Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Lunch Money 2.0

Seconds anyone? Hehehe. Sorry could not resist the bad pun.




One of the ways I save money by bringing my lunch is by only buying lunchmeat that is on sale. Usually Meijer's has some kind of special where the packs of lunchmeat are 2/$5 or something to that effect. If not, I just buy whatever the cheapest brand is. Throw out those brand loyalties. I mean honestly, can you really taste a difference between the Oscar Mayer brand and the store brand? Just this past weekend I found packs of turkey (sorry don't remember the brand) marked down to $1.70 a pack. I grabbed several and stuck them in the freezer for use in the future. There are also peelies on some of the lunchmeat that you can combine with coupons you already have to save even more.



Another way to save is if you can find whole chickens, turkeys, or hams for a really good price. You can cook the item and then freeze whatever you won't use for that week's lunch for future use. After you get done cooking it you can boil the bones for a few hours and usually get even more meat, as well as stock that you can freeze for use in soups and such.



If you want to add fresh veggies to your lunch, do not buy the prepackaged, already cut up stuff like carrots, apple slices etc. These are more costly then buying carrots (or whatever it is that you are using) that you have to cut yourself and you are generating more waste from the wrappers then if you just buy one package of carrots not already cut.



Leftovers are possibly one of the easiest ways to save money when bringing your lunch because you are not buying anything extra. If you fix a pot of chili, make enough so that you will have one or two servings leftover that you can bring in your lunch. Instead of throwing out that spoonful or two of peas that are left in the bottom of the pot, use those as a side in your lunch.



The possibilities are endless when bringing your lunch. Be creative and use what you already have to save even more money.



In my next post in this series, I am going to share how I save money by making most of what goes into our lunches from scratch. Stay tuned for Lunch Money 3.0!

*****Updated*********

Stay tuned and on my next Lunch Money post I will be hosting a giveaway for a reusable bag that is the perfect size for lunches. (I use one of the same ones myself.)

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Great tips! Can't wait for the giveaway! :)

Lisa Brawner said...

those are great !