Packed lunch savings.

Lunch out vs packed lunch calculator quantifies workday lunch spending. 5 lunches/week × 8 vs 3 packed = 25/week saved × 48 weeks = 1,200 annual saving. Career-long (30 years): 36,000 saved. Most workers grossly underestimate cumulative lunch cost - significant wealth-building opportunity.

Example: 5 work lunches/week × 8 average bought = 40/week. Same 5 lunches packed at 3 each = 15/week. Weekly saving 25. Annual (48 working weeks) 1,200. Career (30 years) 36,000. Invested at 7%: 113,000 wealth. Significant from skipping a single daily habit.

Workday lunch costs: (1) Pret/EAT/coffee shops 6-10. (2) Pubs/cafes 8-15. (3) Office canteens 4-8. (4) Supermarket meal deals 3-5. (5) Restaurant 15-25. (6) Sandwich shops 4-7. Average office worker spends 8/day = 40/week = 1,920/year on lunches out. Packed lunch costs 2-4 (sandwich + fruit + drink + snack). Time investment: 5-10 minutes prep per lunch (30-60 min/week). Behavioural strategies: Sunday batch prep, leftover use, freezer meals, lunch buddy accountability. Hybrid approach (3 packed, 2 out) saves 600+/year while maintaining social/treat lunches.

Run it with sensible defaults

Using lunches per week of 5, lunch out cost of 8, packed lunch cost of 3, working weeks per year of 48, the calculation works out to 1,200.00. Nudge the inputs toward your own situation and the output recalculates instantly. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.

The levers in this calculation

The inputs — Lunches per Week, Lunch Out Cost, Packed Lunch Cost, and Working Weeks per Year — do not pull with equal force. Two inputs usually tip the answer one way or the other. Identify which ones matter most by flipping each value past a round threshold and watching whether the winning option changes.

How the math works

Annual savings = lunches × (out cost - packed cost) × working weeks. The working is transparent — you can verify every step yourself in the formula section below. No black box, no opaque "proprietary model".

When to actually change the habit

Most lifestyle spending delivers real value. The exceptions are the ones that stopped delivering months ago but got auto-renewed anyway, and the ones chosen out of defaults rather than preference. Run this, then audit for those two categories — that's where the easy wins live.

What this doesn't capture

The tool prices the money; it can't weigh the enjoyment. A coffee habit, gym membership, or streaming bundle might cost what the math says but deliver value that's harder to quantify. Use the number to make the trade-off visible — the decision is yours.