We've already been brown-bagging lunches for a long time, but with food prices having shot up to their present level, even doing that is a budget- juggling act some weeks.
One day, I took a good hard look at where else I could possibly cut back as far as the grocery bill was concerned; my husband takes a salad and a sandwich daily, and I figured that the packaged cold cuts I was using averaged out to about $8.00 a pound! Even using store brand, fresh deli-cut or taking advantage of sales on different name brands didn't make a significant difference.
I've cut the cost by more than half by buying roasts, turkey breasts, whole chickens and turkeys and ham as they rotate on sale and roasting them solely for lunch meats. We picked up a small meat slicer at a yard sale for ten bucks and the DH is in charge of shaving it thin. It can be frozen and defrosted in weekly batches.
A little extra work, but the lunch roasts can be thrown in the oven along with anything else that might be cooking for a dinner, so we're saving a little energy, too!
Bravo, all you people. I am so glad to hear there are so many willing to put in that extra bit of thinking, doing, all for the sake of saving, and health.
I've known I was willing to do same, and my sis in law and her mom, but it's been years since I've heard of anyone else with the (I think of it as courage) will do do that much, to go the extra mile, let alone think of it.
Going to that extra effort of thought is so far beyond the ordinary to most people, it would never rise as a possibility.
Excellent ideas. Lunch has always been a dilemma for me as I get so tired of sandwhiches. But, where I work, there is no microwave, so leftovers for lunch is out of the question. So, it's either sandwhiches or a salad. I only buy 1/4 # at a time because it's just me as I'm recently widowed. One thing I've been doing for years is grinding my own burger. I purchase chuck roast when it's on sale and use half to roast and the other half I grind using my Kitchen Aid mixer w/grinder attachment. Cheaper than buying ground beef and I have control over how much fat I add and I know for sure what's in it. With all the burger recalls of late, I'm leery buying ground beef.
I do the same thing, cook meats, but instead of freezing it in bigger packs. I freeze it in a small sandwich bags for one sandwich. That way all I do is put the bread and fixings in the sandwich box with the package of frozen meat. The sandwich is made later, and stays cold longer.
I do this with turkey and don't use an electric slicer. Get a long straight knife and make sure it's sharp (they may even be caller meat slicers). I like this better than an electric knife...I have more control.
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