How much do you spend on lunch?

Several coworkers have said that they cannot do $7.50 a day.  How much do you spend on lunch?  If you work at home taking care of kids or work from home or work at work - how much do you spend a day?  Do you know?  If not look at your monthly expenses.  Most credit cards companies do tell you how you are spending, but I think that is done every year unless you run your own reports.  I pay for a lot via credit card, so don't know how much I spend on lunch daily.

I'll be paying cash each day during February while at work. 

As part of my budget challenge starting in a few days, I'll be limiting myself to $7.50 a day (for all meals during the day at work - snack, tea, coffee, lunch,etc).

Many have told me that $7.50 is just too little.  I selected that amount because I decided to cut my monthly expense by a certain amount.  Some of my coworkers  are doing $10 a day. 

I can get tea at work by brining my own and getting hot water for 11 cents.  I think they even hot water from a free dispenser.  I bring coffee in the morning from home most days, so I'm fairly good at that.  If I feel like being social at work in the afternoon, I do usually get tea, but try to avoid starbucks coffee that is a minimum of 1.94.  11 cents is much better.

Lunch is hard.  At my work cafeteria most meals will put you over 7.50 just by themselves.  I try to do a half sandwich with chips or even a sandwich is under this amount usually with a drink (tea).

Going out to eat while at work is extremely hard.  I used to get iced tea all the time because I live in Texas and even winter is hot.  I'm trying to get more waters at restaurants.  I ate at Chipoltle one day - before my budget crunch started - and it was 6.75 plus tax I think for a entree.  With no water, that is close to my budget crunch.

A lot of people won't sacrifice their lunch and feel that eating something than at a sit down restaurant will add more calories for them.  That's ok, I get that.  I'm trying to lose weight with my challenge too.  Let's say you go somewhere that has an entree for 11.50 and you get a water.  You don't have to eat the whole thing and maybe you can split your meal for tomorrow's lunch (or for dinner).  In that way, you have met the 7.50 budget per day.  You are also saving calories that add up over time if you only eat half your food.  Sometimes I have the restaurant give me a to go container before I even start eating, so I can stick to my half amount. 

Also try to save on tips by going to counter service restaurants like chipotle, jason's deli, etc. 

How much do you think is appropriate for lunch?

Even if you bring your lunch every day, you are spending money buying groceries to make your meal.