This year, my spouse and I chose to prioritize healthy eating. Our objective was to consume more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, meats, and other natural products, avoiding processed foods with unpronounceable ingredients.
In a typical week, approximately 90% of my meals are homemade. Despite working full-time, having part-time jobs, and pursuing my master’s degree full-time, I committedly prioritized cooking healthy and affordable meals.
My cooking schedule usually involves preparing food a few times per week, making enough portions for several meals—for instance, Paleo Spaghetti. The recipe includes organic ground beef, onions, mushrooms, carrots, garlic, and tomatoes, served over spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles, topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese. With just 20 minutes of prep time, this dish fed me for seven meals, even becoming my lunch for four consecutive days. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also inexpensive—the total cost for the recipe is around $20, which comes down to roughly $3 per meal.
I mention this because I’m the only one in my office who consistently brings lunch from home. I could count on one hand, let alone two, the number of times I’ve had lunch out during workdays over the past year. For health and financial reasons, I prefer homemade meals over dining out.
On the rare occasions when I opt to eat out, I regard it as an opportunity for a social gathering with friends or my spouse, rather than merely a source of sustenance. Consequently, our eating-out occasions are typically reserved for weekends.
I have a colleague who dines out for lunch daily. To my knowledge, she has never brought her lunch from home. Let’s conservatively estimate her meal costs at $5 per day, which adds up to $25 for a five-day workweek. In a year (leaving two weeks for vacation time), she’s likely to spend around $1250 on her workday lunches – which, let’s remember, is a modest presumption.
Consider what we could achieve with an extra $1250 annually; perhaps it could pay off residual debt, or contribute to a house down payment, afford an opulent weekend getaway, or boost retirement savings.
It’s common to focus on the grand scale costs in our journey toward financial stability and often wish we had more money for security. Perhaps, it’s not all about the ‘big picture,’ and it’s essential to consider our small-scale expenditures as well.
