Lunching on a Budget

Most people in my office eat out for lunch. It's a social event: deciding on a place, walking there, sitting together for a rushed 40 minutes or so. I brought my lunches when I first started, but quickly ended that habit when I realized how refreshing it is to leave the office to eat. And how many more people I could get to know if I sat down for a meal with them.

My sister and my dad have gently cautioned me against eating out for lunch everyday. They point to health and frugality in their reasoning. Health because you know exactly what you pack in a lunch for yourself, whereas you never know how many calories and preservatives are packed into a meal at a restaurant. Frugality for the obvious reason that spending $12-$15 on lunch everyday can be avoided with a much more cost-effective lunch from home. But is it really that much more cost-effective to pack? I may be blind, but I have seen no meangingful difference in my checking account between the weeks that I eat out and the weeks that I pack lunch.

But I chose to give lunches from home another shot this week. My ritual the past three days has been to come home (I live 6 minutes away from work), eat a sandwich, and watch an episode of Sex and the City. I'm saving money and I'm getting out of the office, but I have no one to eat with :( Carrie and the girls are great, but I don't think I mind paying the extra few bucks to be able to eat with real people.