decide to do it — watch out for Equipment Expense!

If, following Ramit’s advice, you go to the grocery store to get lunch fixin’s, RESIST the siren call of plastic sandwich-shaped boxes, cunning lunch-sized coolers, da-glo colored neoprene lunch sacks, little Rubbermaid jars.

Personally, I love that kind of stuff; but it’s a waste. You can carry your lunch in a plastic grocery bag and wrap your sandwich in waxed paper.

Save lunch-sized paper sacks when you get them (Chipotle has nice thick ones — I use them over and over).

Some gift bags are the perfect size for lunch and some of them are really cute (if you’re embarrassed by the plastic grocery bag).

Save wide-mouth jars for leftover soup, chili, stew.

Those plastic rectangular boxes with the clear lids that you get Chinese take-out in are the perfect one-serving size for lunch leftovers — people at work get take-out then throw the boxes away! I’m not too proud to pick them out of the trash, take them home and wash them.

Chinese take-out soup, also, comes in terrific plastic tubs with excellent tight lids.

Finally — and now you’ll know I’m nuts — wash and re-use plastic ziploc bags. It’s not merely the expense, which is admittedly not great, but the fact that every piece of plastic you use and discard goes to swell our environmental problems. If you have to use plastic, at least try to USE IT UP.

Oh, yeah — every few months I buy a ten-pack of 12-ounce Gatorades or Power Ades for my 15-year old. I save the bottles — a quick rinse is good enough — and refill them with frozen juice. They’re good to grab for your lunch bag, too.

Roland Frédéric

The tip is nice. Actually I practiced it this evening just before I got the tip in my email box .
I don’t go eat out often, about one or at most two times per week I buy a quick snack for the familly when we don’t want to cook. I can save a few € by ordering a bit less fries as childs waste a lot of food anyway. Once the kids have eaten what they can, dad eat the left over. I can also save a few more € by not ordering sauces as for the price of a few small sample at the snack you can buy a whole bottle at the mall.

F

Hi Ramit,

I love your $1,000 challenge idea, but chances are that your readers (i.e. people interested in personal finance) already have audited/budgetted their finances, and thus identified significant outgoing cashflows such as eating out. So you’re bound to receive disappointing reactions with each tip, but hey don’t let that discourage you. This series should be great advice for those just discovering the idea of personal finance, and the rest of us might still find a couple of useful tips (things we overlooked or never questioned).

@Guys,

Be realistic about what these tips can save you: Don’t expect to save $1,000 if you’re already spending less than that amount now after your ‘vital’ expenses. Instead, let’s be greatful for any inspiring tip that might show up in the series.

Gidget

I am excited about this challenge–I was also excited to see all the postings so far—and yes, people that already pack their lunch should be proud of themselves—you do save alot of money—it’s surprising how much little things add up–even if packing your lunch everyday , but maybe buying coffee, etc along the way to work–that adds up as well, or a drink or soda, etc. on the way home–that could add up to almost $80-$100.00 as well each month–I was sorry to see the guy thinking life might be “sad” if he didn’t eat out as much—well, to each his own I guess. Looking forward to tomorrow’s posting!

Mike

I already try to take my lunch, whether it’s leftovers (best option), making a sandwich, or some frozen lunch (always bought on sale). Typically when I do eat out, though, it’s fast food and I RARELY spend more than $5. One of the things to take into account are the different markets – I’m not in a large urban area (SF, NY, LA) and lunches are typically cheaper even if you go to a real sit down restaurant.

One advantage to packing your own lunch is controlling your diet. You decide what to put in that sack, including SNACKS for the day. So when you shop at the store, be sure to buy the munchies you might normally get from the snack machine at work. Maybe shoot for healthy munchies, which are, unfortunately, usually more expensive than the sweets but at least you’ll save on doctor bills and weight plans and skin care products in the long run.

Francie

Another tip on prepacking your lunch…you can make and freeze sandwiches ahead. Sandwiches made with lunch meats, leftovers like meatloaf, ham, turkey or roast beef, tuna, cheese or pb freeze great. Mayo, tomatoes and lettuce don’t freeze well so put those in a container in the fridge. Toss a frozen sandwich and any condiments in your lunch in the morning and by noon, you’ll have a thawed but still cold sandwich.

Anna

Hi everyone –

Ramit is doing a great job getting us on board. Here are my thoughts:

I try to group as many ‘good’ behaviors into one activity as possible. For example, I like to go hiking on the weekends (I live in LA, and it’s a crime not get outside!). I also take the bus to my hiking spot. Thus, I save money by using public transportation and doing an activity that is relatively low cost, I get a great workout, I socialize (if I go with friends), etc.

We can do this with packing lunches, as well. As another reader mentioned, reusable bags are the way to go. Here is a great website to find some: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php.
By using reusable bags, you not only save more money, but you do great things for the environment.

