I realized this week that I ‘Just posted my grocery list!?’ That is a shameful realization. But it was to foreshadow today’s post about what I ate during the week. As many long-time readers know, I usually do not pack my lunch, but dine out to get away from my desk.
Last week I dined out only once for lunch to take a break from the office. I also dined out only twice for dinner and once for a snack. I believe I might have actually saved money this week, but it’s kind of hard to tally it up since I don’t have firm prices. I’ve tried to estimate what I spent and list it at the bottom.
On Sunday I fixed up a few things in the kitchen:
Sausage bread pudding
Soy-marinaded Chicken (vs. soy chicken which sounds like a fake meat product)
Jook
I ate some bread pudding for dinner with boyfriend with potatoes and broccoli. I pulled the chicken off the bone and put it in a tupperware container. Boyfriend had a small bowl of jook for snack later that night. Then I cooled and packed up the jook into 2 quart containers, and the bread pudding and extra veggies.
On Monday:
I had 1 bowl of jook with chopped scallions. I ate 1 piece of bread pudding with the remaining veggies from Sunday night. I also ate dinner of rice with 1/2 the Soy-marinaded chicken thigh and the prepared seaweed salad from the Korean grocery store.
On Tuesday:
My Chinese friend at work and I ate 2 bowls of jook and scallions. For lunch I had 1 piece of bread pudding and half a red pepper. I had a snack of potato chips at work (bought at the store vs vending machine and shared with co-workers). For dinner, I had a cheese plate and wine with my knitter pals. (~$30 to fill up my wine card and the cheese plate)
On Wednesday:
1 bowl of jook again. Lunch at Red Hot and Blue for $13. (I don’t know why, but I really wanted ice tea that day.) Dinner for both me and boyfriend was 3 pork cutlets in seasoned panko breading and lemon herb sauce with sauteed shallot, squash & zucchini. (No starch. Plenty of breading.) There was also a $6 bottle of wine with this meal. We try to get a little romantic and fancy sometimes with a sit-down formal dinner. (Next time, I should remember to take off my apron though.)
On Thursday:
1 bowl of jook. Snack of remaining chips. Lunch was the last of the bread pudding (small piece) and red pepper. I also had 1 granola bar as a snack before the botched meeting with another blogger. While waiting for him, I had a ridiculously priced soy chai latte and a bag of potato chips. ($6 FREAKIN DOLLARS and the pain of DC traffic?) I feel very funny camping out at stores and not buying something. Then I went home, ate the rest of the soy chicken and some more rice and seaweed salad.
On Friday:
Last bowl of jook. (Finally!) For lunch, the final two pork cutlets with rice. Dinner and drinks out with friends. (A cringing splurge of about $60.)
Home-cooking week:
Jook = $9 (I use two kinds of rice and one is a little fancy)
Bread pudding & sides = $14.25 (We buy cage-free/organic type eggs)
Soy-marinaded chicken = $3
Seaweed salad = $5.30 (Prepared and v. expensive! The box was $8, but there is some leftover)
Pork cutlets and squash = $13
Chips = $2
Red pepper = $2
Granola bar = $.50
Wine at home = $6
Wine at store = $16 (on prepaid card. $4 left of $20)
Cheese plate = $11 (my share of it)
Coffeehouse snack = $6
BBQ = $13 (including tip)
Dinner & drinks on Friday night = ~$60
Total = $161.05
Typical week:
Lunches = 5 x $9 average = $45
Dinner w/knitters = $8 average (Sometimes it’s only a bagel and cream cheese)
Dinner w/boyfriend = $30 (for just me)
Dinner out w/friends = $60
Dinner at home 4 times = $50 (including wine)
Granola bars for a week = $3 (That’s sale price. I never buy them unless they are on sale.)
Total = $196.00
Difference is $34.95. Over a year, that’s $1,817.40! Realistically, I’ll fall off that wagon, and there are meals we have that are $50/head too. I suppose that means I’ll only truly save about $800.00 over the course of the year. But that’s not too bad.
The other thing I noticed is that one of the IT guys at the office is very slender for his late 40’s. I saw him in the kitchen and asked if he packs his lunch every day. He told me that he did. I think the reason he’s so slim is that he doesn’t eat a lot of processed foods for lumch. He does drink quite a bit though. (Team happy hour every week, but he drinks light beer.) I know he’s been at this job for over 15 years, so he’s really dedicated and has likely saved almost $20K over his working life by packing lunch daily.
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I too bring my lunch to work. It’s a money thing, but also because I live at home and my mom just has a lot of leftovers. I can never turn down my mom’s cooking!
I’m sure DC is about as expensive as Wall Street, but here, people can expect to pay about $8 a day on lunch. That factors to almost $2,080 a year. I’m not even considering the happy hours which can go overboard. Although it is time consuming to make a meal everyday (well, you make your recipes sound like second nature!), it will end up not only being cheaper but healthier in the long run.