When I’m not staff posting for Broke Professionals, I blog about my journey out of debt full time at So Over Debt. Come visit and read about my successes and failures – lately there are plenty of both!
There are a million articles and posts about saving money by taking your lunch to work. It’s cheaper, often healthier, and saves time during the lunch hour. But what happens if taking your lunch to work just isn’t possible?
I do take my lunch to work most of the time. However, there are days when I have meetings first thing in the morning with no access to a refrigerator. While I do use an insulated lunch bag, between my hour-long commute and an hour or two of meetings, my lunch can get gross and inedible in a hurry. There are also occasions when it would be antisocial not to go to a restaurant, like when it’s my boss’s birthday or a coworker’s retirement party.
All the advice about taking your lunch to work is great, but it doesn’t give you an option if you need to eat at a restaurant for whatever reason. Here are some simple tips for eating out for lunch without breaking your budget.
Drink Water
Drinks are ridiculously overpriced at restaurants. You’re looking at 2 or 3 dollars for a fountain drink that costs 13 cents. I hate water, but I like it better than wasting money on a drink.
Eat a Sandwich
When I go to a decent restaurant, I’m usually tempted to order something awesome (i.e. expensive) like those steak and shrimp combos that are suddenly popular. Those meals can easily cost twice as much as a cheeseburger or chicken sandwich! The sandwiches are also also huge enough that you can save half for later.
Order an Appetizer
A lot of restaurants have appetizer combos, where you can order several small portions together. Instead of $9.99 for a chicken strip meal with fries, you can pay $6 for chicken strips, chips with spinach dip, and mini burgers. Better deal? Um, yeah!
Ask About Half-Size Portions
Salads tend to be absolutely huge, but many restaurants offer a half salad for a reduced price. There are also half-size options for many other meals, but of course the restaurant won’t advertise this. It never hurts to ask!
Look at the Lunch Specials
Lunch menus exist for a reason. These meals are generally faster for the restaurant to make and have the added bonus of being cheaper.
Fast Food? Consider a Kid’s Meal
When I was in high school, I remember buying combos at McDonald’s for less than $4. Now, most meals are more than $6. While that’s not a huge difference, it adds up. I have learned that a Happy Meal is enough to fill me up most of the time – $3 and change for a burger, fries, and a drink. The smaller portions also significantly reduce the number of calories you’re consuming.
Skip Dessert
I love sweet stuff as much as anyone else, but restaurant desserts are just as overpriced as drinks – sometimes as much as $5 extra for a single serving. If you’re craving something sweet after your meal, go buy a candy bar for 50 cents at a gas station. Or, better yet, keep some snacks in your desk drawer and eat something when you get back to the office.
Don’t Feel Pressured to Leave a Big Tip
I guess some of my coworkers want people to think they’re wealthy, because they’re always volunteering to leave the tip for the entire group. Don’t be one of those people! Leave your own tip based on the cost of your meal – a dollar or two is often plenty, especially if your meal was only $7.
So there you have it – multiple ways to eat out for lunch that don’t cost a ton of money. What other ways have you found to save when you can’t take your lunch?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I love to order the kid’s meals. They are about the right size of food that I need. I find the adult combo meals just have too much food unless I am splitting it with another adult. Good tips!
I have actually found that ordering a dinner sized portion (instead of a lunch portion) and then saving half for lunch the next day can actually be more economical than getting the smaller size. But obviously, if you did this daily it would get pretty costly!
That’s a good point! Depending on what you get and what storage options you have, this could be a good way to save money as well. Unless you leave your to-go box on top of your car, then think people are waving when they’re actually alerting you to the box on your car. Not that I would know.
Good tips. I brown bag about 95% of the time, but I’ll check for half order next time.
I am a fan of brown baggin’ it. Saves so much money.
I usually make my lunch for the first 4 days of the work week then treat myself to a meal under 8 bucks for Friday. That way I don’t feel deprived from going out to eat.
I do the same thing – unless there is a special occasion, I only allow myself to eat out for lunch on Fridays. It’s amazing how much I’ve saved. I had to cut down gradually, though, to avoid going through restaurant withdrawals!
my lunches are meal cooked by my wife, occasionally I do get half cooked packaged meal from grocers and microwave it before eating. On average my lunch cost is not more than $4 on any day. These are great tips for people who eats out during lunch, when we have office parties we see people visiting eateries like honey bees.
I love that you ran this post because so much of personal finance advice repeats the sames things over and over: cut cable, skip the latte, take your own lunch. These are great tips for cutting costs, if you choose not to brown bag it.
I work from home, but I can imagine brown bagging it would save tons of cash each week. Not to mention, you will more than likely eat 10 times better than the poison they feed us at these fast food place. So not only can you save money, you can be healthier.
I like to say Health is Wealth because if you have to pay all your extra money to the healthcare field, you will realize how important your health is to your life and finances.
Good luck!
Great tips. I have always found drinking water is huge. In some places I find the drinks more expensive than the meal. I tend to bring lunch to work but for those time I need to head out these tips will come in handy.
Good tips. Since I hate to cook I used to get the frozen lunches and nuke them, along with a yogart and two pieces of fruit.
I tend to bring my lunch every day, but occasionally I will go out. What I do is set a price limit ahead of time and only bring that much money. For instance, I will decide that I will only spend $10 and I will base my food and beverage choice on that budget knowing full well that it must also include tip. I will also try to encourage my companions to go somewhere like Panera where there’s no tip involved!
leftovers and some carrots for me
I live close to home and one of the benefits is I can go home during lunch time. Not only that I am saving money on lunch but I can take a short nap as well to re-energize myself when I go back to work.
A lot of times I’ll bring in some leftovers and mix it with something I buy at the local lunch place. So I’ll bring in some leftover meat and get a small salad or soup. This way I’m able to get something out with coworkers, but also save some of the costs. Also occasionally I’ll get something big and leave half for the next day. All of a sudden that meal that was $8.50 is now only $4.25. By controlling portions, I’m able to get what I want, and as a bonus have it two days in a row. It helps that we have a refrigerator and a microwave at the office. I would ask for even a minifridge at work, since that can save workers so much money and really doesn’t cost a business a whole lot.
Growing up, I hated taking my lunch to school as all the “poor kids” did as the bulley’s called us. Now, I’m trying to overlook that and become “wise” in my lunch choices – be it taking my lunch or buying it from a fast food place. Right now I’m taking my lunch to work at least once a week. For the most part, I buy my lunch from fast food places. My favorite? Taco Bell, but I also like Wendy’s and Mc Donalds. Lately I’ve discovered Wendy’s and McDonalds Value Menus. Taco Bell has a Big Box for $5.00, which includes a drink. I try and make my choices from the value menus “fun” and try to never order the same thing twice in a week.
I’ve found another way to save on lunches – I call it a “2-for-1″. I go to Subway and order a footlong sandwich. I really like their turkey sub. I have them put on tomatoes, some onions, and olives, with honey mustard sauce. No lettuce as it will wilt. I eat half for lunch one day, wrap up the other half and have it the next day.
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