In addition, because YOU pack your lunch, you can control the type of food you eat: maybe you can pack somethiing healthier than what you usually take? I find that taking the time to make my lunches is a wonderful way to ‘take care of myself’, both nutritionally and financially.

Good luck!!!

Anca

If you already made assumptions on how much people might be spending to eat out, why not go the extra step and list the average cost of a bagged lunch?

I eat out a lot, but it almost always costs me under $4. And that $4 includes a great little piece of grilled salmon.

Rach

I always do a big cook up on Sunday – freeze everything in reuseable containers – and then every day I just need to reach in to my freezer and pick my lunch. My food remains fresh on the way to work as it’s still frozen, then I use the microwave to heat it up. Easy! And no boring sandwiches day after day.

I’m curious for the tips coming. I feel like my budget is already pretty tight as I’m paying off old debt as quickly as possible, but I’m ready for even more. Ha, F makes a great point – we can’t expect to save $1000 if we’re not spending $1000!

Tim Brown

I saved $56 bagging four lunches/week last month – the first month my wife and I began consistently bringing lunches. We plan to continue eating this way.

If all your tips are as realistic and centered on personal responsibility as this one, we’ll be in great shape. Thanks Ramit!

Daniel

Thanks for this series Ramit, I really appreciate the time you are spending on it. Like a lot of people, I’m already bringing my lunch most days (I’m lucky enough to have a work with a great kitchen area) but there are 29 more tips to go and I KNOW I’m not already doing all of them. Thanks again for your help, you’re doing a great service.

Kevin Franklin

Recently, I’ve been making a habit out of checking the frozen meal section at the grocery store. They tend to have a weekly 4 for $10 deal on a certain brand of meal. One week, it’ll be Lean Cuisine, the next it will be Healthy Choice, and so on. I’ve been buying 4 of these per week for me to take to work. It’s saving me money, and it’s helping me lose weight by not overeating.

Portions at fast food/dine-in places are usually very large!

Pip

I have been brown bagging it for years as well and let me add some tips:
1) Leftovers! Bring leftovers occasionally. It’s a treat. Every now and then a leftover pork chop, stuffing and a veggie will be a nice treat and a change of pace from sandwiches or salads. Nothing will inspire office wide jealousy and get people to stop “picking on you” than leftover chinese food.

2) Make it yours. I put shredded carrots on my sandwich, because I want them there. People always look in awe, but it’s my sandwich I’ll put what I want on it! My co-worker puts hot sauce on his sandwich, it works for him. Also switch up the bread, use rolls, rye bread, wheat bread. Play a bit.

3)Think of the time you’ll save. You can read, get an errand done, or go back to work sooner. Take a 5 minute walk/drive to BK or McD, then multiply it by 2 (there and back) then multiply that by 5 and oh my it really starts adding up. What is that you say? It takes me five minuted to make my lunch in the AM. So what? So you only save yourself a 30 minutes a week instead of an hour, big deal.

4) Two snacks! If you are going to make this work, you have to pack yourself two snacks. For me it’s something salty and something sweet,. For you it may be a fruit and a veggie, or some nuts and a rice cake. Whatever it is 2 snacks. Make your lunch something you want to eat.

5) Don’ forget your drink! Coke or v8, either way it’s cheaper and better. Why is a coke better? Odds are you’ll bring a 12oz can vs the 16+oz one you’d get from where ever you were going. That’s a win. Small steps can take you far.

Other than that take your time as was suggested. Start once a week then work your way up. Be patient and keep fighting. You will see a weight shift from your waist to your wallet, the type we all like!

Great blog post! Keep it up.

After reading some comments, I agree that this post can’t save me money, but I can share the things that got me bringing my lunch and help someone else. Then maybe they’ll post something I had not thought of down the road. You don’t need to be greedy and selfish to be smart with money. Money is a tool, not the root of all evil.

Poor Boomer

I already do this, so I’m not saving anything. I’ve got some screwy overpriced deal where I rent a room in a house and get three meals. We’re so frugal in this house (nine of us) that the lunch bags are reusable zip bags. And I can’t move to a cheaper place because I’m spending 70 percent of my income to live here.

Lea

Hopeful of getting something out of these tips, but feeling its not likely.
Everything already cut to bone, and last week decided to cut our last few luxuries out of the groceries (fruit juice, yoghurt, and other equally decadent luxuries )
Currently working on the other end – increasing income. :goes back to code window:

Oh, and leftovers are way cheaper than actually ‘packing a lunch’, if you have reheat facilities in your office. It costs almost nothing to stretch dinner to one more place; it does cost money to buy bread and fillings, or whatever ‘extras’ you want to include.

evie

I like to bring an extra special dessert so I look forward to my brought lunch more than eating out. I’m big on brownies, cookies, stawberries and homemade whipped cream…

Since I switched, I save about $70 a month.

Tina

This is a great tip, although like many others who posted already, one we have been doing for years. I would like to add something to it that I didn’t see mentioned in the comments yet.

