I'm home today studying for my mid-term exam which is tonight. So naturally I'm home taking pictures of my lunch and blogging about it :) However, I must give myself a bit of credit...I did manage to get in several good hours of studying as well.
We are trying to be more budget conscious and, in doing so, we are trying to bring our lunch to work more often. It's easy to make a crappy lunch that by the time lunch rolls around, you really don't want to eat. So I really wanted to find a good recipe that I would not only enjoy but could happily eat for multiple days in a row. When I worked/lived in Crystal City, I used to go to Au Bon Pain and get their Tomato and Mozzarella sandwich at least once every week or two. So I decided to replicate the sandwich but replace arugula (a typically more expensive ingredient) for the romaine and bring that for lunch this week. I'd like to think that making your own sandwiches is always cheaper but the math geek inside me decided to prove this theory and calculate out how much I'm actually saving...
For my sandwich:
$1.29 for the Giant brand french bread loaf - $0.33/serving
$3.99 for the Sorrento brand fresh mozzarella - $1.00/serving (on second look, I realized I said the wrong brand - now corrected)
$1.99/pound for the vine-ripened tomatoes - $0.50/serving
$1.99 for Giant brand baby arugula and lettuce salad mix - $0.25/serving
$3.49/jar for Classico brand pesto sauce - $0.35/serving
Total for sandwich - $2.45
Sandwich at Au Bon Pain:
MOZZARELLA AND TOMATO (V)
Mozzarella, Tomato, Romaine with Basil Pesto served on a Baguette - $4.59
My sandwich is almost half the cost and just as tasty!
I watch Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on occasion and he always claims to make gourmet meals for a fraction of the cost...however, annoyingly, he usually would fail to substantiate his claims! So I felt this burning desire to actually prove that something like a gourmet sandwich can actually proven to be cheaper.
One more thought...The nice thing about this sandwich is that it does use good quality ingredients that can easily be incorporated into other lunches or dinners. So if you really don't want to eat these sandwiches for 5 days in a row, you could make a pesto dish for dinner one night with sauteed tomatoes and topped with fresh mozzarella or make a nice hearty salad.
Ok, I suppose I should study some more...
13 comments:
NERD!!!
;-)
Good luck on the exam. It just got very dark, thundery, and rainy here in NYC. Hopefully not a portent of the weather for this weekend - I've got sailing to do! Yes! I joined the sailing club and am scheduled for my first non-training, non-classroom sail on Saturday.
Yummy! I tend to eat Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil sandwiches as well. I actually bought all of the ingredients yesterday so I could make a grilled version in my new panini maker! It's nice to see the prices written down like this. It's so hard to save money cooking sometimes, especially when you have to buy a lot of ingredients. So, this sandwich is great because of the common ingredients!
Good luck on the exam!
Oh, and one more thing - Sandwiches are so expensive at the Rosslyn lunch locations! To get a tomato mozzarella sandwich, there are 2 places : High Noon ($7.50) and Cosi ($8). So making sandwiches at home for lunch would really save me money. I should definitely stop being lazy and actually bring in my lunch!
Margo
I did a rough estimate of calories, fat and carbs. My version of the sandwich comes to about 24 grams of fat, 462 calories and 63 grams of carbs. Yikes! Ok, major culprits of fat are the mozzarella (apparently, I used 2 servings rather than 1) and the pesto (naturally). So maybe only use 1 serving (approximately 1 ounce of mozzarella) and make your own pesto with basil and a little bit of nuts and minimal oil. I bet you could get that sandwich down to about 13 - 14 grams of fat instead. Now looking at it...perhaps I might do the same. :)
Ami - I think my desire to number crunch came partly from our budget conversation on Saturday. Not that I was trying to prove you wrong or anything! I agree - when I make complicated recipes, I'm sure going out to eat is a lot more economical but in situations like this, it's amazing about what you can save! I bet a panini would be a great take-to-work sandwich. :)
As far as being lazy, we are ALL guilty of that. Think about it this way...the time it takes to actually make the sandwich at home is probably less time than to actually walk over to the restaurant, order it and then walk back. Of course, it always is a different situation if you are going there to socialize as well :)
JC:
Further calorie and fat reduction could come from eliminating the pesto, but then adding fresh basil leaves + mustard + vinegar. Also, using so-called low-fat mozzarella would help.
PJJ
mmm. food. what a wonderful blog. Is it a forum to share our recipes also? I have lots of new recipes i've conjured up over the years. =)
-Dave L.
mmm. food. what a wonderful blog. Is it a forum to share our recipes also? I have lots of new recipes i've conjured up over the years. =)
-Dave L.
I think I'll try that basil, mustard and vinegar combo on my next sandwich!
Thanks, dad!
JC -
I have found the thing that helps combat the 'take my lunch' laziness is to be prepared. I read once that when you come home from the grocery store to think of yourself as a sous chef whose shipment has just come in. No sous chef would stick a huge bagful of grapes directly into the cooler; they would portion them out immediately to make for easier use. This is what I do when I get home from the store.
Anything that can be taken for lunch, especially fruit and veggies, gets immediately washed and portioned. That way, when I'm running late in the morning all I have to do is grab the Ziploc of carrots instead deciding it's too much hassle and eating out of the vending machine. I have found I end up wasting much less this way too.
Just my .02!
I saw this post. But I had just eaten an italian roast beef sandwich. Otherwise known as heaven on a bun for a Chicagoan Meatavore. Sorry Veggievores, I wish I could share the equivalent sandwich with you. Though I will say I did like the veggie subs that subway makes. Alton Brown actually made a badass veggie sandwhich on his show one day. I'll have to try it out, along with the sandwich posted.
Maybe we could invent a veggie sauce that rivals au-jus. Then the veggie italian roasted greenery sandwich could exist!
For the uninitiated, a proper Italian Beef (as the Chicagoans know it to be) has been dunked and soaked in the Au-jus of the meat prior to serving.
When eating the sandwich the bread is so wet, that your could end up with prune hands just eating the thing. Yeah, it's that good.
Fresh Healthy Vending is the only vending franchise company that offers locations 100% juices, fresh vegetables and fruits, smoothies, and yogurts in every one of its healthy vending machines. potato chips and low fat popcorn like Pirate's Booty.
fresh healthy vending recipes
professional panini maker
professional panini press
waring commercial panini press
commercial panini grill
Post a Comment