10 Kinds of Food To Bring With You Each Day

I was kind of surprised to see the price for basic instant oatmeal when I went to Starbucks a few days ago.  $4 to $5 for a small thing of instant oatmeal and a couple raisins???  We are now firmly in the habit of bringing food and drinks from home these days and it is so easy and saves so much money I don't know why more people don't do this.  Here are the things we bring:

1. Coffee (make it at home and bring it in a thermal drink container to keep it hot)
2. Tea (I always have a few tea bags in my bag and usually bring my own hot water as well)
3. Soda or juice (the same thermal drink containers will keep cold drinks cold for 10+ hours; it's cheaper to bring a soda from home than buying it from a vending machine)
4. Bottled water (we buy bottled water by the case at Costco and I bring one each day with me for a fraction of the cost of buying one from a vending machine)
5. Candy bars/chips/etc (again, buying these in bulk at Costco then bringing snacks with you instead of paying vending machine prices is a big money saver)
6. Healthy snacks (I bake my own cookies or bring my own nuts/raisins/dates/apples/bananas/etc in small ziploc bags...super cheap and super easy to do)
7. Breakfast (when we have to be out and about very early I will make oatmeal and bring it in a small insulated container or make a breakfast sandwich along with a piece of fruit and we re good to go all morning)
8. Lunch (nearly every day I make us sandwiches to bring with us instead of eating out every day.  PB&J, BLT, cheese, hummus wraps...sandwiches are cheap and easy to make at home)
9. Dinner (similar to lunch, if we will be out in the evening and don't want to go out to eat, I can toss together a homemade meal with baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, salad, or leftovers and bring it with us)
10. Granola bars (I always have a few of these in my bag for times when I am hungry but didn't bring other food with me)

When I think of how much we used to spend eating out--sometimes three meals a day--back when I was working, it kind of boggles the mind--so much money wasted!  Note, don't forget a fork and spoon and napkins/wet wipes.  Also, putting these things together gets much faster with a little practice!