Frugal Friday 5 - Packing your lunch isn't just for kids

A huge way to save on your monthly expenses is to pack your lunch every day.  Let's say you go out to eat every day Monday through Friday and spent $10 (this is being generous - I could easily spend more at Panera or Chipotle).  That's $50 bucks a week - or $200 bucks a month.

You could spend less than half that if you pack your lunch.  Justin's lunches consist of some kind of sandwich (PB&J, lunchmeat & cheese, egg salad, PB & banana, etc), a greek yogurt, some type of fruit (usually an apple or grapes), and some type of healthy snack chip or granola bar.  If I have leftovers from dinner the night before, he gets those in his lunch instead of the sandwich, saving us even more money.

I looked at my grocery receipt and figured out the average cost of his lunches every day - $4 or less.  That's $20 a week or $80 a month.  $120 a month savings!

The thing about packing your lunch is you have to make it cool.  Last year I bought this Quiksilver lunch bag for Justin to carry:

Who wouldn't get psyched about taking their lunch in this?  Yes, that is a skeleton riding a bike, holding a surfboard, in Rastafarian colors.  You've got to have some fun in your life somewhere!

You can also save even more money by using reusable containers.  For leftovers, we use glass containers (much better for YOU because when you re-heat plastic, you get all of that BPA junk that supposedly causes cancer).  Plus glass cleans up much nicer in the dishwasher.  You can usually pick them up for the cheap cheap at TJMaxx.  I prefer the Pyrex brand.  We usually use the 2 cup size for our leftovers, but we also have a couple of the 1 cup size for smaller stuff like sauces or toppings that you want to keep separate.

We also use these awesome reusable baggies called Lunchskins.  It cuts down on how many plastic ziplocs we use and you can wash them in the dishwasher as well.

Image: caitlindentino.com

We have 4 regular sized ones that we've used for the past two and half years and they are still holding up great.  And again, you can get cool prints like sharks and lizards (which of course, we own).  We still keep ziploc bags in the house because we're not super disciplined with the lunchskins and we may not have enough clean ones, but we have cut down on our use significantly.

Lastly, we re-use our plastic cutlery by washing it in the dishwasher.  And we actually don't use plastic cutlery - we bought plant-based cutlery from a company called World Centric.  No BPA and they eventually break down when you do throw them away.  We bought a box of 24 spoons and a box of 24 forks two and half years ago and we're still using them.  We've had to throw away a couple and some have been "lost," but we only spent $7.00 total so I would say we're getting our money's worth.

Basically, if you pack your lunch, you save money on food cost - but you can also save money on your materials by buying a cool lunch bag, some lunchskins, and reusing your cutlery.  Go forth and be frugal, my friends!