Emily Co
Editor, Smart Living
budget tips

6 Handy Tips For Packing Work Lunches

Bringing lunch to work every day sure does save more than a few bucks and keeps you healthy at the same time.

Bringing lunch to work every day sure does save more than a few bucks and keeps you healthy at the same time. It's such an easy everyday saving trick, and it's a great option for those trying to cut costs on their daily expenses. Here are a few tips that get me through the week.

  • Mental Meal Plan: What do you want to eat for the rest of the week? Give it some thought before you make a trip to the grocery store to buy some ingredients. For inspiration, flip through Yum's list of delicious work lunches. While you're grocery shopping, read our savvy tricks for saving money at the supermarket.
  • Prep on Sunday: Buy all the ingredients you need on Sunday so that you won't have to desperately scramble around the night before. If you're planning on making one dish that you'll be eating all week (such as soup), you can either keep it refrigerated or, depending on what type of dish it is, you can also choose to freeze it in five ziploc packets that you can ration out throughout the week.
  • Keep It Separate: If you want to keep your lunch fresh, try to keep the pieces separate and assemble it right before you're having lunch. This works best for meals such as salads and sandwiches — soggy bread and vegetables are not appetizing!

Read on for more tips.

budget tips

5 Ways to Make Your Instant Coffee Seem Gourmet

Instant coffee often receives a bad rep, but 37 percent of you seem to like it just fine.
Instant Coffee Recipes

Instant coffee often receives a bad rep, but 37 percent of you seem to like it just fine. Although the instant version is basically regular ground coffee that has been freeze-dried, there are a lot of people that feel that the taste is not up to par.

I've been using a number of ingredients to make my Starbucks VIA instant coffee taste like it's store-bought. Not only is it saving me bucks, but it makes me feel like a Starbucks barista! Read on to find out the many ways to dress up your cuppa instant joe.