To hate packing food to take to work

[waitingforautumn]

I live just outside and work in central London. Cost of living rising means I'm starting to feel guilty about the money spent on coffee, breakfast and lunch at work. I do somewhat 'budget' for this (i.e. am single, no kids, don't care for designer stuff etc, walk where I can rather than train or bus). However I do realise how much I could save if I were really disciplined about going to the supermarkets and stocking up for a week of homemade lunches and prepped breakfasts, which do sound appealing in theory..

Only issue is, I REALLY tend to miss buying things out - esp lunch. Just being able to pick something new each day, made with ingredients I wouldn't usually buy. I just feel like I eat more healthily/get more variety when I allow myself this. There's the option of sandwiches and baguettes (Pret/Paul/Leon type thing) plus lots of hot options where I work. I also love a good old Tesco meal deal so often have that for lunch too (love the mix and matching element).

Can cheapen breakfast by stopping at a supermarket bakery on way (£1 for a pastry rather than say £2.50). And it's still lovely (am a sucker for pastries and now associate office days with getting one). In the past I've made overnight oats and did keep that up for a while but got out of the habit after the pandemic return to work, and also loathe the washing up part at the office sink.😆

Is it me or is there something nice about strolling to work with a coffee you didn't have to make yourself, a fresh pastry and picking up a lunch you didn't have to plan way in adv or prep?!

I do wonder if this is quite a London thing with all the variety around. Have to be up around 6.30 to get around without the trains/tubes being busy so it feels to early to eat something before leaving home - and I'm always hungry when I sit down having had to walk past upteen bakeries to get in! I feel stopping for coffee/food helps make the working day nicer, I can pick something I fancy there and then. Few colleagues bring anything to eat from home and get all their meals/drinks out for the day so this really feels like the norm. We must all be spending anywhere from £5-£15 a day on all this. 🤔

Nobody single from my generation can afford to get on the housing ladder here anyway, even with decent savings. Some of my friends easily spend £35 a pop getting nails done every 3 weeks, which is outrageous to me. So I'm inclined to say whatever treats get you through life?!

AIBU? Am I lazy? Do I need to find another source of joy in my life? Writing this on the train on the way to work obvs and I have absolutely nothing on me for the day ahead!

She's not wrong. In our commuter city, coffee and food shops either aren't open early or there is crap choice like Greggs etc. I love the ability to choose from loads of different food shops when in London.

I was asking if you, specifically, got excited about them. (And, in the context of this conversation, if you live in central London).

Yeah the rest of us 'eer country folk just catch ourself whiche'er animal move slowest and throw it on the bonfire for lunch... we don't 'ave them fancy drink and san'wich places.

You must live very rurally, `@mam0918 - round here we have progressed to them there "horseless carriages" (just a fad - they'll never catch on). They often crush creatures under their wheels and we all rush out to grab it - the first person out there with a spatula is the one who eats best that night!

GREGG'S IS BRILLIANT!

DO NOT DISRESPECT THE PASTY! 😡

I worked in London for many years through my 20s and 30s and rarely, if ever, brought lunch in.

I don’t work in London any more, but my husband does and he regularly brings in his lunch, although he told me he bought lunch in one day last week and spent £12! He likes Asian food so he has a bento style lunch box and cooks different things up that will keep a few days and then fills up his bento box each morning.

I know work on a business park type of place outside London, we have a canteen but I don’t really want to eat from there. So I also make up a couple of different vegetable, pasta, salad options and put together a mixed lunch box each morning. I really enjoy it and think it is far preferable to the pret sandwich I used to have.

Really appreciate all of these well balanced comments! Haven't responded to every one but thank you (esp to those who have let my London comment slide - should have known it was an irrelevant fact 😂)

*now not know

One of my people! and yes I do the same with jacket and beans! X

But for me I have to be up at same time as OP to get to work, I still manage to make a packed lunch, coffee to take away. I prep the night before, granola in a bowl in cupboard, tea bag in takeaway tea/coffee cup, lunch prepped.

If I'm super busy/have to be extra early then I'll get a takeaway coffee/lunch out.

Or the other week, the takeaway coffee spilled and emptied, no time to make another one and was going via train anyway (express bus there is no cafe nearby!) so I bought tea/coffee at station cafe.

Freshly coughed over is what I'm going for! ;)

Apologies for the pasty disrespect ! I do like to have the choice between a claggy sausage roll and watery coffee, or an almond croissant and flat white though. Variety is the spice of life and all that ...

I do appreciate the comments like this keeping things real! Basically the answer I would get if I were to consult my mum about the issue 😂 do appreciate your time thanku x

"We have here what's known as A CAFE, sometimes we also visit a SANDWICH SHOP, there's so much variety here that you wouldn't know about, living in the North and licking moss off a rock or whatever."

😂😂😂😂😂

These are the worst posts on mumsnet.

You’re basically saying nobody is allowed to post about anything nice, ever, because there are people worse off.

You sound like a healthy influence!

Personally I'd crack on if I were you. I'd rather waste my money on things I enjoy than wallow in depression counting my pennies.

Apology accepted. You probably don't know any better.

Enjoy your forrin muck.

😂

I think it’s doable to take breakfast & lunch to work. I commuted to the city for a long time and I took overnight oats for breakfast every day and a packed lunch Mon-Thurs. I got lunch out on a Friday as a treat. I got up super early in the morning so I’d pack my lunch in the evening. I’d make a double batch twice a week, so only had to prepare my lunches twice. It saved me loads of money.

Just make your own 2 or 3 days a week, saves money and good for the environment without all the packaging.

You should try visiting outside London though as we have some lovely takeaway gruel shops up here. You can even have it heated if you like the fancy stuff.

It is true. I'm hoping this thread can fuel a change in mindset :) enjoying it very much so far and appreciate everyone giving my post the time of day!!

😆

a pret breakfast and lunch are my reward to myself for working long hours in a stressful environment every day. I made packed lunches for years when the children were at primary school and. I will never, as long as live, make AND WRAP another sandwich. There are other things I will cut back on before Pret.

It does annoy me that we are charged x amount for a coffee and it is mostly milk 🥲

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz So many choices! Your best bet would be Bermondsey Street - I love Comptoir Gourmand for proper French pastries, and you could wander up to the river and sit by the bridge to eat them, or the Vietnamese place for lunch. The cafe next to the Premier Inn (Bermonds Locke) is on Too Good To Go so you can get bargain bags there. Maltby Street market at weekends is brilliant, especially St John and Flor bakery, and you're not far from Borough Market either (thurs/fri less busy than weekends). If you want a fancy dinner, Casse Croute is perfect.

Adding to my new list of tricks, thank you !