For those of you who have school aged children, as I do, and you don’t qualify for free or reduced price school lunches go ahead and pack them a lunch while you are packing your own. I do this for my 3 who are still in grade school and I estimate my savings each month during the school year to be $100.00/month for my children alone. (I’m a frugal grocery shopper and their lunches cost us pennies on the dollar.)

The added benefit of packing their lunches is the same as for the adults; I know what they are eating and how much, and I know they like everything that I pack in their lunchboxes. All of our lunchboxes are reusable ones that last for years. We have insulated Thermos containers for drinks, and hot or cold food, reusable Tupperware sandwich boxes for their sandwich days, and we reuse ziplock baggies until they fall apart, so it is better for the environment to boot.

I look forward to more tips.

Vic

I pack my lunch every single day. To make it even more efficient my lunch consist of a tuna sandwich with a couple of fruits (Kiwi, strawberry or grapes) with a bottle of water. This is a good strategy……although tuna everyday did not sound to appealing at the start, but it is cheap good for my health and keeps more money in my wallet.
I do sometimes like to go to McDonalds, which is across the street from my office, but I take full advantage of the dollar menu. One cup of sweet tea =1.00 and two 4-Piece chicken nuggets – 2.00 that’s 3.00 + tax. (I don’t like the fries).
This is strategy is saving me about 110 dollars a month.

Micah

Great tip. I am a cheapskate and I’m trying to lose weight so this works great. When you mention strategy for eating out my first thoughts were to only eat out when it could help you network with other professionals, or improve your career in some way. Purely social reasons are okay too because that is very important for personal morale. I error on the side of almost never eating out and that does have negative effects.

m

My husband and I have been eating out too much lately, but it’s so hard because of our schedules. We are both in school and working full-time so it’s really crazy for us. We get home late every night so the last thing either of us feel like doing is packing lunch.

We do buy groceries with the intentions of making our own lunches, but then we are too tired to pack lunch and we end up paying even more — for the groceries and then eating out on top of it because we don’t eat the food for lunch. I’d like to point out that it also helps to buy food that you know you will eat (it’s appealing enough) and is easy enough to prepare for your lifestyle/schedule. Because if it’s something that’s only cheap and not all that appealing or is too much of a hassle to prepare, you won’t end up eating it.

I love buying frozen and packaged meals from Trader Joe’s. I bought a package of frozen penne arrabiata pasta (3 servings for $2.99 ) to go with a can of soup ($1-something each) for a cheap lunch or dinner for when I’m at work or school.

Chris P

I already save between $2 – 4 a day by taking my own lunch (depending on what I take). Call it $15 per week or $60+ per month. I used to eat out almost everyday, but in June my AC needed to be replaced and I had not budgeted for it. So I bought it on 12 month no interest, and calculated how much I needed to save each payday to get it paid off in that time.

Bringing my own lunch was one thing I did to be able to save, and that whole situation was what lead me to really begin thinking about personal finance. I make decent money but had almost no wiggle room for unexpected things. I think you can go cold turkey on a lot of things as long as the motivation to do so is stronger than whatever you get out of the habit. Going out to lunch was not that big a deal to me, it was just convenient and easy. Now that I have a pressing reason to save that money, it was easy to change. I know there will probably be more that I am already doing, but even if I can only add $100 to what I am already doing to save money, it will be well worth it.

Kevin

Ramit, Thanks a lot for this series, I think it’ll be good. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts for a while now, because of your no-BS attitude about frugality and the importance of being pound-wise even if not always penny-wise. So when you say you’re going to offer practical, psychologically sound advice on saving money “the old-fashioned way,” you’ve got us all listening!

Having left a job in NYC to get my master’s in engineering, I’m now packing my lunch almost every day. This full-time grad student is having an easier time of it than expected because there are far less convenient, tasty and expensive lunch options in rural Virginia than there were in NYC!

Unfortunately, living in a cheap house, packing my lunch, and not owning a car–riding my bike to campus every day–I already know what my biggest expense is. The beer here is cheap and I spend all my money at the bar next door! Cutting back on my daily happy hour(s) is the most effective way to reduce expenses, so I know that I’ll get the most mileage out of my money if I chill at home more often. I’ll have to start counting beer money soon to monitor its disappearance, but in the meantime look forward to more of your tips.

Bagging (more) lunches will probably save me about $20 this month.

Emma

I only buy lunch if I have a lunch meeting. I always take leftovers from dinner, which ends up being even cheaper than buying things to make for lunch.

RJ

Thanks Ramit for the tip and coming up with this series.

But here is an alternate view point-
The idea of cutting down on food is not great! Especially when one place health in the top quadrant. I think people should eat the best of which they can afford. By best I don’t mean going to the expensive restaurants.
When starting to cut down on food costs some people are going to turn into junk food style from a full course meal and over time it’s going to affect their health.

