Bring Back the Brown Bag

Let’s talk about how to save on lunch the old-fashioned way! In fact, this is such a popular idea that May 25 of each year is officially designated as National Brown-Bag It Day.

Now, National Brown-Bag It Day is completely different from the famous “Brown Bag Special” at the Sonic drive-thru! I vividly remember getting those when I was a kid at my aunt and uncle’s house in Stamford, Texas. There were so many of us kids running around that we definitely saved a bundle by ordering the bulk Sonic special. But for this blog post, we are talking about the massive financial power of taking your own food to work opposed to eating out every single day. And just to be clear: just because a restaurant packs your expensive to-go order in a brown paper sack does not mean you are brown-bagging it!

So move over, breakfast! Lunch is the new ruler of the workday. Recent workplace studies show that employees who intentionally take a dedicated lunch break are significantly more likely to be productive in the afternoon and avoid long-term career burnout.

But lunch’s sudden popularity has a downside, specifically the enormous amount of money Americans mindlessly spend each week on dining out. Looking for an alternative to ordering sushi or expensive combos five times a week? The best answer is the simplest: brown-bag it.

Studies show that eating out for lunch routinely costs between $1,500 and $2,500 per year. We all know that fast food prices rose dramatically across the country over the last several years, making it incredibly difficult to find a standard combo meal for less than $10.

However, with just a little bit of intentional planning, you can easily spend as little as $5 per brown-bag lunch. Five meals a week, times $5 per meal, times 48 working weeks, equals only $1,200 a year. That instantly adds a clean $1,300 back into your annual household budget! Interested? Here are three practical tips to jump-start your new lunch habit:

1. Save While You Shop

There are several clever ways to trick yourself into saving money while walking the grocery aisles. First, bring your headphones! Research shows that listening to upbeat music actually causes you to walk and shop faster, which naturally stops you from lingering and buying impulse items you don’t need.

Plus, if you are anything like me, everyone else in the store will get to enjoy the accidental concert you put on while singing along! They may or may not know exactly what song I am singing since they can only hear what’s coming out of my mouth and not what’s playing in my headphones, but I’m sure it is still incredibly helpful for their shopping experience!

Second, do a strict pre-checkout audit of your cart. Grocery stores intentionally design their checkout lanes with tight dividers to discourage people from changing their minds and returning items to the shelves. Don’t be afraid to break the layout rules—if you scan your cart and realize you grabbed an extra luxury snack you don’t need, simply hand it to the cashier before they start scanning.

2. Think DIY in the Kitchen

In the land of the brown bag, sandwiches will always rule. However, building them with premium, pre-sliced deli meats can get surprisingly expensive. Here are a couple of budget-friendly alternatives:

• Slice it yourself: Try ordering larger, whole cuts from the butcher counter instead of the pre-packaged wall, and slice them yourself at home. With a little bit of practice, you’ll get perfect sandwich-sized cuts of turkey or roast beef for a fraction of the cost per pound.
• Think barbecue: Almost any protein slow-cooked in barbecue sauce is absolutely delicious, and your crockpot makes it effortless. Drop your budget-friendly cuts of meat into the pot, cover them with your favorite sauce, and cook on low for a few hours. You can shred the meat with a fork for delicious, restaurant-quality barbecue sandwiches all week long.

3. Plan Ahead for Social Pressure

When you’ve finished your economical grocery trip, you’ve still got to actually make and eat your lunches. After your first few bagged meals, you might start missing the excitement of your old going-out-to-eat lifestyle, but stay with it! You can use these simple strategies to ease the transition:

• Pack ahead: Prepare the components for all your lunches at the very beginning of the week on Sunday evening. Group them into easy-to-grab containers in the refrigerator so you can snatch them at a moment’s notice on a busy morning.
• Be prepared for invitations: It can be hard to turn down co-workers who invite you out to lunch, so have a polite response ready. You can easily say, “I’m working on a savings goal today, but I’d love to walk with you to grab your takeout and sit with you in the breakroom!”

Most importantly, brown-bagging your lunch doesn’t mean being chained to your desk. Weather permitting, you can eat in a nearby park, or simply sit in your car. Honestly, I sit in my car at lunch all the time just to get out of my office and rest in the absolute peace and quiet. You can stream a show on your phone and enjoy some uninterrupted solitude!

If we are being completely honest (and I always am), I even sit in my car inside my garage when I get home from work some days just to soak in the last bit of calm and quiet before entering my house and having to tend to all the family responsibilities inside. Getting a genuine mental “break” with your lunch will make the lifestyle transition so much easier.

You can easily save $1,300 a year just by packing your own lunch bag—and if you use leftovers from the dinners you are already cooking, you can easily double that savings. Give it a shot this week. It is a low-tech, high-reward way to free up cash for the financial goals that matter most to you!