Tight for bringing my lunch and coffee to work?

[Skaife]

Just wondering how other people feed themselves at work?

I eat breakfast at home but have a stash of porridge pots to take with an apple, if I’m running late. I also make my own coffee and take it in a flask cup.

I take either leftovers or make a salad/sandwich at home, to take in for lunch. Always nice food. The girl that sits next to me said this is tight! She spends just under £10 a day on breakfast lunch and coffee, as she buys breakfast and coffee at Costa then gets a chain sandwich at lunch - I think this is nuts.

What do other people do? Am I tight?

I mentioned it to DP this morning, he said the economy needs people like her!

It's the rule in our house that packed lunches come out of supermarket shopping and we do have things in, or leftovers are usually available. If you buy breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee etc while at work, it comes out of personal spending money, because it is simply vastly more expensive.

I nearly always take my own lunch while for a long time DP almost never did and had fast food or coffee shop stuff nearly every day.

Ten years later, I have TWENTY THOUSAND POUNDS of premium bonds in my name that is mine and mine alone and mostly due to our different lunch habits. He has no personal savings and he also has type 2 diabetes.

To be fair, since he was diagnosed his eating habits have improved massively and he has lost quite a lot of weight, but it's quite an eye opener one apparently insignificant habit can make such a huge financial difference over the long term.

Definitely not tight at all. Only time I would buy myself lunch is when I forgot mine and my butcher had made pies! Currently on maternity leave but when I was working, I was in the community so always in my car. Much prefer to take my own homemade soup, salad, sandwich or wrap, plus some fruit. We also make our own bread, nice ham from the butchers, organic eggs and local cheese. So much nicer than something from Greggs. I'd rather know what's going into my food. DP also takes a packed lunch every day. Most we'd get is a quiche or something in the food shop.

I hadn’t thought of the environmental aspect but we are helping with our Tupperware lunch boxes and flask mugs. It’s the cash I can’t get over. I spend about £3 a day on breakfast, coffee and lunch. So a saving of £35 a week or about £1700 per year - that’s a holiday!

As ppl have already said, sensible. Bet yours tastes nicer too.

I used to take in lunch at my old job as it was based in a mostly residential area with very little choice within walking distance. New job, I tend to buy lunch out. I work in a variety of offices and can be in two different places in the morning, so can’t leave lunch in a fridge. I am not keen on carting a cool bag around with me, another thing to carry.

I am out of the house between 6am and 7pm so need something filling, more than just a sandwich or salad.

In terms of the cost, I never eat breakfast or get coffees out, and my lunch is my main meal of the day. I find if I have a decent lunch I don’t get the afternoon peckish feeling and I then can have quite a small dinner. Overall I don’t think I spend over the odds, lunch out is just factored in to my weekly food spends.

I also like it that I am not stuck with a load of lunch ingredients that I feel compelled to use, whether I fancy it or not on a particular day. I have a wide variety of lunches each week depending on what I want each day.

I haven't RTFT but I'm going to guess that the unanimous answer is that your colleague is a damn fool.

I used to be your colleague, £5 on breakfast & coffee at the train station then £5 on lunch from Pret every day. I could easily afford it, so why not?

What a waste of money

With the benefit of hindsight I wish I had saved even half of it back in the day by taking my own food to work.

I usually take my own in. A bought lunch can be a nice treat from time to time but the cost soon adds up. I don't buy takeaway coffee in any situation - I take water or a cold drink from a multi-pack.

I take my own breakfast and lunch to work. I don't drink coffee at work, I just drink one before I leave the house. Occasionally for a treat I will buy a sandwhich from Tesco or Boots, but probably only twice a year. I can't afford to spend money buying lunch every day and even if I could I would see it at a waste of money.

I make a smoothie or take a breakfast bar into work for breakfast, then either have a packed lunch or a couple of times a week will get a Tesco £3 meal deal, or something else similar price nearby (thankfully there's loads of places to go out at lunch for cheap near my work). I also have my own squash at work I have with the water from the coolers as I don't like hot drinks. So max £9 a week if I'm having a lazy week.

