Brown Bag It!

The Benefits of Brown Bagging

To some, bringing a brown bag lunch to work may not seem like the most exciting thing to do. Just the term “brown bag” can sound a little boring. But when you consider the benefits brown bagging brings, the prospect of packing your own lunch quickly becomes more appetizing. Check out these benefits of brown bagging and get to packin’.

Benefit #1: Brown Bagging is Healthier
Have you ever wondered what’s actually in a typical fast food burger and fries? The answer is a lot—a lot of calories, and tons of fat. Consider this. A double Whopper with cheese, king size fry and king size coke at Burger King rings in at almost 2,100 calories and 100 grams of fat. That’s all your calories and more than your share of fat for the day in just one meal! Conversely, a home packed turkey sandwich on wheat bread with baked potato chips and a healthy drink totals about 500 calories and about six grams of fat.

Any way you slice it, packing a moderately healthy lunch from home will almost always beat the fast food competition hands down when it comes to nutrition.

Benefit #2: Brown Bag And Get More Done
When you consider travel time—and the time it takes to get your food once you get seated—going out to lunch each day can take too much time. By packing your lunch and eating at your office, you’ll be able to catch up on email, return voice mail messages, and sew up all the loose ends that accumulate during the week. Don’t feel like working through lunch? Take some time for yourself by reading a book, surfing the day’s headlines, or just daydreaming at your desk. Plain and simple, if you’re not rushing to make it to a restaurant during your lunch hour, you’ll have much more time to concentrate on more important things.

Benefit #3: You’ll Save Big Bucks
Here’s a newsflash, eating out is expensive! Have you ever really considered how much you spend on eating out for lunch? The calculation is pretty simple. Take an average meal price of seven dollars and multiply it by 20 (the approximate number of working days in a month). That’s $140 a month, and almost $1,700 per year. That’s enough money to buy two round trip plane tickets to Europe or lease a brand new economy car. When you sit back and consider it, that’s a lot of money to save just by packing a lunch to work.