I eat the same meal for lunch every single work day.
- Mixed greens with feta, goat cheese, and honey mustard dressing
- whole milk Greek yogurt with six raspberries and oat and honey granola
- triscuit crackers with a pepper jack cheese wedge
- a can of seltzer water
While certain flavors and toppings may vary occasionally, the general lunch structure has remained the same for the past two years. I shop for the same groceries each week, which are portioned to exhaust after exactly five meals. I use the same lunchbox and tupperware every day, and the lunch is always prepared in the same order at roughly the same time each night. Every component has its place and every place has its function. Making lunch has become an automated process of life.
I used to go to Wawa and buy a fifteen dollar lunch each day. I’d get a hoagie, a bag of chips, and a lemonade. I miss these lunches, but honestly, buffalo chicken strip hoagies have not been up to par recently. Also, In order to do this, I’d have to spend seventy five bucks a week, about three hundred bucks a month, or almost three thousand six hundred dollars every year. I don’t miss that.
I’d decided to start packing my lunch as an attempt to fix this mindless spending, and It has been one of the greatest life decisions I’ve ever made. As a society, we’ve become so obsessed with treating ourselves constantly. We treat ourselves out to delicious tasting food, to contrast from the measly chicken breast and rice we only know how to prepare at home. We award ourselves for getting halfway through the work day by retreating away from the office and to the closest Chipotle full of the same people from work. We treat ourselves by not having to sacrifice precious time each day to prepare leftovers from last night’s dinner, and instead use this saved time by vegging out on the couch staring at our phones. In reality, we’ve missed out on some of the biggest treats of all by NOT packing lunch every day, Money, discipline, and general happiness.
Packing your lunch is incredibly budget friendly.
Believe it or not, money is one of the biggest tools we have to lead a content life. Sure, money doesn’t necessarily buy happiness, but learning how to control it and use it effectively leads to a much more fulfilling life. It’s so easy to throw money away for the justification of doing things that bring us happiness. Unfortunately, those who throw money away for happiness’ sake tend to be the most unhappy about how life is now so unaffordable. For me, learning to pack my lunch was the foremost domino in a series of changes leading to financial bliss. Learn to control your wallet by buying budget items, not spending when it’s unnecessary, and learning to do more things yourself rather than paying for it. Finance is an essential part of Ned Ludd because unfortunately in this modern consumerist society, it is a driving force behind our everyday lives. Don’t let society force you into this spending culture. Packing my lunch was a stepping stone into learning how to budget as well as my “buy less” mentality. I believe most days should be spent not spending, rather than making small spends each day. Packing your lunch enforces this by consolidating food purchases into a single weekly grocery shopping event, rather than spread out purchases made many times a week. I shop at Aldi weekly and can sufficiently feed myself and a plus one for three meals a day, seven days a week for seventy five dollars. That’s less than two dollars a meal. Suck that Ubereats, your shitty CEO won’t take my hard earned cash.
Packing your Lunch Builds Discipline.
If you read my “wash your bowl” post, this kind of fits under the same umbrella. I pack my lunch daily, every evening before bed. It’s become a nightly habit, and morning me is always incredibly grateful that it has already been completed. From this action, I’ve come to understand that the ability to Complete tasks with discipline is a super power. Once you realize how good you can make future you feel, completing tasks becomes a mindless activity. Packing my lunch turned going grocery shopping into a “no sweat”. I know it needs to be done, so I go do it. Same with doing the laundry. Same with cleaning the apartment. Something needs to be done? Just go do it. Once you realize how effective a bit of discipline is, it’s like finding a cheat code to life. Establishing rituals of discipline makes essential tasks not only easier to do, but also streamlines life and saves time in the long run.
Packing your Lunch will make you Happy.
When I pack my lunch, I’m taking charge. I’m deciding what I put in my body, how much I spend to do it, and how I want the experience to be. There’s no businesses involved. I’m not handing my soul over to a corporation or greedy businessman for a quick bite. I’m participating in an activity that will consistently keep me fed for a lifetime. I learned to cook. I wash my own dishes. I get to decide how healthy I want to be. Packing your lunch is loving yourself and is a true sense of empowerment. Its a “Fuck You” to the system that doesn’t want you to have ownership over yourself. When I open my lunch box, I smile knowing that I used my own hands to prepare the lunch inside. There’s a certain sense of nostalgia and safety knowing what today’s food will be. It’s always the same, and there’s something really nice and simple about that. I remember listening to an interview with a designer whose philosophy was to simplify life as much as possible. By streamlining every possible action in life, he believed only then could a designer truly come up with good design. Good design is birthed from life boiled down to its bare minimum. This philosophy really struck a chord with me. I believe that happiness has a foundation in a life streamlined through intention. Ritual your life to its simplest form, and through this, you will find the mental clarity needed to experience ultimate contentment.
Extra points if your lunch storage and the instruments needed to put it together are reusable!
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