Skip to content
SuperMoney logo
SuperMoney logo

8 Easy Frugal Lunch Ideas You Gotta Try

Last updated 10/21/2019 by

Brenda Harjala
What’s worse than breaking your budget with build-your-own salad bars or fast food drive-thrus? Or not having lunch at all? Knowing that you could’ve packed your own lunch with a little time, and not very much money.
We’ve picked eight delicious and frugal lunch ideas we found on Pinterest. Need it cheap? Need it fast? We’ve got you covered.

Get Competing Personal Loan Offers In Minutes

Compare rates from multiple vetted lenders. Discover your lowest eligible rate.
Get Personalized Rates
It's quick, free and won’t hurt your credit score

1. Wrap it Up: Chorizo and Fried Egg Wrap

This flavor-packed wrap is great for a lunch or a light supper: Chorizo and Fried Egg Wrap.

2. Gluten-Free Grab n Go: Mediterranean Quinoa Salad in a Jar

What’s better than a healthy, vegan, gluten-free salad? A healthy, vegan, gluten-free salad in a jar! You can make it a few days in advance for a truly grab and go lunch.

3. Frugal Lunch For Kids: Bento Box on a Budget

Get creative with your kids’ lunches with a bento-style lunch. Fill with yogurt, chopped fruit, granola and crackers for a kid-friendly take on a bento box.

4. Skip the Food Cart: Chili Rubbed Skirt Steak Tacos

These street-style tacos look delicious, don’t they? Make a skirt steak for dinner and put together these spicy tacos for lunch tomorrow.

5. 80 Cents Per Serving: Tuna and Avocado Sandwich

Who wants to be the guy who’s eating a tuna sandwich at the office? At only 80 cents, with a meaty tuna salad and sliced avocado, I do!

6. Feeling Fancy: Shrimp Feta Cobb Salsa

Take the salad in a jar to a new, fancy level with shrimp and feta cheese in this recipe.

7. For Those Chilly Days: 5 Ingredient Potato Soup

For those chilly, windy days when you’d rather just stay inside with a hot bowl of soup. Vegetarian, and yummy as leftovers, try this super-simple potato soup tomorrow.

8. Fresh and Light: Banh Mi Bites

As fresh as a salad and as light as the bread it sits on, skip the Vietnamese restaurant and make these Banh Mi bites yourself.
Lunch doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or a budget-busting affair. Instead of swiping your plastic for fast food, or not eating at all, try a few of these frugal lunch ideas today.

SuperMoney may receive compensation from some or all of the companies featured, and the order of results are influenced by advertising bids, with exception for mortgage and home lending related products. Learn more

Loading results ...

Brenda Harjala

Brenda Harjala is a personal finance writer at SuperMoney. She specializes in personal finance topics such as budgeting and money management. Brenda has a B.A. in Scientific and Technical Communication from Michigan Technical University.

Share this post:

You might also like