I need to stop eating at Pret

[CherryBlossomPie]

I cannot afford it. I'm living like its the 00s and its not. Its 2025 and I need to just save the money.

If I invested the £7 a day I spend there do you know how much I'd have in 16 years when I turn 60?

£53,000.

Anyone else up for a starting from scratch to stop eating lunch out thread?

If I invested the £7 a day I spend there do you know how much I'd have in 16 years when I turn 60?
£53,000.

I understand your point, but calculation only works if what you do eat instead costs you nothing.

In the past I’ve spent more on food to make at home and take into work. Yes it was ‘fancy’ ingredients and I could have made something more budget friendly but sometimes it feels like life is too short for a drab meal.

Similar here. I already have a full rucksack weighing in at 8kg. There isn't space for lunch as well.

I stopped eating lunch from supermarkets / cafes when the prices shot up post covid.

I now batch cook or make my own sandwiches (easily under two pounds a portion).

And also switched to tea from lattes,which cost less than 10p a tea bag (using kettle at work).

Conservatively, I save £7.50 / day.

Completely disagree that their food is 'substandard'. Pret is the only thing I miss now that I no longer do a London commute. I used to love the jambon beurre, the ham and greve baguette, the sunshine bowls (mango and coconut yoghurt with granola, I think?) and the love bars, or those chocolate covered almonds. And those cinnamon crown things are delicious, especially just warm.

But they've never been cheap and now their prices are shocking. My mind boggles at how much money I must have spent there over the years.

You can make a really nice packed lunch if you cook a joint or a chicken at the weekend and buy in some nice bread or rolls with salad etc, I agree that it is a ridiculous amount to spend every day,

Used to live pret but it's really unhealthy. Grab a tesco or sainos meal deal instead.

If I was paid minimum wage then I wouldn’t eat at Pret either!!

I think there’s something really nice about making your own lunches to take to work. I used to treat it like a proper little ritual and was always coming up with new salad and sandwich or wrap ideas and snuffling out new and interesting things to include!

Treat yourself to good quality ingredients and don’t skimp on the sarnie fillings! I used to double up the pre-mixed fillings and refrigerate half to use later in the week. I’d strip every shred of chicken off the bone whenever I cooked a chicken on a Sunday, and mix up enough for two sandwiches with mayo, lemon juice, black pepper and a bit of Dijon mustard for Monday & Tuesdays sandwiches or wraps.

Grapes and berries were my go-to snack. also used to mix up thick Greek yoghurt with museli or granola, honey and strawberries or blueberries - and also chuck in things like dried goji berries, chia seeds or flaxseed - and take it to work for breakfast. The ‘Fuel’ granola with chocolate chunks is SO good. I’d also boil eggs and shell them to scoff in the car before I went into the office for an early protein hit.

I also used to ‘treat’ myself to posh crisps because crisps were my big weakness. I’d buy sharing packs and portion out 30/40 grams to take to work.

Well, firstly, I assumed some kind of staff discount might be available, but mostly I was amused by the visual of someone wearing a pret T-shirt, sat under a Pret sign and at a Pret table eating from the competition.

Of course the staff are in a different position to those passing through, who regardless of income are more likely to be making irrational food value choices than someone who works there.

there is only one Pret sandwich I really like, the New Yorker, the rest are really overpriced for the quality, and there was just something about someone so openly highlighting the poor value compared with the shop next door.

That, surely, depends on what meal deal you select? I’d never eat a sandwich from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S or any other retailer, simply because they’ll have been made days ago and contain far too many processed ingredients and preservatives. They also lead you to have a snack and a drink that you might not otherwise purchase. A jambon et beurre roll or cheese and pickle baguette from Pret will have been made on premises within the last few hours, and will have no preservatives.

