Lunchboxing is the new eating out

Yesterday, I ran out of bread for the millionth time (where does it all go so fast??) so I figured I needed a trip to the supermarket. On checking the fridge, I realised I actually had very little food in for lunches this week. Normally when this happens, I am drawn into the 'naughty lunch' crew at work, which usually involves KFC, McDonalds, or one of our local greasy spoons. Being almost 30 weeks pregnant on top of this means that I am starving constantly, and it usually results in me spending around £8 per day on food. Working 5 days a week, supposing I go 'naughty' for 3 of these, it can add up to almost £100 a month in food! AGH!

So I made the decision to go and buy lunchy things. I took £15 with me, and told myself that I wanted to spend less than £10. This is what I ended up buying:

2 x 2l Morrisons Own Diet Lemonade (on offer at 2 for £1)

3 x Morrisons Fruit Coolers (3 for £3)

1 x 4pk Buns (29p in 'oops' section)

1 x Morrisons Basics white bread loaf (47p)

3 x Mug shots (34p each on offer)

100g Pease pudding (24p)

200g Garlic Sausage (72p)

My food shopping mantra is ''Why buy brands when own brand is normally the same stuff in a different bag?''. If I had bought the branded alternatives I normally may have (which I priced up as I shopped), it would have bumped my shopping bill up by £3.50! 

All in all I spent £6.74, which will do for sandwiches for at least 3 days, and I can have mug shots with bread and butter on the other two days. Given that some of the bits will be consumed at home, I work that out as about £1.20ish per day for meals!

So, MoneySavingMummy recommends setting aside 5 minutes each morning to make a couple of sandwiches in a bag. Why not grab a bag of apples, a 6 pack of yoghurts and a 6 pack of crisps and make a meal of it? I could have spent a lot more and still saved on my weekly 'naughty lunch' spend.

Try it yourself for a week. How much did you save? Drop us a line at moneysavingmummy@gmail.com and let us know!

As an extra challenge, why not put the money you don't spend on eating out into a jar for a month, and at the end of the month, count up how much you saved!