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Are you looking for some easy and cheap lunch ideas for work or for your family to save money on food? In this post, I’m sharing some great budget friendly lunch ideas that are frugal and filling!
If you want to save money, changing what you eat for lunch can be a great place to start. Food is one thing in your budget that can be cut back drastically in many cases.
Use these cheap lunch ideas to gather some inspiration to help you save money on food.
These frugal lunch ideas are perfect for packed lunches for work, for students, for kids, to eat at home, or on the go!
So, what can you take for lunch besides sandwiches? Lots of things!!
30 Cheap Lunch Ideas
I asked my followers on Instagram for their favorite cheap lunch ideas to help put this post together. They had some great ideas to share!
Here’s a few quick tips before we get to the lunch ideas:
Start small. If you eat out every day, try to reduce your eating out to just one or two days a week.
Plan ahead. Make a lunch meal plan for the week and make sure you have all the groceries needed for lunches.
Pack your lunch the night before. Mornings can be hectic, so go ahead and pack your lunch at night. I love to pack lunches while I make dinner, so I can get all the kitchen work done at once.
Portion out fruit and snacks when you buy them. To make it easier and more convenient to pack a lunch, go ahead and portion out fruit and snacks when you get home from the grocery. Then, you just grab things quickly to pack a lunch.
Plan for leftovers. One of the easiest ways to make a lunch is to make extra dinner, and have the leftovers for lunch the next day. Make a little extra dinner and set aside enough for lunch before you serve dinner.
Find a lunch bag you love. When I worked outside the home, I loved my Vera Bradley lunch bag. My husband loves to reuse a grocery bag so he can just throw everything away when he’s done eating.
For stay at home/work at home moms, have easy meals ready for lunch at home. If you need to get out or run errands, eat before you go or take a lunch or snacks with you to avoid the temptation of stopping to eat.
Get creative with ways to eat out for less.
If you love eating out at lunch, look for creative ways to save money. Here’s a few ideas:
- Scan your grocery receipts in the Fetch Rewards app, and cash your points out for gift cards to restaurants. (Use my code: 33UY1 to get 2000 bonus points when you sign up.)
- Only order off the $1 menu.
- Limit yourself to eating out only on Fridays.
- Use restaurant apps to save money – I love the Chick Fil A app! 🙂
- Find out if there are any special deal days at local restaurants – like $1 pizza slices or $3 burger days. Only eat out on those special days.
Want to learn my best grocery saving tips?
Get my free printable, 10 Ways to Save $100 on Your Grocery Budget to start saving money on groceries today. Get your free PDF printable here.
So, are you wondering what is the cheapest lunch you can make? Or, how can I eat lunch at work for cheap? Or maybe you just need ideas for what to eat on a tight budget…
Let’s get to the cheap lunch ideas to help you save some money! These lunch ideas should you cost you $5 or less – much cheaper than eating out!
30 Cheap Lunch Ideas
Need more help deciding what to make for dinner?
Planning meals and eating at home can help you save so much money, but it’s not always easy to figure out what to cook!
If you need some dinner ideas that are simple, quick, and budget-friendly, you’ll love the FREE 21 Frugal Dinner Ideas List – the handy resource you’ll love to use for quick, easy, and budget-friendly meal ideas to make meal planning simple and effortless!
Grab the FREE Frugal Dinner Ideas List right here!
1. Homemade Salad with Chicken
Salads are a great easy lunch idea. To make these easy, divide up lettuce into containers at the beginning of the week with any ingredients that will keep fresh.
Cook enough chicken for the whole week, and shred in a mixer. Divide this into the number of lunches you need.
Then, you can just grab a container of salad mix and a bag of chicken for a yummy homemade salad.
Keep a bottle of dressing in your lunch bag or at work so you don’t have to keep packing small amounts.
2. Homemade Burrito Bowls
You know those burrito bowls you love to buy out at restaurants? Make them at home to save money!
