Pooled Lunches

I bet some people would like to cut back on the cost of buying lunch. But what if you’re lazy like me and don’t want to prepare meals at home. Well here’s a cheap lunch alternative you can try out that’s healthy, cheap, and saves time (^_-) My first memory of spending money as a child was in elementary school where we had a meal program. For $50 a month you would be provided with lunch 5 days a week. The food varied day to day from sandwiches and hot dogs to mac and cheese but it was a very economical way to feed a large number of students. Because the school could buy ingredients in bulk, we are each getting more value out of our money than if we spent it on individual portions at restaurants. This was a very important lesson I learned. Combine small amounts of money to increase economic efficiency. Strength in numbers as they say.

This simple idea stuck with me until today. At my current work place we have a peer organized lunch club. I didn’t start it though and no one’s officially in charge. But the club generally contains bread, meat, cheese, veggies, and condiments. It’s open to everyone at the office. People can just drop by, pay $3, and make a sandwich for themselves. The money goes into a fund for pooled lunches. Last person to make their lunch cleans up though. 😛  I don’t join the club every day but it’s good to have a sandwich once in awhile, and it’s cheaper than if I had bought the ingredients myself and made it at home. Almost any work place can accommodate some kind of lunch club as long as you find some like minded co-workers. Most companies have fridges and cutlery already, so why not 😀 Ever since childhood, I’ve only had good experiences with shared lunch programs :0)

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eemusings
03/05/2013 12:25 am

That’s brilliant! I would totally partake in a lunch club.

My Financial Independence Journey

We don’t have a lunch club, but our department will spend money on lunch any time any meeting so much as touches on the noon hour. I probably get about 10-20% of my lunches for free. If I wanted to, I could be really cheap and grab all the leftovers for dinner or lunch the next day.

mochimac
mochimac
03/05/2013 5:37 am

Same idea as the Groupon or the organizations in China where they group-buy. A bunch of people who all want the same thing will find each other on a forum, and then they will go from retailer to retailer until they get a deal.

AverageJoe
AverageJoe
03/06/2013 3:56 am

What a great idea. It’s funny that nobody’s in charge of it at this point. That’s the sign of a well-oiled machine when it seems to run itself.