This Simple Lunch Hack will Save You Time AND Money

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hillshire Farm®. The opinions and text are all mine.

We are always on the lookout for ways to save time and money in our lives. Between working from home, homeschooling, and taking care of a toddler, life gets busy. I am sure we are not alone, based on everything I see my friends post. I am sure you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t feel like you could use more time and more money. The day I figured out at this simple lunch hack my world changed! I know, I know… everyone says that… but this truly did change my life!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hillshire Farm®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Did you know that the average American is eating out two times a week and spending $10 at a time? According to this article, research actually shows that only 30% of Americans never eat out. You might be wondering why this is important. Why am I talking about this random article on how much Americans spend on lunch?

Well, this is a habit that I’ve often felt guilty about. Even though we work at home, we find ourselves grabbing lunch for the family just because in the moment it seems faster and easier than making lunch at home. When we didn’t work at home, we had the same problem. Mornings were busy and time was limited. It seemed to be the best plan to eat out for lunch.

Here’s the thing. When my husband was leaving the home for work, he was eating out every day. At an average of $10 a day… That is over $2500 just on lunch in one year! I remember the day we realized how much we were actually spending and what we thought about using that money on instead. We knew something had to change! But, remember, there was that time issue.

This Simple Lunch Hack Will Save You Time and Money

I knew if my husband was going to take his lunch, I had to make it! The problem was finding time every morning to fit in making him lunch before he went on his commute. That’s when it hit me…I could make them during the weekend and have them ready for the whole week!

If you have ever tried to prepare lunches ahead of time, you are already thinking exactly what I was. “But Dayna, won’t the food get soggy?” “Dayna, how will you keep the food fresh?”

Don’t worry! I’ve got you covered!

The first step is to head to the store and stock up on sandwich making goodies. You’ll want lunchmeat (we use Hillshire Farms® Thin sliced Turkey) , yummy bread, lettuce, tomato(yes you can use tomato without it getting soggy), mustard, mayonnaise, relish… go crazy with yummy goodness. Remember, you want to make sandwiches that put restaurant sandwiches to shame. Think about the last sub you had and pick up your favorite toppings! I would guess your bill will come to about $20, but you will have enough to make meals for the month!

Now that we have saved you the money I promised, let’s work on saving time. Carve out a time on the weekend. You will need about 20 minutes to make your lunches for the ENTIRE week! You see, it takes almost the same amount of time to prepare 5 meals as it does to prepare one! By making all your lunches at one time, you will definitely save time!

Remember how I told you we love Hillshire Farms® lunch meats? There’s a secret hack loving reason and you will see as you keep reading!

The first step is to set out all of your ingredients so your prep station is clear and ready! Then lay out your empty food containers. Are you ready for that Hillshire Farms® hack? We use the containers the meats come in! The meats come prepackaged in these awesome reusable containers that are perfect for saving time and money. Now I don’t have to go buy extra containers AND I am saving money on my lunches!

Start by placing both pieced of bread directly into your containers. Do not put your meat or toppings on your sandwich! This is important!

THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Using a small piece of saran wrap, wax paper, or foil… cover your bread in your container.

After you have done this, you can now prepare your sandwich the way you would if it were on the bread making only one change… Put all the condiments inside the layers. For this sandwich you can see I did lettuce, then mustard, then turkey. If you are adding tomato or avocado, you can add another layer of saran wrap.

Look at how the bread NEVER touches the ingredients! It is brilliant, right? Okay… I know you are telling me to settle down. It’s not rocket science but it did change my life!

Once you have all the yummy goodness you want on your sandwich, close up your containers and put them in the fridge! If you made different sandwiches, you can label them with this simple tool. . Of if you want to be surprised, leave them blank.

Not convinced? Don’t think this would work with your schedule? Maybe, you are a stay at home mom and you want a lunch hack you can use with your kids. Don’t worry, this is for you too!

Remember, I said we don’t leave for work anymore. We still use this hack. Well, we had forgotten it until we looked at our 2016 budget and realized we needed to skim somewhere. Not only does this trick worth with husbands, it works with kids too. By pre-making the sandwiches with my kids over the weekend, I am giving them more independence and more ownership over their own choices. Lunch doesn’t have to take an hour out of our day to prepare. They each grab their choices and get to eating.

This hacks is perfect for the whole family! It works wonderfully for the budget, the schedule and our waistline.