I skip lunch so I can leave earlier, not for any financial reason.
By far the biggest thing I miss about working in the office, as opposed to from home, is the free lunch. That’s such a no-brain perk for any company that can afford it. Saves everyone the time of leaving to go to restaurants,builds morale when they all eat together, and it’s cheaper to feed a large group of people all at once than to send them off individually to retail.
The concept of packing a lunch still escapes people, it seems. Buying lunch everyday was expensive BEFORE the prices shot up
Packing a lunch still costs money, just not as much as eating out. Skipping a meal is free.
I get it, some days I’m too busy, others it slows down an hour or two before I leave so I hold out until home. Days I do eat lunch, if I go out, I don’t feel so guilty bc I’ve not ate out all week. Otherwise I often pack leftovers that don’t get eaten.
Skipping a meal is free.
Only in monetary terms. I’d assume that the overall cost is negative.
I’m aware. I’ve been intermittent fasting for a couple years now. It just seems that there’s a significant portion of people who can’t feed themselves without restaurants these days.
If Their first thought when presented with higher prices eating out is to not eat at all…
i know someone like that, and they are definitely spending beyond her means.
Depending where you eat out it could be quite a bit cheaper than making your own lunch. Food has gotten ridiculously expensive, but the local diner will still give me three fried porkchops, two scoops of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a side of green beans or corn with a soup or salad for thirteen dollars. You’d be hard pressed to get all that for that cost made at home.
Fair, but at the same time I can have a peanut butter sandwich and an apple for about a dollar (most of which is the apple). It takes less than 10 minutes to prep the night before, and serves to keep me energized and full until dinner.
That’s barely food.
Packing a lunch costs time, and it’s probably not going to be as healthy as what you could get at a restaurant.
I’m pretty thankful that my workplace has a restaurant with cheap but good food.
You’re not in the US then lol, because “fast food” that most people get is anything BUT healthy. I could pack a can of spam and it’d be healthier probably.
Though is your job has a cafeteria, it’s a large enough business that makes sense to do to keep people happy, and they could use fresh ingredients which then obviously is a healthy option. I worked at a place like that years ago. It was decent.
Well I didn’t say fast food. I said restaurant. You know, a place where you could just fill up on salad every day and probably be fine nutrition-wise.
No I am not in the US.
I know you said restaurant, but a vast majority only get 30 minutes for lunch, and you can’t go eat in less than 45 minutes. Best you could do is call ahead to have an order ready or have it elected… But at that point delivery or fuel costs count towards meal spending, so bringing food from home would be cheaper, if you’re OK prepping ahead of time.
Yes, 30 minutes is a bit too short even if you have a good restaurant nearby. In Sweden we get 42 minutes but in most workplaces nobody’s really clocking you. And a couple of options are usually within walking distance.
Still though, I always used to prep for the reasons you said. I feel really lucky now that my workplace has a reasonably good restaurant on site, and there’s no issue taking proper lunch breaks.
I make a peanut butter sandwich with a piece of fruit. It takes under 10 minutes and is pretty healthy since I use unsweetened peanut butter and whole wheat bread. The fruit is the most expensive part.
A peanut butter sandwich is a snack or a dessert, it’s not real food. You need a way more varied diet.
I’m saying this out of concern, it really isn’t my intention to be rude.
I have a more varied diet, but I do a 500ish kcal lunch so a sandwich and piece of fruit is a generally pretty healthy option. It’s carb, fat, and some protein with a reasonable amount of fiber. Then there are vitamins from the fruit.
For dinner I do varied options, typically higher protein, and generally target about 1000 kcal. Considering I’m in good shape and my annual bloodwork shows no issues I’m going to assume I’m handling my nutrition fine.
In the last 10 years the price for a club sandwich has increased by 50% where I live in western Europe. Far more than inflation.
So yes it was relatively expensive but now it’s really expensive.
Tragically, the people I saw most often have their lunch delivered by expensive apps were the people whose mom’s would have loved to pack them a lunch in the morning.
Ramen, PB&J, etc was my goto for lunch. On Fridays I would go out to lunch w/ the team but not everyday like they did. Saved a ton.
Did the same thing on the road and pocketed the per diem… Send off diner was about the only time I went out and I could expense the meal. I was hosting the client after the project was complete per my management.
At my old job when I was responsible for keeping SaaS services running I would frequently skip or work through my lunch, but I would also leave 30 minutes early.
I wish they would have mentioned in the title that this is US workers. I’d be curious to see how that compares to cultures where lunch is more revered.
Pretty sure it’s close to 0% in the EU. Definitely is in my country, and it’s among the lowest quality of life ones.
Jokes on them, I’m skipping lunch because I’m fat.
Jesus fucking Christ it’s turning into the great depression out there :(
hey but the govt is reporting “4.5% unemployment rate”
Trump doesn’t allow accurate numbers ala North Korea.
I don’t take a lunch because a) if I skip lunch I get to leave earlier and b) I don’t get that hungry when I’m occupied so I find it preferable to snack mid morning and mid afternoon while I work.
You guys get lunch?
If you work full time in the US, you are likely entitled to a 30 min unpaid lunch.
Aren’t we so lucky?
When a breakfast burrito costs me 9 bucks and fills me up for most of the day, why would I opt to spend 20 bucks on lunch and less food?
Jokes on them I’m just not a lunch person. I snack through the day more.