Lydia

Oh Me Oh My! I just added what we spent on eating out last month…$355.97…However, more than half went to feeding our employees. It has been our way of showing our appreciation. What i will do now is pack them lunches and cut out eating out on our part as well. What a Great Idea!
Thank you!

Pam

Amy, take a look at your schools free lunch programs. All they need is a pay check stub or two and your family may qualify for free or reduced lunches if offered. Just like you said, they’re healthy and our district has a good variety. And, breakfest is free too if they offer it.

Amy

Pam, I do not qualify for free lunches just under my income alone. That program is for low income families. Remember, I said my husband is a finance manager. I am not being negative, but I am hopeful that maybe some of the tips will apply to me but the lunch one does not because I am already doing it.

Sri

Hi Ramit, thanks a ton for the tip. I am planning on following this challenge! Just one question. I live in Germany, and am doing my PhD here so go to university atleast 3 of the 5 days in a week. Do you think the university cafeteria also counts as eating out? A meal there costs me around 3-4 euros (coz I’m vegetarian) and I use an expense card for it. Is that as much as my packed lunch would anyway cost? What do you think?

Cathlene

I’m already packing my lunch most of the time, but I think there is some information here that I need to think about. I don’t always plan/pack wisely and sometimes I end up just taking a frozen meal which doesn’t really feel satisfying, and doesn’t really same me much. I’m going to make and effort to plan for the entire week, and make sure I’m smart about what I choose to take with me each day.

Megan

Already do this. To increase your savings on this- Do not use a paper bag, sandwich bags, etc. Put your food in washable, reusable containers. Better for the environment and your wallet.

Jane

I have been packing lunch for 5 years now. We do have a cafeteria at school, but it’s you know, school food. I didn’t like that stuff as a student! It does save a lot of money. I hate to pack lunch in the morning so, to make it easy I mostly pack Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones that I buy in bulk when they come on sale. I usually pay about $2.50 each day. I also bring my own reusable bottle of water. Cost about $13.00 a week. The frozen meals make it a no excuses thing.

Funny about Money

Good, solid advice.

I don’t eat lunch at work. We don’t have a refrigerator at the office–GDU rules prohibit using departmental funds to purchase anything in any way related to food, and as generously paid state employees none of us can afford to purchase a mini-refrigerator that will probably end up being sacrificed to the cause. No edible food is sold on the campus: all food services have been subcontracted to junk-food franchises.

With no way to store an actual meal, I bring a bag of nuts and snack on them to keep from fainting from hunger.

Ashley

I have a different approach to this. I get the $2 frozen dinners from Kroger, whichever ‘diet’ brand is on sale… it’s less expensive and healthier than making sandwiches. Less expensive because I have to buy ingredients in too large of units; the excess bread and fixin’s invariably go bad over the weekend. If there are leftovers, I have leftovers instead and the frozen dinners are quite content to wait for another day.

Jennifer

This is a great tip. My husband and I try agreed that we can each eat out one time per week. Sometimes I do not eat out at all in a week and sometimes I eat out twice in a week. So it kind of evens out for me in the end.

The other thing I do besides taking leftovers or bringing a frozen dinner is keep an “emergency lunch” in my desk. I am embarrassed to admit it but there have been several times where I have forgotten to bring my lunch but at least I had something to eat in my desk. So that helps with not going out or eating something out of the office carousel. For my emergency lunches at work, they aren’t the healthiest, but I keep on hand either ramen noodles or one of the Simply Asia meals.

Roz

Aloha, I’ve been packing lunch for years, at first more for convenience b/c my office was located on a military base where the food court was just mediocre, and driving “off base” was such a hassle, but now it’s a habit. I’ve found that leftovers work better than anything else. As my husband and I are cleaning up after dinner, I’ll pack lunch for the both of us (resuable containers) at the same time I’m putting leftovers into the fridge so the next morning I just have to throw the containers into my lunch bag before i walk out the door. Most times I’ll cook up a couple of different dishes on the weekends so that dinners during the week aren’t so hectic…and that means we can choose from a variety of leftovers. We purchase bags of prepared salad greens/spinach and so a couple handfuls of greens into another container w/ a few grape tomatoes and your salad is set and *presto* lunch is packed! Let me tell you, my coworkers always stop by to see what’s on the menu!

Recently I’ve started packing my own breakfasts as well. I’ll cook up a frittata on Sunday and eat that for breakfast the entire week. It’s a wonderful way to use up all my leftover veggies and leftovers that are too small to make a decent portion (no rotting veggies in my fridge, thank you very much) and, as the saying goes, breakfast is the most important part of the day!

It takes a little planning but the outcome (financially and physically) are well worth the effort.

Ramit’s Tip#2: Turn Your Thermostat Down — Green Panda Treehouse

[...] Photo Credit:  Ramit Sethi [...]

Andy

To repeat above comments succinctly and probably offensively: how do we save money if we’re already not retarded?

