It’s common for a lot of people bring lunch from home to have during their break. As the clock ticks closer to 12 or 1 pm, your lunch may seem less appealing and the vast choice of different cuisines outside the office becomes incredibly tempting – especially if you have a colleague or a friend coming with you. Even if you have the best intentions and buy a healthy salad, financially this isn’t a great habit to have.
A study by the printing advertising company instantprint showed that on average people spend £21 on lunch per week. This works out to £1,029 per year. Imagine what you could do with that money instead. You could buy 30 books, a spa day, an average day trip to London, or even a flying lesson!
For some, it’s a New Year’s resolution
Many New Year’s resolutions revolve around eating better and saving money, so one way to work towards achieving both is to start taking your lunches to work and avoiding buying them.
instantprint found that 44% of people made a resolution to save money in 2023, whereas 32% wanted to try to make lunches at home. The top percentage of New Year’s resolutions that have been made for 2023 is 48% of survey respondents wanting to eat better.
By making lunches at home, you are more likely to think about the nutritional value of what you are putting together. If you are buying a meal deal or fast-food lunch, you are less likely to think about it.
Want to nip into town?
With 48% of people only getting half an hour for their lunch break, a midday meal needs to be something quick to eat. A lucky 27% of people get a full hour for their lunch, but that doesn’t mean they have loads of extra time to eat. It does mean that they have longer to potentially heat leftovers and have a warming meal.
Buying food out is great for convenience but not always for nutritional value. With such a short amount of time in the day and a desire to relax when you are not in the office, where do people find inspiration for quick, healthy lunches?
instantprint’s survey found that 31% of people got ideas for meals from their friends and family and the ingredients people have in their cupboards. The second most popular form of inspiration is social media. Of people inspired by social media, people aged 25-34 are the age group most likely to be influenced by social media.
The rise of FoodTok videos on TikTok has seen a huge boom with hashtags such as #lunch having 15.6 billion views and #lunchideas having 2.6 billion. One TikToker @dzaslavsky has popularised a simple tuna and avocado sandwich. By demonstrating how you can elevate it at home, she has inspired people to put their twist on a previously basic lunch.
As much as achieving these Instagram-worthy lunches would be amazing, sometimes it isn’t possible – and that’s OK! People often feel judged on what is in their lunch boxes. 1 in 5 people says they do, with women reporting that they feel judged slightly more than men at 20% and 18% respectively.
Popular packed lunches for the office
instantprint delved into what items are popular in-office lunchboxes. Sandwiches, fruit, and drinks came out on top with toast, fish, and jelly among the least popular.
When asked which fillings were top-tier for their sandwiches, people voted for chicken as the most popular at 17% and ham came in second at 9.94%. Fans of a Ploughman’s or chocolate spread will be disappointed as these were the two least popular sandwich fillings.
