How often do you bring in a lunch to work?

[rennigade]

But when you factor in the time it took you to make dinner, it generally is much more expensive. If your normal work rate is ~$30/hour before tax, then that dinner that took you an hour to get supplies, cook, then clean cost you at least $30 because that's how much your time is worth.

I never understood this logic...how much my time is worth?

Does this mean I should stop sleeping because im not getting paid? Maybe I should stop watching tv for an hour a night since my time is worth more than what watching tv makes me?

The "what your time is worth" phenomenon that people throw around only makes sense if you are not making money during the time you are spending doing something that you would normally be making money doing.

In my case I am a salaried employee. I work 8 hours a day. When I leave work I no longer get paid the rest of the day/night. I guess im lucky that I can then make dinner, take the dog outside, even pack a lunch and sleep at night since my time really isnt worth $$ during that period.

I kinda feel bad for the people who literally work/get paid 24/7 and do not have time to do simple things around the house since it would be costing them money.

[~bs]

I never understood this logic...how much my time is worth?

Does this mean I should stop sleeping because im not getting paid? Maybe I should stop watching tv for an hour a night since my time is worth more than what watching tv makes me?

The "what your time is worth" phenomenon that people throw around only makes sense if you are not making money during the time you are spending doing something that you would normally be making money doing.

In my case I am a salaried employee. I work 8 hours a day. When I leave work I no longer get paid the rest of the day/night. I guess im lucky that I can then make dinner, take the dog outside, even pack a lunch and sleep at night since my time really isnt worth $$ during that period.

I kinda feel bad for the people who literally work/get paid 24/7 and do not have time to do simple things around the house since it would be costing them money.

The logic isn't that difficult to understand. You have trouble understanding the logic because (I'm guessing) you WASTE a lot of your personal time. An example is TV time, which you mentioned. I read a statistic a while back that people watch around 35 hours of tv a week on average. Instead of zoning out on the couch for hours on end, one could become engaged in activities that will have long lasting benefits and personal satisfaction. If you need examples, let me know. I stopped watching TV years ago.

Regarding your other points, there's an opportunity cost to everything. You could cut back on sleep to work extra hours or a part time job, but there will be costs associated with that. Is giving up sleep worth sacrificing your health, and constantly being sleep deprived? Depends on the person, and generally I would say that it's not worth it in the long run, and therefore more valuable to get your rest than to trade off with extra hours of work.

If you choose to spend your nights watching TV for 4 hours instead of working extra hours at your regular job or working a part time job at $15/hour or running a small business or whatever, then yes, your tv time is valued at $15/hour. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your choice, as we all make our own decisions in life, and there is a lot of value in recreation, relaxation, and vacation time. However, if you want to devalue your time at home, and say it's basically worthless, which is also what you get out of most tv programming nowadays, that's also your choice.

The concept of economic cost and productivity becomes more pronounced as you make more money. You're better off putting your energy into where you're most productive. If your billing rate is $100/hour, you would be better off working those hours, and sending your car through a carwash than spending 2 hours to wash and wax it yourself. That is, unless it's something you want to do, and therefore felt it was worth $200 to do yourself. On the other hand, if you make $8/hour, then you're better off washing the car yourself if working a few hours extra to pay for the carwash is the trade off. The smart individual knows how to manage time & focus energy on where he/she is the most productive, so they don't have to spend all their time working or doing chores, and still is successful in their career and at home.

[feh]

I allow myself 2 purchased lunches per week. Price is between $4 and $8.

I agree with the "a packed lunch is a healthier lunch" comments. When I pack a lunch, it is nothing but fruit/veggies/yogurt and takes about 30 seconds to pack. I stopped packing a sandwich a couple years ago.

[Baby_nurse]

I take my liunch every day. Most of the time, it's something saved from dinner or one of my mini "freezer meals" that I have pre-packaged for this purpose.

[MonkeyMama]

I am with Steve and some of the others. Take lunch every single day. Cheaper, healthier, better all around.