Iwantatoyhauler

I will eat out once a week, normally on Thursday when I run financial errands for our business. The cost savings will be $32 for the month. I’ll deposit the amount into savings each week.
However, a family goal has been to purchase a toyhauler and return to traveling with our daughters. Therefore we are currently working on a process to evaluate everything we own to determine whether to keep it, sell it or donate it.
We have a daughter with special needs attending private school. Her education expenses were not in our financial plan and have set us back significantly. However, she is making great strides and the adjustments have been more than well worth the efforts.
I can’t take “things” with me, but I can introduce my three daughters to the beauty of our county.

JJ

This one is obvious, true. But I still can never seem to do it. The trick seems to pack a lunch you’re going to WANT to eat when your colleague brings in Thai food from that great place across the street. Still, doing this should save me approx $20 per week.

Nicole

I agree with John’s comment about not skimping on health in favor of lower cost. Remember to prioritize and think about the big picture! A daily diet of snickers, PB&J, and ramen is a cheap and filling way to go, but hardly optimal for your health – and health bills. Consider three months of skimping on vegetables and fruit. Your body will not thank you. It will survive, sure, but if you want your brain and body to operate at full function during your day, try to remember that “cheap” doesn’t always equal “best.”

A lot of people seem like they are bringing in healthful frozen or packed lunches, so this comment is directed to others like me who enjoy bringing in lunch and are on a budget that allows just a little wiggle-room. My brought lunches average about $2.00 in cost and are generally comprised of veggies and a lean protein, cooked up as a giant stew or stir-fry on Sundays. I could bring that number down to $1.00 if I ate PB&J sandwiches for a month, but although I love PB&J every now and then I’d get bored of it quick. Fruits and veggies might cost a little more but I’m investing in the long run. Keep things in perspective!

Charles

This is a great tip. Perhaps you saved money you didn’t give yourself credit for saving. Yes, you may be a brown bagger from the dark ages. Do you however, assign a savings value to what you are carrying. Even if its the actual cost down to the penny. Also what would you eat and what would it cost if you didn’t carry your lunch.
Many efforts are not appreciated because they have no value assigned to them. Such as the negative responses to this tip. It a person’s choice to value or deem something worthless. Attitude is the actual issue of finance not the numbers.

Erica

I have tried to implement this one in the past, but never with much success. At work I always buy from the salad bar. I have yet to find a way to make a salad at home with all the ingredients I want, in a manner that will survive a 16-or-so hour wait in the refrigerator. (Figure I make the salad at 8pm the previous night, eat it at 12pm the next day.) I could put all the ingredients in their own containers and then mix them together at lunchtime, but of course that is silly. I tried making sandwiches, but the truth is that I hate making sandwiches. Also I cannot make sandwiches for the whole week on Sunday and expect Friday’s sandwich to be edible.

Selling My Stuff — Green Panda Treehouse

[...] Photo Credit:  Ramit Sethi [...]

Peggy

Haven’t been out to lunch since…um…1990. Yup. 1990. I have been out on business lunches since then all of twice and someone else paid. So I can’t claim any savings on this tip.

Cynthia

Unlike most folks, I eat out quite a lot. So bringing my lunch should save me as much as $50 per week – even more since I love to get sushi at least 3 times per month.

I also eat breakfast out each morning. That will be harder to change, but i’ll work on it.

Nick

Lunch is a killer. Even though most places have lunch deals and whatnot, which may make it a better deal than dinner, it’s still not very economical.

Involve Your Friends with Saving — Green Panda Treehouse

[...] Photo Credit:  Ramit Sethi [...]

Joel

Well, hopefully future tips will be more applicable to me. I don’t eat out and my office provides me with a $3.50 per day lunch cooked by a chef, which while I could pack a sandwich and some chips, the food at work is generally much better, and really not that much more expensive.

Berit

New to the site, but loving the idea of this fun challenge!

Though it is likely that someone has already pointed this out (so many comments, wow!), be careful about (don’t) pre-packing bananas in paper bags several days ahead! Placing a green banana in a paper bag overnight is an old trick for ripening it BY THE NEXT DAY. I think this may be true of some other fruits as well. So, a few days in a bag is enough to make your nice, streamlined pre-packed lunch gross for you!

Avoid Brown-Bag boredom that can make you throw in the packed lunch-towel with tips, recipes, and menus from justbento.com. Run by Maki, a Japanese woman living in Europe (Switzerland?) who has a masterful command of the English language and blogging. Focuses on healthful, inexpensive, time-conscious menus.

Lena

So far so good. My husband and I have lunch together mon-thurs (fridays at home). This month we have decided to brown bag it every day except wednesday. An average lunch for us is $12.
$12×3=36.00 per week
$144 monthly savings

Closeupman

Give me some time and I will.

At least for this tip, I would add, go to Costco(or go with someone who has a membership if you really want to save money) and stock up on essentials that you can brown bag with.

1. Buy the HUGE canned fruit(e.g. pear slices, peach halves, etc). Those can be put in tupperware. Those make good(and cheap) desserts for your lunch or just snacks for work.

