Thirty Days of Free Lunches

[ellenmelon]

Please join me in the attempt to not spend any of my own money on lunch for the next month. Here is how I am doing so far:

Monday January 4th - not so good, went to vending machines so resolved to do better.

Tuesday January 5th - lunch provided by department professors.

Wednesday January 6th - will use part of gift certificate given to me by boss for holiday gift.

Now, post YOUR successes (and near successes) on this thread....I bet we can get pretty creative in this challenge.

[kathymac]

Ellen, I'm lucky in that we don't have any vending machines in our office - there are only 8 of us. I'm also lucky(?) that it's been so cold and snowy because I have no desire to go out at lunch time.

I always try to cook a little extra at dinner so DH and I can take leftovers for lunch. I have a thermos to bring coffee from home, although boss does supply it for free. It's way too weak for me.

I also try to keep my desk drawer stocked with granola bars, instant oatmeal, etc. My coworkers do the same, and sometimes we swap. It keeps it more interesting.

Good luck!

[RobertaD]

I ate lunch at home Mon, Tue and Wed but today I did grab a sandwich at Arby's for lunch though I did have a coupon for a free drink. By the time I was hungry I had drank the iced tea that I brought with me. I was out making deliveries for 5 hours today then cleared the sidewalk and drive way when I got home.

Roberta

[ellenmelon]

Thursday Jan 7 I got an email that Pita Pit was having half price days the first of every month, got a lamb/beef gyro with veggies for $3.50 and had tea back at the office.

Friday Jan 8 I packed some stuffed manicotti and had it for breakfast but there was so much I skipped lunch, went home by 4 PM and made dinner for all of us.

Monday Jan 11 was a packed salad with avocado

Tuesday Jan 12 was a packed salad with red grapes and red cabbage with some sliced mushrooms and always in my salads some cubed cheese and meat with ranch dressing

dd1 is a great lunch packer and she did the shopping Sunday night while I did the laundry, really helpful as we also had some snacks on hand like fruit and pretzels and granola bars.

[ellenmelon]

Wednesday January 13 - sandwich from home, turkey lettuce swiss avocado mustard on whole grain along with grapes tangerine apple and then oh no snickers bar and chocolate cookies from VM oh well still in all not a complete loss

total spent so far in one week: $8...
...total saved: hmmm how to figure lunch and snacks -- hypothetically about $6 a day so $42 saved minus the $8 spent so...
...in the balance: $34 saved so far, okay that's good, not perfect but sometimes the second best solution is really the best one because it actually works

[RobertaD]

I spent $3 on lunch yesterday as I was out running from 10 until 5:30 but that should be the only money spent on lunches.

Roberta

[humptydumpty]

I work at a day care and we are allowed to eat after the kids have been served. Some days it isnt what I want or just too kid oriented so I pack my lunch from leftovers. I try to also keep a freezer meal in the freezer there so I dont feel like I need to run somewhere to get something.