Packed Lunch

I've gotten back into a good habit lately and I'm pretty happy about it, as well as proud!

When we are out and about these days, we all know how busy and hectic life can be. It is often overlooked for us to pack a simple bag of lunch or snacks when we are going out for a few hours so that we don't spend money needlessly. I however have started to do just that: packing my own little lunch bag even if I'm just going out on a few errands!

One of the things that many of us forget is how to save some money sometimes. There are so many things that we do in a day that can be adjusted and brought back to 20 or 30 years ago where when we go on car trips, we pack our lunches and take breaks to eat those lunches. These days, you really only pack drinks and some light snacks. I want to try to get back into the habit of packing full lunches when we go out so that we don't end up spending money when we should be saving it!

This also has a number of other benefits because that usually allows you to eat a bit of a healthier range of foods, though not always of course. We thankfully are not a fast food household, except for something like pizza but even then we do not visit the big food chains like McDonalds, Arby's, Domino's and a litany of other pretty gross and unhealthy food option chain restaurants. This has so many benefits on us in that we reduce the poisonous food that we consume and instead if we are needing to eat out, we choose healthier options or at the bare minimum, local options.

Over the past few weeks though, one of the things that I've made sure to do for various reasons was to pack myself a little bag of lunch that includes some fruit, snacks that we have in the house already and a sizable water bottle so that I have all my needs met in the car and anything I get while I'm out is food that is to be brought back home to fill the fridge or cabinets. This has certainly helped in a lot of ways but most importantly on the wallet!

We know that food prices and prices overall are climbing steadily, where it really doesn't make a lot of sense to be spending money when we should and could be saving. This of course makes it challenging for the businesses that we would be supporting from not receiving our patronage but at the same time, we also have to balance what we can and can't do. We can go to a farm and buy some fresh fruits and vegetables which we do consistently and routinely but we cut back on other expenses to factor in the little bit more that it costs us to shop in that manner.

I'm not the perfect picture of health these days, not in as much physical shape as I was 10 years ago but I am trying to make these changes so that I can eat a little bit healthier but also extend the money that we are making and make a dollar last longer. We know that stretching a dollar gets more and more challenging every year which is quite the unfortunate situation but we make due with what we can. Just simply changing that we bring food with us when we go out saves several dozen dollars per week off our food bills, so that's a solid win for us overall!