I spend at most 5 minutes in the a.m. Usually just grab leftovers. Keep snacks and breakfast at work. Packed leftovers can last several days, so many days I spend zero time packing lunch.

I find that non lunch packers tend to greatly exaggerate the hassle factor. I think you get used to what you used to. I don't have to spend lunch time dealing with lunch crowds. I also find it kind of sad the mindset that one can not leave office unless they leave to buy food. ??? Go for a walk? Run some errands?

I used to more often eat lunch at home, but doesn't make sense with today's gas prices.

[JoeP]

I find that non lunch packers tend to greatly exaggerate the hassle factor.

I pack my lunch while I eat breakfast. At the conclusion of dinner, I'll often put some of the food in smaller containers purposed for lunch, so all I have to do is grab one for lunch a couple days later.

The concept of economic cost and productivity becomes more pronounced as you make more money.

This assumes earning this money is more important to you than doing other activities! Suppose option 1 is for me to work 3 more hours at $100/hr and pay someone $30 to mow my lawn while I'm gone. Option 2 would be me not working those 3 hours and instead mowing my own lawn which takes 1.5 hours. Assuming I have a regular job and we're ok financially, I'll take option 2. There is a certain amount of pride and satisfaction doing certain activities yourself, even if it means missing out on some money. Plus, who really wants to work (at work) that much?

[bUU]

It takes virtually no thought or effort.

This is one of those things that varies from person to person. For some people, things like that take onerous amounts of thought and/or effort.

There are many such things where the real thought and effort varies widely for different people: I whip out small group worship session outlines like I was born to it, while many of my colleagues (including those who have been engaged in such efforts for decades longer than I have) struggle for weeks to get "most" of a session outlined. Such things aren't definitively easy or light work for everyone.

The logic isn't that difficult to understand. You have trouble understanding the logic because (I'm guessing) you WASTE a lot of your personal time.

Again, I think it is actually more a matter of certain skills and talents being inconsistently allocated among people: Those who have them sometimes fail to acknowledge or accept that having them greatly enhances the ease and speed of their accomplishing certain things - it need not be more than that.

The smart individual knows how to manage time & focus energy on where he/she is the most productive, so they don't have to spend all their time working or doing chores, and still is successful in their career and at home.

Agreed. It's distressing how many people I know who "do" so much, and then struggle with the effects of lack of down-time.

I find that non lunch packers tend to greatly exaggerate the hassle factor.

Given that you don't occupy their life, you're not well-placed to make such an appraisal, anymore than I'm well-placed to assess the amount of thought and work you need to put into things that I find trivial.

[JoeP]

Given that you don't occupy their life, you're not well-placed to make such an appraisal, anymore than I'm well-placed to assess the amount of thought and work you need to put into things that I find trivial.

If you were talking about tasks that require experience, creativity, skill, specialized education, precision, attention to detail, etc I would agree 100%. However, we're talking about packing a lunch here.

It really isn't any more complicated than taking out a couple slices of bread, slapping some meat and cheese in there, sealing it in a baggie, and then putting it in a lunch box. Toss a yogurt and an apple in there and you're good to go. I'd like to meet someone perplexed or overwhelmed with this.

Sure, this involves planning in that you need the raw ingredients on hand and need to set aside a whopping 3 minutes...it's not like you're rebuilding an engine or writing a sermon.

[bUU]

If you were talking about tasks that require experience, creativity, skill, specialized education, precision, attention to detail, etc I would agree 100%. However, we're talking about packing a lunch here.

Sorry but your trivialization is simply wrong.

It's easy for you. The dogged insistence in imposing your own affinities onto others has no basis in reality.

It really isn't any more complicated than ...

Yes, it actually is more complicated than you're trying to make it out to be, for many people.

[Nika]

Almost never. I cook fresh food every day, and only enough for one meal. Things I make don't work for "leftovers". Like fish taco's with mango salsa. Salsa should be fresh, tortilla should be heated on the stove with a bit of oil until crunchy and hot and smelling nice, fish should be fresh. Or chunky guacamole - would not be so great the next day. Food should be fresh.

