I hate packing my lunch.  Every night after I finish the dinner dishes I take the time to set up the coffee maker for the next morning and pack up all the food I need to take to work the next day.  I truly hate doing it.  But I hate the alternative even more.

I’m a “graze all day” kind of girl.  I eat lots of little things throughout the day rather than zoning in on three big meals with nothing in between.  Bringing my own food and drink to work makes it a lot easier for me to do that.  And bringing my own food and coffee makes it easy for me to access the food.   I carry a small cooler with my food and a Thermos for my coffee.  They’re right there by my desk whenever I want something.  And I also am able to make sure I have healthy foods that way (or the occasional not-as-good for me but delicious leftover from the prior night’s dinner).

Of course, the biggest reason I’m a “brown bagger” is the money.  If I were to buy all my lunches and drinks at work it would easily cost me $50 per week.  And I simply can’t justify that expense.  That’s too high a premium to pay for food that is not as good for me, less convenient, and not conducive to my normal grazing behavior.  I’m fairly certain that even with recent inflation, the food I bring to work with me doesn’t cost me more than $25 per week.  And it’s likely less than that.

I hate packing my lunch.  But it only takes me about 15 minutes a day.  Each week a total of 1.25 hours of work saves me $25.  That’s a rate of $20 per hour.  And for $20 per hour I can absolutely do something I hate for one and a quarter hours per week.

Do you have a chore you hate that is totally worth it?