2. If you like tuna, you can get a good deal on those at costco too, just don’t buy the prepackaged ‘tuna kits’, buy just the tuna cans. Place ‘em on bread and make a sandwich.

Also, try to learn some cooking/baking basics….it’s easier than you think. It’ll be scary and hard at first, but once you’ve done it, it’ll be easier.

As I stated before, I’m a muslim, so I must check ingredients a lot on items. One thing now that I make myself is bread. I use a bread machine or mixer to make the bread dough. Then I cook it in the oven so I can shape it how I want(e.g. sandwich type bread). If you make 2 loaves at a time, you’ll save on gas too. This makes HEALTHY and cheap(I’ve used regular all purpose flour in a bread machine and it was fine….try a mix with whole wheat flour though, for a different texture and healthier bread) bread.

I’m sure I could think of more, but that’s all I have time for now.

Peace be with you Ramit P

Evie

I have been doing this for several months now and have really seen the difference both financially and in my health. It’s easier to manage calories, fiber, sodium intake, etc. I like using my crock pot since I can dump all sorts of wonderful things in there, turn it on, go to sleep and wake up in the morning to a delicious soup, stew, etc. that will last me for more than one lunch. I enjoy making lunch my biggest meal (which also helps with weight control).

Sarah

I’ve known I need to do this for a while now, but my husband and I work together and he’s not as keen on the idea. We spend an average of $100 a week on lunches out (two of us combined), so we could save quite a bit!

Amanda

For this one, I blew it yesterday….BUT.

I pack lunches nearly every single day, and maybe eat lunch out once every two weeks (dinner out less often even than that–maybe once a month), and it’s because I like my co-workers and don’t get to hang out with them outside of work. So at most by doing this I would have saved $15 this entire month, and it’s not worth it to me because I rarely get to enjoy these people’s company. :/

But yeah, I blew it. Still going to try to do all the other tips though!

Lorie

I already pack my lunch. But I think an interesting twist to this is to have my kids pack thier lunches which currently cost me in excess of $30 a week! I am challenging my children to pack at least three times a week. Savings = roughly $18 week or about $72 for the month. That’s a great start!!

Mo

I started taking my lunch a few years ago because I was trying to eat healthier foods especially food with less sodium. I hated having to get a lunch ready each morning to I started making a whole weeks worth of meals to pick from. I spend about an hour or so on either Saturday or Sunday morning getting it ready and then put it in the fridge. Everything is wrapped and ready to go. I use a lunch size cooler bag and each morning I open the fridge and pick out something for breakfast and lunch. I like having fat free yogurt with fruit and my home-made granola on top each morning. I fill up 5 glass cups with a plastic lids with yogurt and fruit and 5 snack bags with my granola and put them in the fridge. In the winter, I like soup so I make enough vegetable soup for the week in my crock pot. It takes me about 10 minutes to make because I use low sodium V-8 juice for my base and then I add frozen/fresh vegetables, beans and whatever spices I like. I let it simmer for about 3 hours and when it is cooled down, I fill mason jars and put them in the fridge with my other lunch stuff. I have all my vitamins in a little vitamin box that I can pick one of those up too. I drink water, coffee or tea at work so I keep my favourite teas and some Crystal light in my desk for variety. I line everything up so all I have to do is reach in and pick 1 thing up from each line and off I go. For snacks, I have either fresh fruit or fruit cups ready to go with a little bag of walnuts.

So for about an hours worth of my time, I can get a whole weeks worth of breakfasts and lunches ready that I know are going to be healthy and cost very little. While I’m preparing my food, I like to listen to books on tape/cd and the time flies by. In the summer, I replace my soup with salads.

I wanted to add a note for the woman who reuses zip-lock bags and recycled Gatorade bottles, if you ever knew how much bacteria is still in those plastic containers after they’ve been washed, you would stop using them. You would be much better off investing in a good stainless steel water bottle like the ones from Sigg and some small glass pyrex cups with lids.

Keeley

We already started doing this a while ago. Here’s my calculation:

lunches 5x/week@ $7/day x 4.5weeks/mo minus
$6/week x 4.5weeks/mo for cost of bagged lunches

= $157.50 – $27 = $130.50 Total savings.

Rosemary

I have always packed my own lunch, and my husband just recently started in an effort to save money. Needless to say, we’ve seen a huge drop in our food bill just from him joining me. We stock up on snacks like nuts, dried fruit, yogurt and granola bars to keep at work, and then daily pack something simple – either leftovers from dinner, a salad with chicken and soy nuts, or a sandwich, along with fresh fruit.

Erica – it’s really not that hard. We make two lunches in about 10 minutes every morning, so there’s no need to eat a week-old sandwich. I’m fussy about having things taste stale too. For example, a sandwich could be made by putting all your ingredients in a tupperware – meat and cheese on the bottom, then some cucumber, pickles, lettuce, snap the lid on. Wrap up some good bread seperately, toast it when it’s lunch time, and keep a bottle of mustard in the fridge. Everything tastes fresh and about $20 worth of ingredients will last a week. Same goes for the salad – keep the nuts or seeds aside in a container, add dressing on when it’s time to eat, and you’re done. It’s really not that silly.