I tried freezing. I did. But whatever I freeze will just stay in the fridge for few months until I eventually throw it away. I don't know how long it can last frozen... and it just looks so unappetizing!!! Maybe because I did not grow up with a microwave and freezer culture.

[moneybags]

Instead of zoning out on the couch for hours on end, one could become engaged in activities that will have long lasting benefits and personal satisfaction.

I get personal satisfaction from watching TV. I consider it a hobby, nothing wrong with it!

[bUU]

Maybe because I did not grow up with a microwave and freezer culture.

Interesting insight.

[JoeP]

Sorry but your trivialization is simply wrong.

It's easy for you. The dogged insistence in imposing your own affinities onto others has no basis in reality.

Yes, it actually is more complicated than you're trying to make it out to be, for many people.

Your last statement has me curious: do you know people, or have heard about people, who find packing a lunch complicated? Again, I'd like to meet one of these people. Not to mock or belittle, but to understand what they find complicated about it.

[bUU]

"Complicated" is probably the wrong way of expressing it: Rather: "More thought and effort than you're making it out to be"; or "an effort that is not worthy of being trivialized in the manner you're trivializing it". I speak from personal experience as someone who does bring lunch to work - you're simply wrong in your implication that it is quick and easy for everyone all the time.

[disneysteve]

Calm down folks. No reason for this to turn into a bunch of personal attacks. Let's keep this civil and focus on the behavior, not the people.

Since I am currently single, it generally doesn't make sense for me to cook dinner because it means I will have a lot of leftovers to bring to lunch for the next few days.

Cooking doesn't necessarily create "a lot of leftovers". You could just make 2 portions instead of one and give yourself a meal for another day with no added effort. Or you could choose to cook larger portions and freeze the extra to be eaten later without being stuck eating the same thing for days in a row. It takes no more time or effort to cook 4 chicken breasts vs. 1 for example.

But when you factor in the time it took you to make dinner, it generally is much more expensive. If your normal work rate is ~$30/hour before tax, then that dinner that took you an hour to get supplies, cook, then clean cost you at least $30 because that's how much your time is worth.

The logic isn't that difficult to understand. You have trouble understanding the logic because (I'm guessing) you WASTE a lot of your personal time.

Sorry but I also never quite understood this reasoning. I earn $70-100/hour depending on what I'm doing but I only earn that when I'm working, not when I'm home. So unless I'm taking time off from work to prepare my meals, which I'm not, the comparison doesn't make sense. I'm not choosing between working and cooking. The time spent cooking is time that I'm not going to be paid for no matter what I do during that time so doesn't it make sense for me to do something that actually saves me money and gives me a healthier lifestyle too?

Also, going out to eat often takes just as much time or more than doing it myself. I have to drive to the restaurant, park, wait to be served, drive home, etc. Doing it myself, as I said above, I can prepare multiple meals at one time. For example, I can cook a pot of soup and freeze it as 12 individual portions. That can give me lunch once a week for 3 months for just an hour or so of my time.

This is one of those things that varies from person to person. For some people, things like that take onerous amounts of thought and/or effort.

If you're talking about cooking fancy meals from scratch, I could see your point, but what about bringing a frozen dinner to the office to microwave at lunch time. Other than remembering to buy them when you go grocery shopping, there's hardly any effort and certainly no special talent or training required. And I can buy the healthy frozen meals for $2-2.50 vs. spending $6-8 for fast food.

One other point - Not all of us work somewhere where running out for lunch is a great option. I work in a not-so-good neighborhood. We can't go walking around and there isn't anywhere to walk to anyway. We could drive to some fast food places not too far away but that takes valuable time away from the office. I don't want to leave my desk at lunch. That would just mean staying longer at night to get the work done. By packing my lunch, I save myself easily 30 minutes off the end of my day.