Lunch

My work schedule is about to change, now that I'm done with post-training. Starting next week, I'll be working Mon-Wednesday, five to two, and Sat-Sunday six to two-thirty. Our lunches, during the week, are hour long (my "lunch" will be at eight-thirty, when a lot of people are still having breakfast), whereas on the weekend, we only have half an hour. There's a pretty good reason for this. During the week, the food court is open in the next building over (we're connected via an underground tunnel-walkway), as is all sorts of places in the immediate area. And, depending on the time of day you get food, it can take half an hour just to get food - not including the eating part - in the next building over because EVERYONE is there. But, on the weekend, those places close. There's a drugstore nearby that I'm pretty sure is open, but their "deli" is closed on the weekends, too (or so I've been told).

This pretty much means that if I want to eat lunch on the weekends, I have to pack my lunch. It's challenging to find food if you have no food allergies or sensitivities, but in my case, I'd pretty much be choosing between candy and potato chips. (That's a slight exaggeration - they sell canned fruit with syrupy stuff. Of course, half of that has high fructose corn syrup, which I'm also sensitive to.) I don't mind, though. It's not hard to pack lunch, even with dietary restrictions. The only time I buy lunch during the week is if I forget my lunch at home (oops) or if my husband joins me for lunch (he can't come into my lunch room - it's not allowed - but we can go over to the huge food court in the next building). I have the attitude of a two year old when it comes to bedtime (no nap! not sleepy!), so I try to make my lunch the night before, because I'm usually too tired in the morning. This has more to do with "I can't pull myself out of bed" than "I don't want to cook, I'm sleepy" but that's not the point here.

Earlier today, I was having a discussion with somebody who lives three minutes - walking time - from his work. He goes home for lunch. I'd love to do that, and probably could, during the week, but then I'd only have five to ten minutes at home before I had to turn right back around. Thanks, but no. He says that it saves him tons of money to go home for lunch because "you can spend ten dollars or so on lunch at work, when you go out". To which I mentioned that, you know, you could always pack your lunch (like I do). Something about what the guy said next didn't make sense to me, but I couldn't figure out what was "off" about it until he'd already left (I was tired, ok?). What he said was this: "But then you have to make it at home." Now, the logical part of my brain supplied me with the weird thing here. Whether you make your lunch and eat it at home or make it at home and eat it at work, YOU'RE STILL MAKING IT AT HOME. However, at the time, my brain interpreted what he said to mean "You have to make it in the morning," and so I said "Well, you don't have to make it that morning. You can pack your lunch the night before." And the response: "But, you still have to make it. That's a lot of work." I let it go.

As I said before, I mainly pack lunch. Part of that is out of necessity because of my dietary needs, but part of it is because I really do LIKE bringing my lunch. And I hate having to pay for a meal while I'm working. My defective brain likes to tell me how much of my work day I have just "wasted" by eating out.

My question to you guys is this: Do you mainly buy lunch or do you mainly pack lunch?