JE

I agree with everyone who’s unimpressed with this tip. If you’re going to promise “no stupid frugality tips”, then you probably should have started off the series with something a little more original than the most basic of frugality tips.

My Home in Israel :: Saving $1000 in a month… :: November :: 2008

[...] Tip #1: Pack lunches for the rest of the week Good idea….I do that most days, so it isn’t going to save me any money, but it is a good valid international tip. [...]

How To: $1000 in 30 days Tips Round-up Part 1 « willywei

[...] Tip #1: Pack lunches for the rest of the week [...]

Diana

This will save me € 80,- (i’m from Holland)
Thats $ 101,78!!!

The first $ 100,- for me this month!! thanks for the tip!

G.L.

Wow, that’s a lot of comments. I feel like I’m a bit late to the party, so I’ll just jump right in:

Alas, this tip doesn’t apply to me because I work from home and thus rarely if ever go out for lunch…

Amy

I have been coming home for lunch for over three months now and I am really burned out on it. I want some Chinese food, but I have gotten so use to taking my lunch and the budget is so tight now.

Alexandra

this is to Mo re: Bacteria in ziploc bags.
I’ve been reusing bottles and ziploc bags for YEARS and have never had any kind of illness or bad reaction.
I think the bottled water industry plays that up to try to keep us BUYING more rather than re-using.
We’ve been pakcing our lunches for ages too. SAved a boatload of moola.
I keep a pack of hot dogs and a bag of buns in the freezer at work for days i forget my lunch.

RookieMom Heather

We did it. We packed lunch all week. I average about $12 per lunch out for 4 times this week. Alec averages about $8 per lunch for 4 times this week. $48 + $32 = $80 this week. I estimate that we’ll need to ease up in the coming weeks and let one extra day out into our lives so that’s $60 times 3 more weeks for a total monthly savings of $260 on this tip alone.

Susan

Hi Ramit,

You’re right, of course, packed lunches are cheaper and can be very yummy if you know how.

However, 2 things stop me:

1. TIME. Preparing my lunch takes me a critical amount of time in the morning that I just can’t afford to spend. I’m not willing to get up earlier to get my lunch ready and so I always struggle with having enough time for this. I’m not sure that the extra time spent is worth the money saved.

2. NETWORKING. At my workplace, going out to lunch with people is a critical component of networking. It has gotten me promoted, and you can tell a lot about who’s who at our office from the lunch groupings. Sure, I can say, “No thanks guys, I brought my lunch” or “I’ll just come with you and bring my own lunch” but it is not the same. Is bringing lunch worth the opportunity cost to networking?

I totally agree that this is a great way to save $$, but my former employer estimated that our daily free breakfasts, lunches and dinners were worth $6,000 / employee / year. If that’s so, then I’d rather learn better negotiation and work strategies to earn back that extra $6,000 (or more!).

My trick? I eat lunch out, but only a very small lunch that ends up costing $5 to $6 anyway.

Barbara Jean Walsh

I work from home and never go out for lunch. Just by coincidence though, my weekly dinner group decided on a picnic this week, and so did my movie group (we’re all going to a drive-in where we can sit in lawn chairs and feed our faces). So, I’ll be saving something there, after all.

Aspen

I am just now reading this blog – tips are up through 7 now, but I was loving what I was reading so I went back to tip 1 and look forward to joining the challenge! Broke at the moment, Friday is payday, so will go do my lunch shopping and get started next week! My goal will be to start with 4 lunches packed, since I usually do 3 already. All that $ I would spend gets put away… Love it!

Tom

I found this great little chinese place near work. If I drink water, it costs me slightly less than $25 per week to go out for lunch. I get soup and an entree. I usually cannot eat all of that and eat it for dinner too. $25/week for lunch and dinner…although I could save more, I still feel proud of myself

PDXGirl

In theory I already pack lunches, in practice I end up eating out as much as 3-4 times a week, sometimes getting breakfast and lunch out.

I can make a really delicious lunch with snacks for the daytime for under $2 here’s what I have this week:
Turkey mini meatloafs
Roasted potatoes
Pudding
Yogurt
microwave popcorn
chips

That total comes to $1.91 per lunch, versus $5-$12 if I eat out, so we’ll call that $8 each on average, 3 days a week that’ll be $24 I would have spent replaced by $5.73 actually spent for a savings of $18.27 this week.

If I do that all month we’ll be looking at $73.08

alexinmadison

I got lazy a long time ago – around the time I started being able to “afford” to eat out – and I eat the majority of my meals out now. For me, this is getting back to basics and I will be implementing this tip immediately.