You can change up what you add based on what you have on hand, and make these really yummy.
3. Baked Potato
A baked potato is a great warm lunch and very frugal. This is a great idea if you stay at home.
Or you can quickly heat a potato up at work in the microwave.
Add whatever toppings you love to make it more filling and delicious.
4. Egg Salad
You can make a batch of egg salad up at the beginning of the week, and divide it up for several lunches.
One day, you can enjoy it on a sandwich, another day with crackers, and another day as a side.
5. Grilled Cheese
A grilled cheese is a really easy and cheap lunch idea, especially if you work or stay at home.
Look for marked down or sale bread to save more money.
6. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A classic go to that you might not want every single day, but you can easily add in to your lunch meal plan to stretch your dollars.
Look for peanut butter on sale to stock up on and marked down bread you can put in the freezer.
7. Peanut butter and apples
If you get a great deal on apples and peanut butter, you can have a really cheap light lunch or side.
An apple slicer makes this so easy and quick!
8. Tacos
Instead of going out for tacos, enjoy homemade tacos for much less. Make a big batch of taco meat, and divide it into portion sizes for the fridge or freezer.
(Hint: You can have tacos for dinner, then put the rest away for lunches.)
For lunch, pack some taco meat, cheese, and tortillas for a yummy taco lunch on a budget.
9. Nachos
You can also use the taco meat for a nacho lunch. Just pack some taco meat, tortilla chips or Dorito’s, and some cheese for a nacho lunch.
10. Quesadillas
Quesadillas can be a quick meal to make at home, or to heat up at work.
11. Soup
Pack some soup and crackers for a great cheap lunch. You can make a big batch of soup (tortilla, taco, chicken noodle, potato, or your favorite), and divide it into portions for the fridge or freezer.
Hint: Make the soup in a slow cooker to make this super easy!
When you pack your lunch, just grab a container of soup and some crackers (can have these already divided and bagged) for a quick lunch.
12. Casseroles
There are so many casseroles you can make for an easy and cheap lunch. If you have a casserole for lunch, set some aside for lunch the next day.
Put leftovers in portioned containers for the fridge or freezer.
Or, you can make a full casserole and divide all of it up for lunches, and place them in the freezer to grab.
Related: Casserole Freezer Cooking Plan
13. Snacky Lunch
Pack a snacky lunch for a frugal meal. You can pack fruit, nuts, cheese, vegetables with dip, rolled up lunch meat, crackers, hummus, or anything you have on hand.
This would be a great super quick lunch to throw together if you have snacks already portioned and divided out to grab.
These are great divided containers for snacky lunches.
14. Flatbread Pizza
Make flatbread pizzas for dinner, and set aside a few slices for lunch the next day.
A super easy dinner and lunch done in a few minutes!
I love to find flatbread marked down and stick it in the freezer.
15. Pita Sandwich
Look for marked down pita bread, and make a yummy sandwich with your favorite fillings. Add some chips and fruit.
16. Meat and Cheese Sandwich
Can’t forget a classic meat and cheese sandwich! This doesn’t have to be super boring, though.
Look for yummy marked down bread, lunch meat on sale, and different cheeses.
My husband loves the King’s Hawaiian rolls and doesn’t get tired of eating them.
Sandwiches can be quickly warmed up for a hot lunch, too!
17. Tuna Salad
Make a batch of tuna salad at the beginning of the week, and divide it into lunch portions. Quickly pack your lunch by grabbing some tuna salad, a bag of crackers, and some fruit.
You can eat tuna salad with crackers one day, on toasted bread another day, on a croissant (keep these in the freezer), or alone to switch it up.
18. Chicken Salad
Make a batch of chicken salad at the beginning of the week and divide it up for lunches.
Look for marked down or on sale bread or croissants to stick in the freezer.
You can have the chicken salad by itself one day, on toasted bread another day, with crackers, and on a croissant to switch things up.
