Challenge :: Lunch for under $12

Recently a coworker and I were discussing spending less money on lunch for the work week.  He said it was cheaper (and easier) to just purchase lunch.  With the cost of lunch costing between $5 and $10 a day, I told him that I could do it for less!  I explained that while you are spending $8 on that sandwich, you could have purchased all the materials for the same sandwich, but could eat for two days instead of one.

See my break down: (estimated prices from my local Wal-Mart)

Italian bread loaf	1.00
Ham (1/2 lb)	3.00
Deli sliced cheese (1/3 lb)	1.00
Lettuce	1.25
Tomatoes (pack of 3 small)	1.50
GRAND TOTAL	7.75

If you add on a bag of chips ($3.00), the total is $10.25 and you could easily make 3 sandwiches. I didn't include mayo or mustard, because those are staples you should already have in your pantry.  If I ever forget them, these items are easily picked up for FREE in the break-room.

I don't normally accept challenges, but I felt passionate about this one.  I too can spend a pretty penny in the lunch cafeteria.  My meals are a more modest $4, but it still comes out to $20 a week.  The meals I am purchasing aren't that healthy (fries, fried chicken tenders, corn dogs, desserts, pizza).  I could be spending less and eating better.   

This weekend, I have made it my challenge to go out and purchase lunch fixings for next week. This challenge was hard, because I wanted to show that you can eat healthy on a budget. 

Here is my menu for this week:

• 2 days = soup + bread/butter, apple slices w/ peanut butter
• 2 days = turkey sandwich on french bread, apple, cheese chunks and carrot sticks
• 1 day = tuna sandwich, carrot sticks, cheese chunks

Approximate Costs

Canned soup (2 servings per can)      1.50 French Bread (used for sandwiches too)      1.00 Cut carrot sticks      1.00 Lettuce      1.50 Tomato      1.50 Chunk cheese      2.00 Apples (bagged)      2.00 Tuna (canned in water)      1.00 Turkey (deli sliced)      3.00
Total            $14.50

Mustard, mayo, celery, peanut butter and eggs are items that should already be in the pantry, so there is no need to purchase them.

I will do some bargain hunting and hopefully find some deals to bring the total to under $12.

I will keep you posted on how well I do.

Almost free body wash

What ya need:

• 8 ounces bar of soap (I used some soap I had from Trader Joe's, 2 bars = 8 oz)
• 2 tbsp glycerin ( bottle at Wal-Mart was $3.69)
• 16 cups of water = 1 gallon
• Cheese grater 
• Stock pot
• Hand mixer
• Gallon jug or containers to store your finished product

What ya do:

• Grate your soap like cheese. I started to do this step by hand and it took way to long for my liking. I pulled out my trusty Kitchen-Aid stand mixer and the slicing/grating attachment. Took 2 minutes to hook it up and to grate both bars of soap :)

• Put your grated soap, the gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of glycerin in the stock pot. Heat on medium heat until all the soap is dissolved. It will look like cloudy soupy water at this point.
• Take off the heat and let cool. The recipe I found said let it cool for 10 -12 hours, but mine was pretty cool after 4 hours. 

• Add some water and beat this mixture with the hand held mixer. You may have to add more water as necessary if your soap was very thick like mine.  

• Since my pot was too deep for my mixer, I had to transfer half the soap to a large mixing bowl.
• When you get it to your desired consistency, you can add some perfume (I didn't). 
• Funnel your new body wash into your gallon jug or containers (remember to label it)
• My mixture actually made 1 gallon + 28 ounces of wash :)

michaela desiree