Let's face it. We've all
got to eat. And eating at work is one of
those things most of us need to do on a daily basis. It can also be costly and a real money pit to
the budget if you aren't careful. Today I
thought I'd share how I manage it.
Breakfast:
I am not a breakfast person.
But around 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning my tummy will start to rumble
and it’s feeding time. Fortunately that
is also around the time of my morning break.
I like to keep a small stash in my desk drawer of items I can eat
or prepare quickly. Usually I place
those things in my desk at the beginning of the week and replenish as I need to. Here is a list of thing I will stock.
Half a cube of butter in a
small plastic container
A bagel, English muffin,
slices of homemade bread placed in a sandwich bag to toast.
Homemade muffins or
coffeecake
Dry cereal or homemade granola
(I'll tuck a small container of milk in my lunchbox)
My needs in the breakfast arena are pretty basic. I like toast myself half a bagel or a slice
of bread with a little butter and eat that with a cup of coffee. It will usually hold me until lunch. I typically buy my bagels and English muffins
out of the bargain bin for around 99¢ so a bag of six bagels or muffins will
last me for quite awhile.
At my last job we didn't have a toaster in the break room so I
donated one I had left after I upgraded to a newer one. You can also find them fairly inexpensively
at Walmart for around $10. Ask your supervisor
if it is okay to do this if you don't have one.
They may surprise you and go ahead and provide it themselves.
Lunch:
I keep it relatively simple in that 99% of my lunches consist of
leftovers from our supper the night before.
It works because I am fortunate enough to have access to a microwave.
I keep a collection of glass Pyrex food storage containers with plastic
lids and I fill them when I am cleaning up from supper. If there isn't any leftover salad I will fix
myself a dish with assorted raw vegetables.
My lunch is ready to go ahead of time.
In the morning I tuck my dishes into an insulated lunchbox along
with any condiments I may need and an ice pack from the freezer. It is one of those hard sided re-freezable
types I bought at the dollar store years ago.
My kids may have outgrown Sponge Bob and The Fairly Odd Parents,
but luckily for me I haven't.
A bottle of water or lemonade is sometimes brought along (I refill
bottles I have saved and washed) but I usually have green tea made at work.
Another thing I do is to keep a jar of peanut butter in my desk -
just in case. One of my co-workers keeps
a can of soup, while another one keeps a can of chili and one of those cups of
instant noodles in her desk.
What do you do to keep yourself fed throughout the day and avoid
the temptation to eat out or hit the vending machine?
I am at home most of the day so eating leftovers is standard. The hardest thing is when I have appointments and meeting out and am going here and there for good portions of the day. (This week has been one of those weeks) The part of me that is hungry wants to run somewhere and buy something to eat. The other part says just hold off until you're home. Now I keep Lara bars in the car at all times. ($.99 per bar, but cheap compared to a lunch out) and I never leave the house without a large travel cup of hot coffee. That usually holds me, I confess I have been known to drink the coffee when it is no longer hot. Don't like it but I do it anyway.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing with the coffee. Ugh, but oh well. ;) Great idea about the Lara bars. Much healthier too than fast food.
DeleteAt this time I am at home during the day so I eat whatever is leftover and heat it up in the microwave. When I was working full time and needed lunch at work I had to learn the hard way about taking my lunch. For about a year I followed some of my co-workers to the local pizza joint, Chinese food place, deli, etc. and bought my lunch each day. I used to think, "It's only a few dollars, no big deal." Then one day the light bulb went off in my head and I realized that what I was spending for eating lunch out could pay for one month of my ridiculously high parking garage fees in the city for work, plus some groceries at home. I knew I had to do something different so I made a decision to not eat out anymore and I brought my lunch each day instead, mostly leftovers and sandwiches. I made sure to bring a refillable water bottle and I kept a stash of crackers in my desk drawer. My co-workers found out about my stash and started asking me for some snacks, which I always gave them. Before too long I started noticing that other snacks would appear in the drawer from those that I had shared with- sometimes people were over generous and a lot would appear at one time. My desk drawer eventually became the office "community snack drawer"- haha. I also brought in a little grill to work and a bunch of co-workers and I each brought in an item to share: one person brought in hot dog rolls, a couple of people brought packages of hot dogs, another brought chips, etc. (a potluck lunch.) I made sure each person was bringing something they either already had at home so it didn't cost them anything or it was something really inexpensive. It worked out so great we made it a weekly thing!
ReplyDeleteI also took everything a step farther and also found a lot that rented me a parking space for one-third of the price I paid for the parking garage. It was a much longer walk each morning to and from the office but I looked at it as getting more exercise. All the changes I made resulted in healthier eating, since I was bringing the food from home, and more money saved each month- win, win!
Wow Dawn that is great what you did with your co-workers. I find where I work that my co-workers eat out A LOT and the fact that I don't eat out at all has made me a little unpopular. I recognize that it is really their own guilt for spending money they probably shouldn't be. Plus my lunches taste better and are much healthier than the stuff I see them dragging in from the drive thru. The idea of eating that makes me feel ill actually. Super smart idea about the parking space too. Saving money and getting more exercise. I always park in our lot furthest away and walk while others complain if they "have" to park there. I also always use the stairs instead of the elevator. I sit all day long so I welcome the opportunity to get the extra exercise. Once it stops raining I plan to get back to walking after work. So far I've only been able to go once, but things are warming up, drying out and it is staying lighter later so it won't be long.
DeleteDana, when I started my job,I went out to lunch everyday, bought snacks and sodas from the vending machine and ended up spending almost $250.00 that first month, not to mention my newly thrifted wardrobe was getting awfully snug !!!!!! This new lifestyle was not going to work on many levels so I had to make some changes. 1. I went back to packing my lunch and snacks. 2. I decided to drink more water during the day, so I freeze two bottles of water to use as freezer packs in my lunch box. The bonus is cold bottles of water in the afternoon, a hydrated body, better fitting clothes and money in my savings account.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing,
Vanessa B
The things we learn the hard way. And did you notice it seemed to take a little longer to get rid of that snug felling then it did to acquire it? :) The frozen water bottles are a great idea!
DeleteI get free breakfast and afternoon snacks :) Child Care. I eat whatever the kids have for breakfast and snack. As for lunch it's usually cheap frozen meals or I'll take a box of corn dogs and eat those til they are gone. I have a basket in a cabinet in the kitchen that I try to keep stocked with things like granola bars, fruit snacks, crackers, canned soup, instant oatmeal packets.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that basket is a lifesaver. Kind of like my desk drawer. Oatmeal, that's a good idea too.
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