Frugal Sandwiches

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

02 Jan 2007 03:05 PM

There is no doubt that making and bringing your own lunch is much more frugal then going out for lunch. Even a simple cafeteria-bought lunch can cost you more than $25 a week or $100 a month! And if you like to go out to a nice sit-down place, you can easily double or triple that number. It all adds up.

I tried to remind myself of that today when I was tempted to take myself and my two youngest out for lunch today (well, the baby isn't eating lunch just, yet). We have another house showing (actually, we have three today), and we have to be out of the house. Since this first showing is at lunch time, the temptation to go to a kid-friendly cafe was very tempting.

The frugal angel sitting on my shoulder, however, convinced me that the cost to our budget just wasn't worth it. So instead, I made some sandwiches, and we went out for a scenic view.

I am still here, waiting for the time for the showing to end before returning home, and I starting thinking about all of the ways a sandwich itself can be frugal. When we think of sandwiches, we tend to think of lunch meat, such as ham, turkey, etc. But a sandwich can be practically anything with almost any filling.

By the way, a bit of trivia, the sandwich was created during a card game, when the Earl of Sandwich was hungry and didn't want to stop playing his game. He asked the servants for some meat between two pieces of bread, and boom, the sandwich was born.

Anyway, here are some of the ways we make a sandwich truly frugal.

Egg salad: here in Pennsylvania I can get a good deal on eggs. When they are on sale, I can buy 18-count eggs for 99 cents. That is about 5-1/2 cents an egg, or 11 cents for two eggs to go in a salad. Add a little mayo, some celery if you like, and homemade bread. Cost: less than a quarter. Compare that to the kid friendly cafe at $4.75!

Leftovers: the classic turkey sandwich can be made special with a bit of mayo and cranberry sauce. Stuffing, too, if you have it (stuffing is always the first to go in our house, and we are bread junkies). I haven't calculated the cost of this type of sandwich exactly, but since I am using up leftovers on homemade bread, the cost is negligible. Insert whatever leftovers you might have, such as meat loaf on wheat or white, mustard chicken on honey wheat or honey oatmeal bread, etc. Get creative. The possibilities are almost endless. We have had some yummy "gourmet" sandwiches this way.

Oh, and if you are looking for some more great sandwich ideas, check out the Families.com Food Blog.

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger