Living on a Budget Gourmet

[elka_woof]

After working at Starbucks for almost a year I discovered that eating out at local fast food places gets very expensive very quickly.  So, seeking out smaller, less greasy, and less expensive portions I started to experiment at the local supermarket.  The idea was to find ways of throwing together cheap, no preparation meals on the fly during my

Comments

[carmelrain]

I normally don't see the need to go out everyday and buy food for lunch, usually a decent sandwich made beforehand works really well and satisfies me til the next meal time. Throw in a few carrot sticks or a cheesestick and water or juice and you have a full meal. When that gets boring, my college student instinct closes in and 2-4 cups of Ramen will be purchased (and for 50 cents a pop I can't complain) and that will tide me over till I get bored of that and make sandwiches again...a lovely cycle of college eating!

[elka_woof]

Mmm, lunch cheese. Especially baby bells. Salty ones.

[elka_woof]

In other news, this came out wrong. I really am talking about cheese here.

[carmelrain]

I'll get you back for that somehow...not sure how...but I will...

[terminotaur]

The key thing is do you have access to either a fridge or microwave for lunch?

[elka_woof]

What did you have in mind?

[tibolf]

Yeah me and Fuzzy have noticed the same thing, we are starting to get those microwavable dinners/lunches. Also sandwiches go a long way! Bread for 0.89 cents at Winco, and Lunchmeat/toppings depending on how extravagant you are can cost under $10!

Hell I can live off of PB&J lol. Lunch is what cost me the most, so by making lunch at home and taking it to work I save next to $7 a day.

[elka_woof]

Peanut butter and jelly has always been one of my favorites. You can mix it up by making peanut butter and jelly in a tortilla, on a croissant, or whatever carbs you have handy. If you get exotic you can do peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and marshmallow, peanut butter and chocolate, peanut butter and banana... the possibilities go on and on.

[silvertaine]

I tend to side with my sis and make my lunch ahead of time. It's just easier to keep myself from those impulse purchases while in a store. Of course, my stocker hours now require this process, but I used to buy those Budget Gormet frozen meals every day... back when they were only a buck each... and tasted delicious. Also used to get Red Baron pizza singles before they started going to hell.

Now it's mainly numerous varieties of sandwiches/hot dogs/bagel combos, breakfast bars, cereal & milk, salads/taco salads, soups/stews, fruits/veggies/yougert/pudding/granola/etc. I'll also purposely prepare too much food the day before, so I'll have something to heat up in the microwave. Noodle/rice bakes, pizza, stuffing, etc etc etc... basically anything you could make at home could be for lunch. I don't even have to have it for dinner that day. I've made baked potatoes specifically for work and then thrown all the fixings in a separate container. Nuke it for lunch with some veggies = yum!

*edits*Great... now you have me thinking about more

[polarpaw]

I also find that it is easier to make a lunch ahead of time. And the girls have named many good options. But if I can't I like to go to Whole Foods or some other similar place that has various items prepared and ready as a take out. They even let you taste test to make sure that you would like the item. When I was visiting in California I picked up a lunch for two for about $10.

You can also get these really cute little plastic containers at Williams and Sonoma to put cupcakes or muffins in to keep them from getting smushed. I love little specialized plastic containers for packed lunches. I am sure that the cupcake containers can probably be purchased at other places, I just have only seen them at W&S.

I also like to mix up all the hearty salad fixings and put them in a covered plastic bowl, then bring things like tomatoes or avocados and dressing to add when I am ready to eat the salad.

[carmelrain]

I liked those cupcake containers, they're cute and if I made muffins or cupcakes more, I'd totally want some for college so I can make homemade muffins in the kitchen and then not have to pay as much for caf. food. use the Silicups and easy clean up! W&S ftw!