Eating in the city or your own? Have you ever wondered how much it costs to eat in the city and how much it costs to take food away from home? Do you have problems with preparing meals or do you tell yourself that eating in the city does not cost you anything? Today we will look at both options and point out the differences between them.
Urban food
Working in a large company or commuting to college, many people go outside their home. They usually choose food in the city. Having a staff canteen sometimes it is profitable, because for a few dollars we can get lunch. Most of the time, however, eating in cities is more expensive. What kind of people? Let us count. When we go to work, school or university, we leave our homes for about 10 hours. Usually we eat 2 meals during this time. And it is these two that we will be building on.
Fast food
While working in the centre, frequently one can find nearby some “junk” food, i.e. McDonald’s, kebab, or food on the telephone. If you choose the entire McDonald breakfast set for your breakfast, it will cost about 15 USD, and if you reach 2 tents, you will pay about 8 USD. However, we will spend about 15 USD for lunch, regardless of whether it is a McDonald set or kebab. Please note that when ordering food on the phone you will often have to pay for delivery costs unless the costs exceed the supplier’s free delivery limit; you can place your order with several people on a single bill. In total, this represents a cost of around 25-30 US dollars per day.
Milk bar
Assuming you buy 2 sandwiches or a village cheese with a bread roll for your breakfast in a nearby shop like Fresh, you’ll spend about $6. In turn when going to the milk bar for a dinner for a home meal, e.g. a pork loin with pig iron and potatoes, we will have to pay around 12 USD. This is a cheaper and probably healthier option than fast food. Our budget should then close at around USD 20 per day.
Mr Kanapka
In many companies, once or twice a day, the so-called Mr. Kanapka appears, who brings with him various types of sandwiches or salads. This is a great option if you don’t have food nearby in the city that you can look at or if you don’t have anyone to bring food to your phone. Depending on the size of the sandwich, we will pay from 3 to even 7 USD for it. For breakfast giving us energy to work you need 2 smaller or one larger roll, also a version closer to 7 USD. In addition, there is lunch and a similar price here, i.e. about 7 USD. In doing so, too, we should close our budget to USD 15 a day. Not much, considering the other options and the fact that it is still food in the city.
Ready meals from the store
For many people it is one of the most common meals they eat at work. Ready-made breakfast or dinner bought in the nearby shop Biedronka or Lidl. The choice now seems huge: from dumplings to full “home” dinners and pizzas. Here you will have to pay between $5 and $10 for your meal. Such a diet will cost about 15-20 USD a day.
Home cooking
In view of the desire to prepare food at home, we should equip ourselves with food storage containers. When writing food from home, we will take into account only the cost of preparing the products and not our work and time and the actual electricity and gas consumption, as it is difficult to estimate the exact amount due to variations, e.g. pasta from the oven vs. sandwiches. However, I refer to our article on costs. When you take food from home, you have two options to choose from: hot and cold.
Warm food
If you would like to prepare 2 warm meals for work, which we later heat in the microwave, you have a lot of options to choose from. For breakfast we can take milk and flakes with us (about 7 USD for 3 days). This is a minimalist option when it comes to time and work for breakfast. We can also prepare something warm, e.g. omelette (3 eggs and accessories) for about 3 USD. Breakfast is also a low cost, about 3USD a day. Now for lunch. Here again the price can be very different. If you choose the classic home lunch we will spend much less than for preparing something exquisite. However, when preparing meals for work, we usually choose something quick and easy to cook. Verizon pasta, rice and potatoes are also available in minced meat, chicken or pork and pig iron of all kinds. The price of products for lunch preparation is about 6 USD. Total daily cost approx. 9-10 USD.
Cold food
Cold food prepared at home is mainly sandwiches. One sandwich/bug with ham, cheese and vegetables costs 2-2,5 USD. We will also take 4 such rolls to work. Total daily cost approx. 8-10 USD.
Bonus
catering
Some people choose the catering option, where the company provides them with meals all day long in the morning or in the evening. Unfortunately, here it is hard to find the option of “only work”, so we put it in a separate category. This option is very convenient, because the menu of the priest