I have entered into a money-saving mode. We cycle through these, Tim and I, periodically. Most often my gung-ho-ness for being thrifty is exacerbated by my desire to quit my job and just be a stay at home mom to my dogs. (Hey, maybe they would finally master reading if they weren't abandoned each day to fend for themselves....) (Well and, honestly, sometimes the desire to quit pushes me into super spendy mode because "If I have to go to that idiotic job every day then I ought to at least be able to enjoy the fruits of my labors." Tim's answer to that is typically that I will get to enjoy the fruits of my labors when I retire and for now all the enjoyment should derive from the knowledge that our financial planner thinks we might just be communists as we have no debt and have huge retirement savings. Most days I can bring myself around to Tim's point of view.
Anyway, currently I'm in a thrifty mode. And thus, after swift calculations that essentially rounded the $7ish I was spending on lunch ever day up to $10 for ease of calculations x 5 x 4...$200 a month for lunch??? So yeah, that's ridiculous. So I am now back to frozen lunches (Mmmm...Lean Cuisine.) Because you can often find good sales where they're no more than $2 each. So that's $10 a WEEK - bringing me down to $40 a month for lunch. Much more affordable.
You may, at this point, be thinking "So what's the problem?" The problem is this: while the Lean Cuisine/choose your own adventure of frozen lunch selection is fairly varied - and actually doesn't taste too bad (some, in fact, are real winners) you get bored very quickly. Or at least I do. So I'm sitting here trying to decide which is more boring, the side salad I picked up at Wendy's on my way back from the post office (only $1.50, so not a huge expenditure) or my grilled chicken with mushy vegetables and bizarre wine-like sauce. I think I'm going to have to go with the salad today, actually, as being more boring. Probably because the dressing that said it was cesar...well, it tastes remarkably like ranch. On the other hand, the salad does have bacon bits.
1 day ago
I can definitely sympathize, Beth. Figuring out what to eat on a budget when you can't/won't/don't have time to cook is a real pain in the tushy. I'm sick and tired of Ramen Noodles... I wish I could swallow a pill and be done with eating.
ReplyDeleteI have a small frig under my desk in my office. I keep a loaf of bread, small jar of mayo, deli meat, and cheese in there for lunches. I also stash Fresca and other sundry snack items in there. Handy.
ReplyDeleteOn the days when I just can't face a sandwich I will venture out, but they are rare anymore.
At my other office I had a frig and did the same thing - it rocked. Cause you could bring in a mini-variety of what you might have at home (I even went so far as to keep a few chopped up salad makings to vary the sandwich thing). But with the new office I don't have that option, and the communal frig is...well, scary. :) It is handy for sure!
ReplyDeleteCinthia, I'm coming close to the food pill myself. Though I love to cook for supper, so I think for me it would just be a lunch thing. :)