19. Croissant Sandwich
Keep croissants in your freezer for easy sandwiches. Look for markdowns or a great bulk buy you can split up.
You can put whatever you want in a croissant for a different style sandwich.
20. Leftover Pasta
Pasta heats up well the next day. So, make pasta for dinner and set some aside for lunches for the next day.
Go ahead and pack your lunch when you make or clean up dinner.
21. Soup & Salad
Soup and salad makes a great lunch, and can be so much cheaper homemade versus going out.
Make a big batch of slow cooker soup and divide into portions for the fridge or freezer. Make salads ahead of time (leaving out anything that won’t stay fresh or will get soggy).
Grab a container of soup and salad, and a bag of crackers for a quick lunch.
22. Burger
Make burgers for dinner and make extra for lunch the next day.
You can eat the burger on a bun, bunless, or cut it up and add it to a salad.
23. Dinner Leftovers
Whatever you make for dinner, make a little extra or pack up the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Meat, mashed potatoes, vegetables, pasta, and many other dinners make great leftover lunches.
These containers are great for leftover style lunches.
24. Grilled Chicken
You can make several grilled chicken breasts at the beginning of the week for lunches.
Pack some chicken with fruit, vegetables with dip, chips or crackers, or with a salad.
25. Chili
Make a big batch of slow cooker chili one day, and divide it into portions for the fridge or freezer. (Hint: you can serve chili the night you cook it, and put the rest away in the freezer for lunches.)
Pack chili with crackers or Frito’s for an easy lunch that can be quickly heated up.
26. Chicken, rice, vegetables
Quickly make a filling lunch of ready rice, grilled chicken, and steamed vegetables (leftover from dinner would make this super easy) for a great lunch.
27. Chicken fajitas
Make chicken fajitas for dinner, and keep some leftover for lunch the next day.
Pack the leftovers with tortillas for a quick lunch you can heat up.
28. Leftover Steak Salad
If you go out for steak or cook steak at home, set some aside for lunch the next day.
Cut the steak up, and pack with a salad for a yummy steak salad – without spending a fortune at a restaurant.
If you don’t want to pack a whole bottle of dressing, these salad lunch containers are great.
29. Sausage, Fruit, and a Muffin
Breakfast food can be a great easy and cheap lunch. Keep sausage patties and muffins in the freezer for easy breakfasts or lunches.
Add some fruit for a great lunch.
Related Post: 5 Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas
30. Clean out the fridge lunch
Get creative and use what you have in the fridge to make your lunch. Pack any leftovers that need to be eaten, fruit or vegetables, and add some snacks for a great lunch.
There you have it – 30 cheap lunch ideas to help you save money on food!
Need more help deciding what to make for dinner?
Planning meals and eating at home can help you save so much money, but it’s not always easy to figure out what to cook!
If you need some dinner ideas that are simple, quick, and budget-friendly, you’ll love the FREE 60+ Easy Dinner Ideas List – the handy resource you’ll love to use for quick, easy, and budget-friendly meal ideas to make meal planning simple and effortless!
Grab the FREE Easy Dinner Ideas List right here!
Get started:
To get started, make a lunch meal plan for the week and plan ahead for a day to eat out if you are used to eating out often.
Make sure you have all of the groceries needed for your lunches. Keep them simple at first – you don’t want to go spend a ton of money on lunch food! You wouldn’t be saving much money that way.
Instead, pick just one or two ideas to have for lunch this week. And next week, you can change it up.
Start looking through the grocery store sale ad, and stock up when you see a really great price on an item you can have for lunches.
And to make things easier on yourself, plan ahead by portioning out fruit and snacks ahead of time so you can quickly grab things for your lunch.
Packing your lunch at night will make this so much easier – pack your lunch while you make dinner or make extra dinner and set some aside for lunch.
I hope you enjoy these cheap meal ideas and you can start saving more money on food!
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