Experiment: Lunch Box Week One (Kind of)

My lunch box experiment definitely got off to a bumpy start.  There were several unforeseen circumstances, like the fact that I went a little nuts trying to find the perfect, stylish insulated bag.  That took a good ten days but I finally found it on etsy.com which is my go-to source for unique, personalized gifts.  (As an aside, if you haven’t checked out etsy, do it.  You will find some amazing stuff.  A good place to start is the store of local artist Jess Lyons.)  So with my new lunch box in hand, I went to the market to stock up for last week’s meals.  I bought a large container of cottage cheese, a box of Boca chick’n patties, a loaf of bread, a sack of apples, two containers of V8 soup, a bag of carrots, a 6-count package of peanut butter crackers and five containers of Greek yogurt.  All of this totaled out at $25.10, which is less than half of what I’d normally spend buying lunch five days a week.  Even after factoring in the cost of the bag ($20.00) I was still under the wire.  But nothing can ever be easy, of course, and last Monday morning a coworker scooted over in her chair and said, “I’m in the mood for Ichiban.  My treat.”  I couldn’t resist a seaweed salad so that day was shot, as was Tuesday since we operate under a system of, “you buy today, I’ll buy tomorrow.”  Wednesday I did manage to stick with what I’d brought in, but then wound up working from home on Thursday and Friday.  Sigh.  Today starts another week and I’ve already turned down Chinese food (easy) and Panera (slightly more difficult) in favor of a soup and Boca combo.  It will be a miracle if I make it a full five days, but I’m going to try.