Brown Bagged Lunches: Trims away the weight and saves you cash!

By Megan Risinger

Remember the good ol' days when your mom or dad use to pack you a lunch to take to school everyday? Well, we can bring that pattern back into the workplace (even though you may have to pack your own lunch nowadays, unfortunately). I have come across some articles that specifically focus on how brown bag lunches can save you on calories as well as money. I was intrigued because I would go out to lunch many times a week. On a website I was on a few weeks ago, it said that eating out for lunch is around $6.50 each time - and that's probably at the lower end - whereas the cost of a bagged lunch is only about $3.00! The site even broke it down to show that in 1 month you'll pack 20 bagged lunches, which will save you $70.00/month. Now that brings it into focus for me! Knowing that I can save $70/month if I just pack a lunch (or eat at home) was amazing to me.

When it comes to bagged lunches here are some helpful insights I found out:

- In general, brown bag lunches tend to be smaller in portion size and lower in calories (compared to going out to eat)
- Make extra (healthy) food for dinner the night before your workday, that way you can bring the leftovers as your next day's lunch. The best way to remember to pack your lunch, is to do this before you actually sit down to dinner - you could put it into a plastic container and stick it in the refrigerator before you even sit down to relax.
- When it comes to what to pack, here are some different options which may help to keep your lunches interesting/good:

*Buy a large bag of salad mix and pre-cooked grilled strips, and low fat dressing
*Cook a pack of chicken breasts on Sunday, so that way each day following you can make some sort of chicken meal and then you can add a different side dish each day
*Add some sort of spicy mustard, hummus, or fat free mayo that you can spice up with a bit of fresh garlic, pesto, or chipotle sauce to put on your sandwiches
*Try some exotic fruits - kiwi, papaya, lychee (have to say I'm not too familiar with this one, ha), passion fruit, or mango
*Rice cakes dipped in salsa or a small bag of mixed nuts
*Try toasting your bread for your sandwich - it can contrast what you are used to!
*Mix up what you use for bread - whole grains, pitas, and/or wraps

If anyone has any ideas to add to the list above, I'd love to hear them! I'm get stuck in my same old routine when it comes to lunches, so the more ways to keep it interesting the better!