Generally speaking, one of the best places to save money in your budget is on food expenses. Have you ever wondered how much money you would save if you took a sandwich with you to work instead of grabbing fast food? I didn’t think so; but, I don’t care. Here’s the answer:

Let’s say you spend an average of $7 per work day on lunch. Not bad. That equals $1,750 per year on lunch (250 work days per year X $7 per lunch).

Below are the current costs of various sandwiches. “Generic” is Great Value brand (Walmart) and “Name Brand” represents the following brands: Mrs. Baird’s (100% Whole Wheat bread), Peter Pan (peanut butter), Smucker’s (jelly), Burleson’s (honey), French’s (mustard), Sargento (cheese), Kraft (mayonaise), and Sara Lee (turkey). How did I determine the quantity of each item on a sandwich? I may or may not have utilized my office postal scale during an extended lunch break. Don’t judge me. Obviously these values aren’t exact-because prices change…and because some of you people put way more lard mayo on your sandwich than you should. This will, however, give you a decent idea of the percentage cost differences for these various sandwiches.

Generic White PB & J: 18.39 cents
Generic Wheat PB & J: 19.78 cents
Name Brand Wheat PB & J: 35.44 cents
Generic White PB & H: 25.59 cents
Generic Wheat PB & H: 26.98 cents
Name Brand Wheat PB & H: 41.14 cents
Generic White Turkey, Cheese, & Mustard: 53 cents
Generic Wheat Turkey, Cheese, & Mustard: 54.39 cents
Name Brand Wheat Turkey, Cheese, & Mustard: 89.66 cents
Generic White Turkey, Cheese, & Mayo: 53.22 cents
Generic Wheat Turkey, Cheese, & Mayo: 54.60 cents
Name Brand Wheat Turkey, Cheese, & Mayo: 90.08 cents
Generic White Turkey, Cheese, Mayo, Lettuce, & Tomato: 61.94 cents
Generic Wheat Turkey, Cheese, Mayo, Lettuce, & Tomato: 63.32 cents
Name Brand Wheat Turkey, Cheese, Mayo, Lettuce, & Tomato: $1.0755

So…let’s say that, rather than grabbing fast food, you eat a healthy (albeit odd) lunch consisting of 3 generic PB & Js each work day. Your savings over one year would be $1,612.07. Let’s also say that you decide to be healthy and add an apple a day to your lunch. Your savings is still huge…still over $100/month…money that you could more wisely spend on the wife or kids or debt or a new iPhone 4.