Author Topic: $3000 annual lunch budget  (Read 6037 times)

DCKatie09

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$3000 annual lunch budget
« on: November 05, 2015, 01:07:41 PM »
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spend-almost-3-000-lunch-110050334.html

My favorite highlight: "The average cost of a homemade lunch was $6.30..."

What are these people eating? Lobster and caviar for lunch every day? I'd guess that 80% of my dinners for 2 (plus leftovers) cost less than that.

zephyr911

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2015, 01:12:13 PM »
Lobster and caviar indeed! $1 per portion is easily achievable with normal food.

Pictured: 2# of pasta ($2), meat sauce ($1) with extra sausage ($3), and a couple pounds of frozen broccoli ($3) = 10 work lunches at 90 cents apiece.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2015, 01:14:35 PM by zephyr911 »

Jack

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2015, 01:15:34 PM »
$3000 / 365 days per year = $8.22/day.

Or, assuming most of the money gets spent for weekday work lunches out, $3000 / 250 workdays per year = $12/day.

Those figures are face-punchingly stupid, but not so extreme as to be lobster and caviar money. (Unless you live in New England where lobsters are cheap.)

Rezdent

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2015, 01:18:17 PM »
Meanwhile, on the Overheard thread, coworkers exhibit fear of leftovers...there's some of the issue, I'm sure.

mm1970

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2015, 01:18:25 PM »
Nah, not lobster, but also not really thinking about it.

Last year we spent about $3 per person per meal on food.  That doesn't count eating out, but we didn't eat out very often.  And I actually work on keeping food costs low.  If you are just shopping for what you need and not on price, you'll spend a lot more.


Camarillo Brillo

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2015, 01:20:05 PM »
Lobster and caviar indeed! $1 per portion is easily achievable with normal food.

Pictured: 2# of pasta ($2), meat sauce ($1) with extra sausage ($3), and a couple pounds of frozen broccoli ($3) = 10 work lunches at 90 cents apiece.
Wow. Outstanding.

DCKatie09

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2015, 01:26:17 PM »
Yeah, I just crunched our food budget (grocery and eating out) numbers and we're at an average of $7 per person, per day. That's pretty heavily weighted towards dinner though - I'd estimate most lunches are in the $1-2 range.

gimp

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2015, 02:18:11 PM »
Man, I used to live on $1/day for years (Boston, SF bay area, Portland OR, not the boonies). You're all fatcats rolling in dough by my standards.

Guses

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2015, 02:36:11 PM »
What are these people eating? Lobster and caviar for lunch every day? I'd guess that 80% of my dinners for 2 (plus leftovers) cost less than that.

If I could get lobster and caviar for lunch everyday for $3000, I wouldn't mind trying it for a year.... (or at least until I get sick of it)

But you can!!.... Just don't forget your microscope and your tweezers to eat your lunch.

Also, bring lots of crackers.

zephyr911

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2015, 02:40:09 PM »
If I could get lobster and caviar for lunch everyday for $3000, I wouldn't mind trying it for a year.... (or at least until I get sick of it)
But you can!!.... Just don't forget your microscope and your tweezers to eat your lunch.

Also, bring lots of crackers.
I'm pretty sure at least the lobster route is feasible. What's the FDA serving size for proteins, 3oz? Even at $20/lb you could serve that, top up with starch+veg for a real meal, and barely break $5.

zephyr911

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2015, 02:57:32 PM »
We usually just settle for crawfish here. I make a mean muh-fuggin' etouffee that we eat for days. Then we stiffen it up with rice and use it as empanada filling. \m/

StockBeard

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2015, 03:14:19 PM »
Lobster and caviar indeed! $1 per portion is easily achievable with normal food.

Pictured: 2# of pasta ($2), meat sauce ($1) with extra sausage ($3), and a couple pounds of frozen broccoli ($3) = 10 work lunches at 90 cents apiece.
Interested: do you freeze those, or do you literally eat the same thing for lunch for 2 weeks in a row?

kudy

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2015, 09:46:45 PM »
And I was feeling luxurious with my $30/month "lunch out with coworkers" budget (roughly once per week).

I am happy that only one of my coworkers buys $5-10 of lunch every day, nearly everyone else is a bit more economical - not that much peer pressure to all go out every day.

TheAnonOne

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2015, 10:49:22 AM »
Costco here in MN routinely sells lobster tails at about $2.50 or less each. So... 1 lobster tail daily for work X 250 day = $625..

Even if I am 5 times off in price, it's still less than 3k


That being said, I probably spend at least 3k a year eating out over various dinners, lunches, going out with friends, ect...

MgoSam

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Re: $3000 annual lunch budget
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2015, 11:50:15 AM »
Costco here in MN routinely sells lobster tails at about $2.50 or less each. So... 1 lobster tail daily for work X 250 day = $625..

Where in Minnesota are you? Btw, have you ever gotten the lobster tail from Costco? I wonder how good it is. I'm making paella next week with some friends, and it might be tasty to add some lobster to it so long as it doesn't break the bank.