Pret isn’t great for those who require gluten free, or indeed even are vegetarian anymore. But yes, I see the irony of a Pret uniformed member of staff eating elsewhere. But then, my local M&S always has people in Sainsbury’s shopping there (their store is across the road) so I don’t think I’d pay it a second thought. We are all free to spend our money how and where we like :)

My tip is freeze your soup. It doesn't leak out on the way to work then.

I think it was a hot wrap or something, maybe a chicken one, but they were all around the same price - I was hungry so believe me, if there was anything cheaper I would have bought it!

A pp has said they bought one of the wraps this week for £7, and, as I said, I was in an airport so probably marked up compared to a normal shop - the boots I eventually went to was more for a meal deal than normal as well.

It's become a trope to mock the 'if those young uns' complaining just gave up their avocado toast and fancy lattes they could easily afford a house deposit' advice but as this shows, there IS some truth to the fact that small luxuries really do add up!

I've been making my own pack up for the last 15 years and saved tons of money in the process.
I usually prepare it the night before whilst I'm prepping dinner and store it in the fridge overnight ready to collect the next morning.
Apart from saving a lot of money, I know exactly what's in my lunch and it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. No brainer. ☺️

There really is. Giving up avocado toast on it's own won't mean someone can save a house deposit, but if someone who buys a daily lunch, has a car on finance, goes on lots of holidays, always has the latest phone on a £50+ monthly contract, spends on clothes, grooming etc, has multiple subscriptions, uses Uber, Deliveroo etc, they could easily be spending hundreds, if not £1k+ pm on these things so cutting down from daily to onece a week could free up hundreds of pounds a month, which could mean they could be saving a deposit in a reasonable timeframe especially in less expensive areas where £10/20/30k is more than enough.

In any case, I wouldn't trust Pret on avocados as the last avocado salad I had from there was completely unripe, which is totally unacceptable for a supposed quality 'professional' food outlet. If I hadn't travelled from the shop by the time I came to eat it, I would have complained.

Gosh there's been a lot of replies! I feel less alone in my Pret addiction 😂

Goal next week is to just spend nothing on lunches. I've got some Simmer Eats microwave meals so I am taking those in. Next weekend I'll tackle making my own.

Waitrose meal deal is actually quite good value. But shush on that. I'm quite liking the home made salmon and cream cheese suggestion from a PP.

How do you get a free latte in waitrose?

I'm liking the idea of replicating things.

Breakfast wise, I always have homemade overnight oats but if I'm running late, I cheat and get them from Pret.

So maybe, knowing that may occasionally happen, I need a stash of my oats at work that I can mix with milk into porridge ✔️

I did discover dates in peanut butter as an alternative to brownies, oversized cookies etc. Also breadsticks- boring enough to not eat that much off and a bit of carb energy.

Totally get this. When I worked in London I spent a fortune there and put in a lot of weight eating chocolate pastries especially! I now make a packed lunch and save a fortune. It’s not too late!

We have always made our own packed lunches, it is no understatement to say that it’s unlikely that we’d have our home if we hadn’t. A sandwich, or for me a tupperware of veg, protein, grain; a fruit; a biscuit or similar, done! I find I need to prepare it the night before. Google for easy ideas. Good luck OP!

Wow such anger

Take a chill pill my love and understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion , I shared mine without the insults, perhaps you might like to give it a try?

Are those any healtheir?

For those wanting to do a massive MN salad type things but lack time, I cba to do the Sunday meal prep thing but if I'm grating a carrot for a salad or wrap, I use the food processor and do the whole bag. Then Tupperware the rest and add a handful to all salads / pasta / stews etc. Same with cucumber the next day - chop the whole thing. A whole bag of cherry toms halved the day after etc. Drain two tins of sweetcorn / tuna, roast two tins of chickpeas, boil the whole bag of baby potatoes or pasta and put the leftovers in the fridge. Most days you're then just moving stuff from small Tupperware to a big one (or your plate if home) and each day is a bit different as you finish one thing off and add something new to the tubs.