February's Bring Your Lunch to Work

fatrab

Had a change of heart on the salad for lunches idea and have decided that this week is a write-off in terms of the diet. Had a truck-stop breakfast on Monday and pancakes yesterday so I've gone into [financial] damage limitation mode!

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel now with what I have left in the cupboard, so I've made a few portions of bacon and broccoli cheesy spaghetti which worked out at under £1 per portion. Porridge for breakfast for the next 2 weeks @ 5p per portion and have a 40p loaf, peanut butter, jam and cold meats to fill in the gaps. I reckon the next 3 days has cost me around £6 for all my food so happy with that.

Will be heading home on Friday so hope Mrs fatrab has something nice planned for dinner!

9/19 so far for me!

suki1964

a_silver_lining wrote: »

Hi all, haven!!!8217;t posted since the start of the year but just checking in to say that I managed all of January without buying lunch at work of coffee - coffee being my big downfall!!! I still spend £44.50 on !!!8216;eating out!!!8217; so takeaways, meals out, coffees and cakes, lunches with friends etc. This month I!!!8217;m already at £41! So I need to reign that in. Anyone working on reducing takeaways and eating out? Any tips?

I enjoy a meal out or a takeaway now and then. But it is now and then, not daily. If you like posh coffee, think about buying a coffee machine and a travel mug. Like a slice of cake, make one and take a piece in to work. Look for meal deals when going for lunch.Ask for tap water to drink whilst eating. Invite friends to yours for lunch

The other thing is think about what that £40 could do for you if you had it in your hand. Better still think what nearly £500 could get you, that’s a weeks holiday straight away

Oakdene

Morning all, hope you're feeling better if you were ill yesterday.

We are having a valentines day buffet in work so I sub contracted out the making of pork & apple sausages rolls to my daughter last night.

fatrab

a_silver_lining wrote: »

Hi all, haven't posted since the start of the year but just checking in to say that I managed all of January without buying lunch at work of coffee - coffee being my big downfall!!! I still spend £44.50 on "eating out" so takeaways, meals out, coffees and cakes, lunches with friends etc. This month I'm already at £41! So I need to reign that in. Anyone working on reducing takeaways and eating out? Any tips?

Last year I secretly kept note of how much my wife and I spend over a weekend on eating out and take aways and it was a staggering £125! That's not including alcohol or soft drinks either. So we knew we had to make changes.

Now we agree a meal plan, breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day, produce a shopping list from the meal plan, and go shopping twice a week. This helps reduce waste and gives you a little wriggle room if meals don't exactly work out as planned as you will have an extra day or 2 before things go out of date. And you can plan meals that use 100% of the ingredients purchased, again reducing waste and increasing efficiency.

The savings by using Aldi/Lidl are also notable, but you need to change your expectations and recipes to suit. There's a book called the Savvy Shoppers Cookbook which is worth buying (I got mine on Amazon for £4) and they have a website too.


Also, in my signature you'll see TAFD - I've invented TAFD (Take Away Free Days) for my own goals but feel free to steal/borrow for your own goals. A take away in this context is any fast or convenience food purchased from an outlet. Bakery, sandwich shop, burger establishments, pizzerias, take away Indian, Chinese etc, etc - basically anything you didn't make at home, but I will exclude purchases of groceries to make food. For example, If I buy a sandwich from a supermarket, that's a take away. If I buy bread and cold meat and make the sandwich myself then that's ok.

nicmalauren

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been a bit absent - managed to lock myself out of my account!:mad:

Ended up treating myself to a sandwich from the supermarket deli last Friday, so I'm gonna be at least one short of my target now. (Although no regrets as it was delicious and I'm now on a diet, so it was a "last hurrah", if you will!)

Some very nice ideas this month - although given the diet, pretty much anything would sound good to me right now! :rotfl:

Oakdene

Morning all, have got LO pasta & sauce today/

[Deleted User]

I have given up this week, I feel like poo, so haven't been making my lunch.

I'm working from home tomorrow, so won't be out spending.

Oakdene

Deleted_User wrote: »

I have given up this week, I feel like poo, so haven't been making my lunch.

I'm working from home tomorrow, so won't be out spending.

Sending you cwtches & hope you feel better x

[Deleted User]

Oakdene wrote: »

Sending you cwtches & hope you feel better x

Thanks lovely x

humblepii

Sorry to hear you!!!8217;re not well, Pmo2.

I had a blip yesterday where I didn!!!8217;t have chance to make my lunch the night before and PROMISED myself I!!!8217;d get up early to do it in the morning.... Then didn!!!8217;t. I had a miserable sausage roll and salad I bought and did not enjoy at all, which seemed fitting.

Back on track today with LO squash stew and cous cous.

8/16