Saving on lunches

One area where I save big is lunches. I used to go to M&S and buy lunch every single day and spent a minimum of £5 per day (5 X 5= £25 per week, X approx. 48 weeks = £1200 X 2 = £2400). Going into M&S every day also meant I was tempted to buy 'stuff' every day, whether it be snacks in the food hall, lingerie, homeware or makeup -If I see it I want it!

So I got to thinking a tenner a day between myself and my boyfriend is a little excessive and decided to make our lunches. I buy things that are easy that I can cook alongside our evening meals, etc. For instance if I am using the oven then its so easy just to chuck some sweet potatoes in to bake alongside our dinner. If I'm using the hob its quick to boil some pasta, rice or potatoes for salad. If I'm feeling super lazy then I can use store bought ready made coleslaw or potato salad along with some ham, chicken or tuna.

It's a great way of using up leftovers and incorporating it with the evenings cooking means it's not labour intensive.

Below is an example of what my weekly lunch shop can look like. It does tend to differ week by week, sometimes its cheaper sometimes a little more expensive than this. I think the below is somewhere in between, if you are really stretched you can definitely do it for less than this. I have forgotten to put our yogurts on their but usually for the week I spend £2-£3 on this and there would be 1 more multipack of crisps, usually whichever are on offer so call that another £1, so we can safely say that the shopping comes to approx. £25, which is for the 2 of us and is so much healthier than buying a sandwich every day. You could argue that I have to factor in the cost of cooking the food but as I've said I like t incorporate this into my usual cooking routine and it is usually just a case of assembling multiple items and also using some leftovers such as:

1. I usually have left over roast chicken, its not enough to make into a meal but is perfect to add to lunch.
2. Rice, potato or pasta can be made into salad.
3. Sausages or other meats can be mixed with pasta and veggies to make a nice pasta salad

If you are currently buying lunch every day I would urge you to try this, maybe just for a week. It's such a great saving and what I love is that you have total control over the foods that you are putting into your body.

What do you do for lunch? I'm always looking for inspiration and usually I turn to Pinterest.

Please feel free to comment and share your ideas, tips and experiences.

Cookie