I’ve been frugal since my college days, but one of the few areas that I let lifestyle creep (or lifestyle inflation) expand is my meal costs for breakfast and lunch. There has been days that I’ve spent over $20 just on breakfast and lunch. My typical cost are between $7 and $16. More often than not though, my normal costs are around $12.
Since I started my Lunch Experiment, I’m more mindful of the cost of breakfast and lunch meals.
Today, I went back to my Lunch Experiment ways and only paid 60 cents for both my breakfast and lunch… How is this accomplished? See the table below:
| Qty | Meal | Cost | Total Cost | ||
| 1 | Oatmeal (instant) | 0.29 | 0.29 | ||
| 2 | Eggs | 0.08 | 0.16 | ||
| 1 | Ramen Noodle package | 0.15 | 0.15 | ||
| $0.60 | |||||
So basically these frugal meals are cost 95% less than my regular non-frugal meals. I’ve been very happy with the return on my frugal meals!
For the most part the meal is healthy, both the oatmeal and eggs are great! With the Ramen Noodles?… I’d have to say no…
So, I’ve decided to go with this meal 2 or 3 times a week. This will reduce my lunch and breakfast costs, and I should not experience to much harm from the high salt intake (I put salt on my eggs, and the ramen seasoning is loaded with salt).
This is just one way that you can reduce your cost dramatically, as I have done…
Readers: What additional ways do you reduce your costs? I figure this is an easy way to save over $50 a week (at least $2,600 a year…) not bad!
-MR
You like those Ramen noodles, don’t you? =) If you ever come to Vancouver, you should try out Kentaro’s they make the BEST ramen noodles ever! (I am salivating as I write this).
Anyways, that’s a cheap lunch! But it doesn’t seem that balanced! =( Where’s the veggies or fruit? =) (Am I sounding like your mom now?)
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lol, thanks for stopping by mom 😉
I like Ramen noodles, but mostly I like the price of them!!!
Hmmm, I’ve never heardof Kentaro before but I believe you. Mostly, we go to Niagra Falls, but if we are ever up in the neighborhood. We’ll scope them out 🙂
Oh, you and Jeff (deliverawaydebt) both go for that Ramen lunch. Hmmm… not healthy. Do you think eating Ramen, for the long term, could cause any health issues that you would end up paying for in the long run??
Actually, I can’t think of the brand… but I really like the ramen with the chili oil and spice packet.
(btw, if u want to enter the money waster’s giveaway…be sure to find the Kraken and follow its instructions). 🙂
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I’m a bit worried about my salt intake, but my dividend fund is already paying off, I’ll enhance my lunch foods as I go.
Yeah, I started Ramen noodles as part of my “Lunch Experiment” last year. I’m more of a Lo Mein noodles kind of guy, but for the price, ramen noodles can’t be beat!
The idea was to save $40 a month and save that money, then invest the money, then use the dividends from the investment to buy me a free lunch(es) per week!
That logic is I buy dividend stock with my lunch money saved from not going out, that then provides a dividend I can use to buy myself better lunches down the road. Check out this post: Lunch Experiment
Not to pat myself on the back too much on this, but this is one of my better ideas! Definitely a win-win!
I’ve got to say I don’t know how I’d spend $13 on breakfast, unless I was in a restaurant of course. And if I did, I’d not need to eat again until the evening!
I have three breakfast staples:
– Bananas and peanut butter (no sugar version) on low GI toast
– Porridge
– Fruit smoothie with yogurt
The most expensive is probably the smoothie, but you can usually get a different base smoothie drink in a special offer from one brand or another each week.
So my breakfasts vary from $0.25 to $1 I guess. Plus maybe 20 cents for home brew coffee! 😉
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@Monevator
Hmmm, that pretty impressive! Especially considering that all three seems to be very healthy meals.
I’m sad to say that I’ve never tried Porridge before. I’m pride myself in trying different foods, and this one slipped right by me! I’ll have to see if I can find it and try it out!
Oh, I stand corrected, I just asked Mr. Google, and he said that Oatmeal is a type of porridge. I think the oats are prepare is a bit different though.
I’ll still have to try classic porridge someday…
Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
I guess you can add some corn to ramen, though corn isn’t that particularly nutritious either.. at least its a vegetable! =)
You could always put half the spice packet into the ramen noodles, that’s what I do =) Don’t let that high sodium intake wreak havoc on your bloodpressure, boy!
(LOL I’m such a nag!)
Lol, that’s what I do with the spice packets for the ramen noodles too (the entire packet is just too much for me anyway). The salt intake is what scares me the most.
Hmmm, the corn idea sounds like an pretty good one, I’ll have to try that out! We usually mix mashed potatoes and corn (or peas), it’s a great tasty combo! Perhaps it’s equally good with ramen noodles too!
hehe, I appreciate your nagging. 🙂
Yeah Ramen are not good!!! You know some wholemeal pasta (cooked at home) and a bit of spice can replace that and not work out much more.
Even a tom sauce or homemade pesto will not set you back very much.
TOM SAUCE: throw tomatoes, onions, basil and whatever spices you like into a pot, cook for a while, blend, taste, adjust and the freeze in bulk :)… I could eat it every day and it costs pennies.
@Forest
Hmmm, Great advice! I never heard of “TOM SAUCE” before.
Ramen does get old after awhile, that’s for sure!
Thanks for the great tip!