At my last job I went out a lot, or went to the cafeteria in a pinch.
At my new job (presuming all the details get worked out [sub]crosses fingers[/sub]), I will be bringing lunch in most of the time. The neighborhood isn’t the greatest, and I presume there’s a cafeteria somewhere, but it would be in a different building. I’m hoping I’ll be able to bring in a little dorm-sized fridge and stock it with lunch munchables.
My schedule is rather fluid, but I try to bring my own food every day, even though it’s usually a frozen rice or pasta bowl of some kind.
However, I like to treat myself to some take-out at least once a week, just because I think I’ve earned it. But the money I’ve saved bringing my own food in most of the time is quite a bit. I can tell now that I actually balance my checkbook like a good grown-up.
When I worked in an office, I usually always brought my lunch. Usually ham and cheese on Pepperidge Farm white bread, baby carrots, and an apple. If I was feeling really frisky, I might throw some Goldfish crackers into my bag too.
I ate at my desk while I worked. I always felt it disrupted my work rhythm, or whatever, to actually stop what I was doing to eat. Although I did like going out to lunch with the people I worked with when we did decide, on special occasions, to go someplace to chow en masse.
I eat out most of the time and can’t afford it. This is not good. Sigh. Earlier this spring I was eating frozen dinners a lot, since I had about a 15 to 20 minute slot in which to buy and consume my food. They were much cheaper and really didn’t taste too bad but now I am out of the habit. Should try that again. Am n ot a good cook and can’t stand sammiches on a steady basis.
I bring a lunch to work, usually a sandwich, drink, granola bar, and apple, though I usually save the apple for the commute home. I have a FANTASTIC SO, who gets up with me (an hour and a half before he really needs to for his job) and makes me my sandwich while I shower, get dressed and have breakfast. I don’t know what I’d do without him right now - I’d NEVER make it work on time!
Our company cafeteria is pretty good, and fairly inexpensive, but I’m an Interac® girl, and NEVER have cash on me, and they don’t have it at work (not worth it for them, I suppose).
I wish I could afford to regularly go out to lunch for work. But then, not, because it’s hard to get a good variety of low-fat, low-calorie, high-taste meals when eating out all the time.
At one place I used to work, the guys would go to Bob Chin’s, Le Francais, Don Roth’s, Cy’s Crabhouse, The Weber Grill, you name it. $100.00 a week for lunch was nothing to those guys.
I tend to work longish hours, so I bring breakfast, lunch and a snack to work almost every day. It takes a little extra time to prepare, but I get a great variety of healthy foods at a seriously reduced cost.
Once in awhile someone in the office will invite me out to lunch and I usually will go when asked.
It’s cheaper & healthier! Plus, our cafeteria just does not have appetizing choices, unfortunately. And it is over-priced! My workplace is in an isolated location, so unless you have a car, you either bring lunch or eat in the cafeteria.
I try to keep a stash of frozen stuff in the fridge at work (we have break rooms with full-size fridges and microwaves, fortunately), like TGIF’s buffalo wings, which I have with a salad, as well as the pasta bowls at my desk–gives me another choice if I don’t have anything that I want to bring from home. Have to be careful of both the frozen dinners & pasta bowls, though, since they are usually very high in sodium.
Today, I made a tuna salad sandwich from the small package of Starkist tuna. If you like tuna and haven’t tried the stuff that comes in the package instead of the can, give it a try, it really is quite good.