Back in my poor days, when I couldn’t afford to eat in restaurants, this is what I did: Each Sunday I’d make a large pan of something – lasagna, casserole, a good heavy soup, etc. It has to be something you really enjoy. When it’s done cooking, parse it out into individual servings and freeze immediately. I use a vacuum sealer – that way, if I don’t eat the entire batch of food in a week, the food will still be good in a couple of weeks. Then you can just grab an individual serving out of the freezer before you leave for the office.

Lane

Lunch is free at my job. Next tip.

Comer Bem? « D-a-r-t

[...] E a solução? Fazer lanchinho em casa e levar para o trabalho? O nosso colega Ramit Sethi do Iwillteachyoutoberich diz que sim. Mas a dica dele tem mais a ver com economizar em períodos de crise do que com [...]

jon

i eat out quite a bit for lunch, and nearly every day for breakfast.

breakfast: avg $3.50 * 5 = 17.5/week
lunch @ 2x/week = $20/week
37.5/week * 4 = 150.

I will save $150 in a month by eating breakfast at home and carrying in lunch every week.

Erica P

This is something I’ve already decided I need to do… but the idea of packing ahead of time (because I do tend to oversleep and then say, “screw it, I’ll eat out today.”) will DEFINITELY help me.

nil

Google isn’t the only company providing free meals. Even Transmeta provided free meals through the early part of the company’s history. The moral of my comment is that you could save even more money if you became a talented software or hardware engineer in the right part of the country where such benefits are more common than some people commenting on this blog make them out to be and you limited your employment search to those places that serve free meals you stand to come out far ahead on meal costs. I know of real estate companies in Texas that offered employees free snacks and drinks as well. The longer you keep your employees at work, the more likely they are to actually eventually focus on work (though eventually that may tend towards gossip over which snacks will disappear next). At least for my own part, i took a job with lower pay and free meals after I calculated that another company’s cafe would cost me an average of $7/meal at best.

Ramit, you should know better than anyone that the percentage you gave multiplied by the number of people on earth doesn’t even come out to 1 person, and far more than one person works at Google, and Google is not the alone in its benefits. There are plenty of places in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, and even in Minnesota.

Perhaps 0.000002% of the world population gets free lunches at work, but I’d wager that those that do are *very likely* readers of this blog.

Amy

The thing for all of us to remember is that all of us are looking for ways to save money, some more than others. Although some tips may not apply to you, some do and for those of you who are missing 50% of your household income due to the economy such as I, you are probably doing all you can do right now to save and have probably exhausted your savings and working on credit card debt as well. Remember on the plus side, things will pick up.

How Am I Doing With Ramit’s Save $1,000 Challenge? Part 2 — Green Panda Treehouse

[...] Photo Credit: Ramit Sethi [...]

Vivian

Hey, I’m already doing this for lunch (lucky enough to have a parent who owns a store and on my way to work!!) but I guess I should do this for dinner … many times, I’ll buy food for when I’m on my way to my second job or school …

what I will be saving:
currently spend = $40/week
“lunchbox” meals cost = $15/week
go out to lunch 1x/week = $10/week

Total Saving = $15/week, roughly $780/year or $65/month

not a bad start …

Saving the Green « My Philadelphia Story

[...] list of tips Pack lunches for the rest of the week Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees Sell something on eBay today Involve your friends in your [...]

Save Money during the Recession | Sassy Women

[...] in 30 days Challenge over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich.  Some of the options are no brainers (Pack lunches for the rest of the week), while some are pretty innovative (Use gas prices to become your own hedge [...]

Creando riqueza con el inglés | Estudiar

[...] ¿Qué papel juega el inglés en todo esto? Un papel importantísimo porque el inglés te abre las puertas a la información planetaria, sí exactamente, no sólo a la información de tu país, si no la del mundo mundial. Y de ahí, puedes coger muchas, muchas más ideas e inspiración no sólo para crear algo y ampliar tu audiencia, sino también para resolver problemas. Mira aquí cómo Ramit Sethi nos enseña a ahorrar (en inglés). [...]

Lunch For The Week : Randy and Rachel’s Weblog

[...] on Sunday for about a month and a half now.  We make them for the whole week at once.  This was Ramit’s first tip in the save $1,000 in a month challenge.  We had been trying to bring our lunches for a while but [...]

Amy

I also use my lunchbreak for walking, eating lunch, and running errands.

The Psychology of Passive Barriers: Why Your Friends Don’t Save Money, Eat Healthier, or Clean Their Garages | writteninfo.com

[...] cutting up your fruit as soon as you bring it home from the grocery store, packing your lunches all at once, or re-adding the attachment to a followup email so the recipient doesn’t have to look for it [...]

Drakosagev

Cool, I start now.

by the way, I already do that.

PD: Sorry for my english, im 24 and live in Chile

Lynn

I already bring lunch every day, but it is a good tip. I can eat a complete, healthy meal for $4 or less from the grocery store. You can rarely do that eating out.