June 28, 2010

Paper Bag Lunch


At my elementary school,
most kids who brought their own lunch got made fun of.
1) My private school served hot and cold lunches every day.
2) Bringing your own lunch was a sign of extreme poverty amongst poverty.
3) The lunches stained the brown paper bag and was usually a soggy PBJ or dry Ham sandwich.

I was one of those kids that bought their own lunch...
but I was not mad fun of.
Why you ask?
Cause I had the official red Sesame Street plastic lunch box,
later to become a blue nylon bag.
I had a thermos too, with leftovers from the night before
or Chef Boyardee or a Hot Pocket.
Kids used to be jealous as all hell when I whipped out
my stainless steel thermos.
I would have 2 juice boxes,
an apple and some sugary snack.
....yeah, I was spoiled as shit. :-)

Bringing my own lunch stopped in high school,
when I felt like I got to old for it.
Besides, my high school had a reasonable selection of food.
I could get a chicken salad, mozzarella sticks, a snack and a snapple for like $5.50.
Ah.... those were the days.

Now in college,
it's like $10 for a cheeseburger and a drink.
Same thing for if you go off campus to eat.
Unless you going to a dollar menu,
you ain't spending less than $6, and that doesn't include a drink.

Now, I'm the kind of guy that as long as his balance
says $100 or more, I could careless about spending money.
But as soon as my checking account says $99.99,
I start to freak the fuck out.

Over the summer at work,
I've eaten out at least 4-5 out of 7 days a week.
That's no bueno for my wallet,
not to mention my waistline.
So... I'm deciding to eat in more.
Instead of goin to the cafe,
go back home and make food.
Try to go food shopping at least every other week
to keep your shelves stocked... like a stock boy.
If you work, bring your lunch with you.
I know my mom does it.
Ain't no shame in her saving game.
Please believe that.

Hopefully I'll continue this past my next paycheck
and into the coming school year.
Cause being broke off lunch is not cute.
Word.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, it was the exact opposite at my school, but then again I went to public. If you brought your own lunch to school it meant your mom had time to pack it and even write a note. The kids who got made fun of were the ones who got free school lunch and those weird little plastic bags filled with milk.

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  2. This post brought back another school lunchtime memory-- we used to trade with other kids for items in their lunches and one thing I'd always trade my dinosaur fruit snacks for were these yogurts called Dannon Sprinklins. It was the coolest thing to me to put sprinkles on top of my yogurt.

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