Jan 10 2008
january goal progress
I pledged not to buy food at work, in January. Except for group lunches, I was going to eat breakfast at home, and bring in leftovers for lunch. No buying food.
I have really done well. we’re near the end of the 2nd week (of a 4.5 week month). I have also been trying to plan out our dinners for the week, so that makes it easier as well. When there’s leftovers in the fridge, it’s easy to grab them on the way to work.
Breakfast is tough for me, because I am always in a hurry. Even when there’s plenty of time, I just want to get out of the house already. My old habit was to stop at McDonald’s and get an egg mcmuffin and a diet coke. While looking at this habit from a weight loss point of view, it really wasn’t terrible. It’s not a bad nutritional start to the day, as long as you count it for what it is. However, looked at from a financial point of view, it is a HORRIFIC habit to have. It’s roughly $4 for that meal, and 5x a week for 4 weeks is $80. Times 12 months and it’s $960 for the year! Wouldn’t I much rather spend $960 on something much more substantial? YES I WOULD! And this is only breakfast, I was also spending $5-10 on lunch!
So because I’m always in RUSH RUSH RUSH mode in the morning, it’s tough to sit down and eat breakfast. Just in case I forget, I brought a box of instant oatmeal to work, so I would have no excuses to stop anywhere on my way in. If I hadn’t eaten breakfast, I could just eat at work! Look at that, I actually thought ahead!
But today we have my first mis-step. Last night we had rotisserie chicken (from costco) but I did nothing with it afterward, and was in too much of a rush this morning to throw something in a tupperware for lunch today… and here it is, lunch time.
Doh.
Other goals – the photo thing is going well, the trip to DC was definitely worth a few photos, but now I’m at the last of my pre-posted photos and need to get out and shoot some more! I don’t *want* to use blurry camera phone photos for project 366, but I will if it comes to that! And then you’ll be sorry!
The key is to prepare! Prepare prepare prepare!
later, i gots to go find some lunch.
– amy made a new category and everything
4 Responses to “january goal progress”
Good luck. That would be near impossible for me. Speaking of, I need lunch!
(PS – Happy Delurking Day!)
Breakfast on the go can be very, very fast & easy. It takes about 45 seconds to scramble an egg and stuff it in a pita, which you can eat in the car while driving to work. Or wrap it in aluminum foil and it will still be nice and warm when you get to the office (well, depending on how long your commute is).
You did eat, didn’t you? No starving yourself just for the sake of not buying something for lunch. Lately after dinner, I’ve been putting the left overs in single size containers. Then I don’t have to worry about portioning it out when we’re ready to eat.
Along with the instant oatmeal, maybe there is something that keeps itself for lunches for those days when you don’t bring one with you. Cans of soup maybe?
45 seconds Dave? You exagerate, my friend, quite grossly! But, I get your point. Even when I do eat breakfast at the table, I eat oatmeal. I quite like it. So waiting and having the same thing at work is no big deal to me.
Anna – you think WAY too much of me! There’s no way I could just skip lunch, I don’t have that kind of willpower! I do that with the leftovers too – just not last night. And now we see the result! Good idea, I’ll have to think up some lunch backups to have on hand.