In a previous blog posting we spoke about the rising cost of food in SA, which is often brought about by the rising cost of fuel and the weakening Rand.
While it may not be fun to economise, even Bill Gates has a budget, so if you ultimately want money to work for you instead of you for money, then you need to implement some systems to help you keep your money for saving.
For example, office lunches can be a very expensive thing. A trip to the local fast food outlet is going to set you back probably R50 easy, so multiply that by the average 22 working days a month and you are looking at over R13,000 a year. That’s enough money for two air tickets to Europe, or a really lavish holiday in SA for a week. If you were to save and invest that money in a fixed deposit at 10% interest per annum for 5 years, then that amount would have grown to over R23,000 – and this is just from not having a take-out for lunch at work!
So, inspired by Woolies’ “eat in for under R100” idea, let’s take a look at what you can do to eat lunch at work for under R20. But first let’s see how 2 people can have dinner at home for under R50.
How about something Mexican? Buy an 8-pack of flour wraps (R35, Pick n Pay), a can of Mexican tomato & onion mix (R13, Pick n Pay), a small pack of deboned chicken breasts (R20, Pick n Pay), 100g of Cheddar cheese (R7.50 on special, Pick n Pay), and a Nestle Albany chocolate bar, 80g (R9 on special, Spar). Let’s assume you will each have 1 wrap. You fry up the chicken with a stock cube, add the Mexican tomato mix and spoon into the wraps, which you fold over like a roti, but not before adding cheese. Voila! Instant homemade fajitas for under R50 (R8.75 wraps + R7.50 cheese + R20 chicken + R13 tomato mix = R49.25).
But how do you eat for under R20 at lunch the next day? Easy. Have another wrap with chicken leftovers from the night before.
And drinks? Well, get a good water filter and drink water – it’s free (except for the filter) and it’s much healthier!