How we save on lunches - Meal Prep

Hello! Husband B here. The wife and I work in the corporate world from 8.30am to 6.00pm. Lunches can be a big headache for us because of the lack of variety near our workplaces. It can often be costly as well. Here are some motivating factors which made us meal prep lunch.

💸Cost

The wife works in an area with no affordable / walkable coffee shop to get her lunch. Hence, she’s left with either restaurants or grab food. Could you believe that she paid $9.00 for a bowl of wonton mee? Let’s do some simple math here

$9.00 x 5 days =$45.00 a week

$45.00 x 4 weeks = $180.00 per month

While I’m more fortunate to work in an industrial region with affordable meal options. However, healthier options like fish soup can cost around $5.00 per bowl.

$5.00 x 5 days =$25.00 a week

$25.00 x 4 weeks =$100.00 per month

Our total damage for lunch would be $280.00 per month. This is calculated conservatively without adding in drinks that can cost $1.50 - $2.00 or more expensive meals.

🧠Decision Fatigue

We believe that another great motivator to meal prep is actually to reduce decision fatigue. In essence, we no longer have to decide, queue and order our lunches which can give us an extra bit of mental break during our lunch. For the introverted wife, she enjoys having a little me time during her lunch and often has her lunch in the pantry while watching her favourite Netflix series. While I on the other hand, still join my colleagues at the coffee shop with my prepped lunch to bond with them.

🥗Healthier Options

The greatest motivator here would be the healthier meals which we prep for lunch! We know exactly what ingredients go into each dish. Less salt, less oil. We bring fruits to work on occasions too!

Here’s our tip on how to meal prep easily

✅ Look in your fridge, build from what you have left and buy what you need

✅ Keep it simple, we usually got for a pasta and braised/curry dish with rice

✅ Don’t be afraid to try

We hope to share this experience in hopes of encouraging some of you to start meal prepping for financial reason or health reasons.

Let us know in the comments what do you think!