Our workplace has cafetiere coffee, tea, hot choc, various squashes and also free fruit, so to be fair we get a good deal. Lots of people still head out first thing and buy fancy starbucks/costa drinks though

Free drinks at work. No canteen. I take pack lunch or leftovers. Sometimes I buy sandwich. Yesterday I was treated to hot lunch at super market cafe day time. It's weird working nights & eating food at 3am ! I don't care what other people think. I save a bit taking my own food

When I was saving for a deposit I ate jam sandwiches for packed lunch, fruit every day. The savings do add up !

I do about half and half, I always bring my own coffee in a flask, can’t remember the last time I bought coffee and I usually take lunch with me but if I don’t I buy a sandwich for £1.80 so hardly breaking the bank

I bring breakfast and lunch and always have, unless I have arranged lunch with a colleague. I am not willing to spend £3 on a sandwich when I can make my own. I also bring fruit and snacks. Hot and cold drinks are provided by my organisation.

A lot of my colleagues spend a fortune buying breakfast and lunch in Pret. Some have said they would hate to make lunch daily. We all have different circumstances, responsibilities and mindsets. I do not even spend £200 a month on clothes and beauty so would not consider spending this on lunch.

Pre-kids I was much better at taking my own lunch in (leftovers to microwave, usually), but since then I keep a bag of porridge oats at work as well as milk, coffee and tea. I bring my own fruit and other snacks, though local fruit stall is similar price to the supermarkets, but buy my main course - under £4 in current canteen but there's a dozen alternatives within a three minute walk. Previous office I used to get the large soup and bread from the single nearby shop, which was excellent and saved deciding what to eat.

We have subsidised coffee at work and some people get 2-3 a day rather than just making their own, which is a fiver a day. I can understand some people prefer the espresso taste but some get tea from them despite a tea bag in boiling water tasting the same when it's free!

We all have our preferred luxuries - I remember eating on £5 a week as a student and then spending the same again either on a takeaway or Pret on a Friday. We'd often be without gas or electric all weekend to save money, but that luxury kept me going.

I have noticed that the majority of junior officers buy coffee and lunch daily. An ex colleague once told me she deserves to buy lunch daily, it is one of the luxuries ome should have when working full-time.

Thanks everyone, it’s interesting hearing about how others do things!

Glad I’m not widely deemed as tight too.

How rude!

Most people probably do a combination over the years but taking a packed lunch will definitely save you at least a fiver a day. Going out at lunchtime inevitably means that you are more likely to spend more on other stuff too which is what I did quite a bit before I realised that I’d rather spend the money that I did on fripperies/daily little luxuries on holidays instead.

You’re going to be at least £2k up on her every year - that’s a decent holiday! Who cares what she thinks? Horses for courses. I bet you she wouldn’t like it if you replied that you thought it was rather sensible not to waste your money on a daily coffee/meal when you have a larger goal to aim for.

Well we’ve always taken our own lunches in and both kids are following suit (one just finished a placement year - he even makes his own rolls) and one worked through a gap year but saved like mad to go volunteering and travelling.

I only work in the office 2 days a week now, but still try to make 2 salads on a Monday night. I sometimes forget or can’t be bothered and do then buy, usually a £3 sandwich max. But that is a fairly recent, getting older trait. DH always takes both breakfast and lunch in. We also make packed lunches most of time if we are out walking, on day trips or on hols etc.

It might make us tight but we have significant savings that allow us a very comfortable life, able to go out for a meal whenever we fancy, book hols without thinking too much about the cost, nice cars etc.

As others have said, she sounds rude, but maybe she is jealous somehow, realises that you have more free money each month and it’s easier for her to snipe at you than change her lunch and coffee habit?

I either take lunch from home or go to the supermarket near work and buy stuff, same cost essentially. Four apples, cottage cheese and a packet of oatcakes lasts four days whether I pay for it in my weekly shop or not.

I have an AeroPress at work so just take a bag of coffee in when I need to.

But being tight is usually something that affects someone else - like the person who brings a cheap bottle of plonk to a party but drinks only gin while they're there. How does it affect her if you bring in something from home?

Most of us take lunches in where I work. We have a kitchen with a microwave and stuff so we can do jacket potatoes and rice and stuff. What's wrong with that? I couldn't justify £10 a day!

I'm not tight and if I'm out for meetings I might buy something but it's also much easier to eat healthily when you make your own.

You're not tight. She's very shortsighted and rude. Everyone brings their own lunch in to our place.