Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Thoughts on Lunchtime

It’s been a busy morning in the Extension Office so lunch time took me by surprise. Come to think of it, it’s been a busy 10 days or so which explains why I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping and my fridge was bare this morning. Since my stomach was starting to rumble I set out, with debit card in hand, in search of some lunch. I’m lucky to have two grocery stores within walking distance of my office. Deciding that I could use the exercise, I set out for the farther of the two. Upon entering the grocery store, I was faced with all kinds of choices from frozen entrees to piping hot entrees in the deli. Since I might not have time to make the trek again tomorrow, I decided to buy for several days. I bought a package of specialty sandwich bread ($2.50), some delicious French onion spreadable cheese ($3.59), a half pound of sun dried tomato turkey ($3.92) from the deli, eight apples and two bananas. My total bill--$14.26. Sounds pretty steep for lunch—until you stop to think that I bought eight lunches. Today’s lunch cost me $1.78, and I’ve still got a banana for my mid-afternoon snack. As I waited for my turkey to be weighed, I noticed that I could have gotten a gourmet sandwich from the deli (with the same turkey and similar cheese) for $5.00 or I could have gone a little further down the counter I could have gotten the full meal deal for $7.99.

By shopping for the sandwich fixin’s myself and making my own lunch, I saved somewhere between $3.22--$6.21. If you figure that I eat at least five lunches away from home each week, it amounts to $837.20-$1614.60 a year in savings. Granted packing a lunch requires either some forethought or a fridge at work, but could you use an extra $800-$1600? I can’t decide what I’m going to do with it---pay the dentist…buy my daughter a clarinet… replace my freezer…put a down payment on my son’s trip to Washington, D.C….fix my sagging deck…save it for next year’s vacation….

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