Supermarket Lunch Strategy
As I expected, I’ve been shopping for lunch at the supermarket near work. I think I’ve figured out a good pattern.
For about $11-13 I can get a bowl of chili, a .6-.75 lb package of chicken salad, 1-3 whole wheat bakery rolls, a 6 pack of 20 oz Diet Cokes. For about $4 more, I can get a big box of roasted nuts. Cashews are my favorite.
I do this all in one single lunch hour trip. That’s important because part of the reason I’ve been doing this is to cut down on car trips during the week.
I eat the chili the first day with a roll. For lunch the next day, I eat half the chicken salad on another roll, or else bring some of that yummy homemade bread I’ve been baking. The third day is the rest of the chicken salad with homebread or a roll.
However, I think I need to add some bag salad to this so that I can get a few more veggies in the mix. And the downside risk is that a bad brownie might eat my lunch, but so far, there are better things to steal like the team statistician’s homemade pork and spinach dumplings. (OMG with handmade skins and homegrown chives. Delicious!)
The only downside to this is that I don’t get away from my desk on Day 2 and Day 3. That’s part of why I buy lunch every day. There’s no place outside to eat in my industrial park, besides, it’s disgusting out there now that summer is here. (It hit 100 on Saturday, therefore it’s summer.) Also, there something pathetic about the brightly painted cafeteria set in the middle of the industrial work area at my work site. It’s windowless and depressing in its false cheeriness. Plus the vending machine tempts me with candy treats and overpriced soda.
At any rate, going to the supermarket for lunch is helping conserve money. I’ve found that out in suburban industrial park hell, lunch usually runs me $8+, even on the Korean-owned lunch buffet. (Where I get my fix of Korean food the other 2 days of the week.) I rarely go to Chicken Out with the guys from the office since it’s really far away and what I want usually runs about $9. That’s been more of a monthly treat instead.
So what about you? Is this a viable strategy to change the ways of a chronic lunch purchaser? I know it’s been working for me for the last two weeks and I hope to keep it going for the rest of the summer. Are you a chronic lunch buyer and willing to try this strategy out?
Andi wrote:
I’m telling ya, get forced into a 30 minute lunch and you’ll be into planned meal packing in a snap (or crabbing at your patrons because you’re hungry and forgot your lunch - not an option!)
Posted on 10-Jun-08 at 9:17 am | Permalink
Lulugal11 wrote:
Instead of making that lunch trip every week (equals 4-5 trips) why not buy the stuff one weekend and bring lunch to work every day (equals one trip)?
Posted on 10-Jun-08 at 4:38 pm | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
Udandi: That is precisely why I don’t deal with ‘patrons’. I have clients now. I also get to pee whenever I want and I don’t have my ‘availability’ measured daily anymore. Sorry to hear you have to deal with that kind of crap.
I actually eat my lunch at my desk and read for work. So technically I have have a 0 minute lunch or else 15 minute break to go pick it up.
Lulugal11: Yes, that is exactly the point. But for me, balancing a moment away from my desk and gas savings is a no-brainer. I prefer to buy my lunch because it FORCES ME to leave my desk. (see the msg I left for Udandi) I actually don’t use that much gas to get lunch since someone else usually drives me anyway because I don’t know where I am going.
Posted on 10-Jun-08 at 9:31 pm | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
ooh ooh. I realized that last comment makes me sound a bit like a mooch because other ppl drive me. In reality, I’m new to this office location so I have no idea where I am going in suburban hell. Sometimes I do drive, but the guys at work prefer the legroom in their own car rather than shoving 3 tall boys into my car. Or I walk to the Korean buffet place when the weather is reasonable. But really, I don’t pack my lunch because I would never leave my desk except to pee. (I work a lot.)
Posted on 10-Jun-08 at 9:41 pm | Permalink
Lulugal11 wrote:
Ok, now I get it. I did not know that you were not walking around at all..so going for lunch was your ‘exercise’ for the day.
Posted on 12-Jun-08 at 3:57 pm | Permalink