For my daughters, in university. . .
about 9 weeks per quarter
5 days per weeks
8 quarters completed, so far (tomorrow is the last day of classes for this quarter)
that's 360 days of packing lunches, so far.
Here's a sample lunch that my daughters take (it's actually breakfast and lunch, here, but for calculations, the lunch-only portion is listed):
a peanut butter sandwich (heavy on the peanut butter), on homemade, whole wheat bread
leftover spinach-rice casserole
1 apple
1 banana
I estimate that we spend at most, about 75 cents per lunch. Multiplied by 360 days. So far, we've spent $270 on lunches for each daughter while at their university.
If they were to eat in the dining hall, on campus, the cost is $9.25 for an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. The total cost to eat on campus for every day of classes, so far, would have been $3330! That's $3060 more than taking lunch with each of them, or $6120 for the both of them.
And if you look at the lunch that I packed, it's obvious that it was a quick and easy to make lunch, today. So not a lot of work for that $6120 in savings.
Sometimes, I just need to do these calculations to remind myself of just how valuable a little frugality can be.
