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Posted on 09/21/2016 6:00:22 AM PDT by C19fan
What’s for lunch? If it’s a homemade sandwich or last night’s leftovers, you may be in good company.
An increasing number of Americans are ditching $10 sandwiches and $12 salads in favor of food from home, according to new data from the research firm NPD Group. Lunch traffic is slowing at restaurants around the country, with weekday lunch visits down 7 percent compared to a year ago, the steepest decline since the beginning of the recession, data show.
The reason? Nearly 40 percent of Americans now work from home (at least on some days), according to Gallup, and lunch out is becoming too expensive for many to justify.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Almost any financial adviser will tell you that brown-bagging it should be your first move in saving for the future.
Lunch is too damned high! Vote for me.
Hipster foodies pushed the price of a hamburger and fries (from a food truck) up to $15. Want a drink with that?
I saw that iced tea and fountain soda at some “line-service” restaurants has risen to $3, for glorified water.
Because the economy’s so good. Thanks Obama!
” I think we are heading towards Europe where dining out is a luxury. “
Fast food around here is changing its focus to the EBT market. There are a few places on my bad side of town where I won’t go because I feel threatened by the crowd. (I have an over abundance of caution because I carry and I don’t want to use.)
I’ve carried lunch from home now for the better part of 20 years. Eating out is something I only do if I have to.
When I worked at the office, I ate out maybe once a month. I now work from home and am on the road. Home is leftovers and on the road is usually the cheapest meals I can find. Costco pizza can’t be beat.
Or we're just going back to what it was like in this country until the 1980s. When I was a kid we rarely ate in restaurants -- maybe once every couple of months. Even a fast-food joint was a luxury.
Hormel Compleats @ $2.00 or less on sale and a 1/2 liter Diet Dr. Pepper @ $.50 or less on sale versus going out to Subway or similar for $10 to $12 with a drink, plus I lost a few lbs. compleats don’t require refrigeration, so I could keep a selection at my desk.
I’m now unemployed, so I make a big dinner that leaves me with leftovers for a few days and eat on that for a few days. This is “Taco Week”.
$15/hr is going to kill the restaurant and fast food business.
Consequence # 1,000,000,001 of a $15.00 per hour minimum wage.
One day a week for me. The $5.99 lunch special of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans at my local diner is the bomb.
Visit your local diner and tip well. The food and service are better.
$10 sandwiches and $12-$15 meals for lunch are the norm for trendy folk even without a higher wage.
Lunch yesterday was two big bone-in fried chicken breasts, mashed pots + chicken gravy, green beans and a large Pepsi over ice @ the hospital cafeteria. Yum, and for the princely sum of $5.98. For ‘hospital food’ it’s pretty good, and this is a college town, so nothing else is near as cheap [or tasty]...
Most of the guys eat at nearby restaurants for lunch, easily dropping 50 bucks a week.
I'd rather send that 50 on ammo....
Exactly. It doesn’t have to be a bad economy to make good financial decisions.
At $10 for a sandwich (plus a drink, chips, maybe a cookie) you are saving $50/week by brownbagging it. I can think of a lot better uses for $50/week.
One trick is to.get a really good cheese pizza and add your own vegetables.
My wife walks over from her work and brings lunch from home. We sit outside and eat until it gets too hot/cold.
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