A Man, A Plan, and A Budget

Plan:

I get paid twice a month. It is easiest for me to go shopping during my lunch break on the day I get paid and get enough food until the next pay day. ~2wks of food = $20 budget.

Man:

I work at a good company which has a refridgerator, microwave, and plenty of desk space for my food.  I'm a web developer so needing to eat at my workstation is useful. For more about me, check out my profile.->

Budget:

In order to best fulfil your thrift, you need to have a general idea of how much to spend on each item you put into your cart.  Here are my guidelines for lunch, a snack, a desert, and breakfast:

• $1/day: Main entree - Around half of your budget should be for your main lunch.  You an easily accomplish this with frozen dinners, microwave reconstituted meals, and good planning.  Remember, this is only lunch, its best not to stuff yourself everyday; save the large meal for dinner.
• $1.50/wk: Snack - Something simple you can eat in the morning or afternoon if you are hungry. Think crackers, chips and 
• $1/wk: Dessert - Something sweet to keep you happy.  Trial sized candy and pudding make lunchtime complete.
• $1/wk: Drinks - You'll need something to wash it all down with. The trick is to get a drink you can make a lot of so the cost will average itself down to about $1/wk based on your consumption.
• $1.50/wk: Breakfast - This will keep you fed in the morning to help you get through to lunch. Cereal, oatmeal and toast are good candidates.

I'll expound upon these later in some tips.