No Such Thing as a Free Lunch...

But bringing your lunch from home will save beaucoup bucks! I've read quite a few articles lately about how much bringing your own lunch will save THOUSANDS of dollars a year! Really! The Millionaire Mommy Next Door has a great post on how you can really have a million dollars by saving your lunch money! Seriously! And over at Wise Bread, contributor WC Porter wrote about how eating the same lunch for 3 years saved $2,000! Now, as I've mentioned in our first lunch post, I wouldn't be good at eating the same thing for 3 years in my lunch. But it definitely inspired me to figure out how much I spent per day packing my lunch this week. Here's my menu for the next four days:

Monday:
Can of chicken noodle soup - $1.00/serving
Apple - 85 cents/serving
(that's it because I was feeling terrible)
Total - $1.85 lunch

Tuesday:
Dinner leftovers (Trader Joe's phad thai with prawns) - $2.70/serving
Nonfat yogurt - 50 cents/serving
Homemade fruit salad - 80 cents/serving
Total - $4 lunch


Wednesday:
Tuna sandwich with horseradish mayo - 65 cents/serving
Carrot sticks with hummus - 55 cents/serving
Nonfat yogurt - 50 cents/serving
Almonds - 25 cents/serving
Blackberries - free (from my backyard!!!)
Total - $1.95 lunch


Thursday:
Dinner leftovers (falafel sandwich and Greek salad) - $1.80/serving
Apple - 85 cents/serving
Cheese and crackers - 70 cents/serving
Total - $2.35 lunch


Friday:
Peanut butter and sliced apple sandwich - $1.30/serving
Blackberries - free!
Carrots and cucumbers with hummus - 70 cents/serving
Nonfat yogurt - 50 cents/serving
Total - $2.50 lunch

If we estimate that people spend $7 for a takeout lunch (and that's cheap!), that would mean spending $35 every week. By eating leftovers and using things I have around the house, I'd spend under $13 every week, saving $22. When you think about that money over course of the year, that's a few car payments, a weekend away, some extra contributions to your savings account....it really adds up.

How much are you spending on lunch? Does the time and energy of planning and making your lunch outweigh the savings? Any other good ideas for cheap lunches?