Sandwiches for Lunch

October 1990

I was very recently out of college and two months into a professional job. I was earning less than $2,000 per month prior to taxes and my expenses were winning an unfortunate tug of war.

The $5-6 per day I was spending at lunch would no longer do. Plus, wasting half my lunch time getting to the food outlet (driving or walking), waiting in line, followed by a quick wolfing down of the meal due to lunch break time constraints made the whole experience increasingly less tolerable. I resolved myself to making my lunch everyday and hauling it in to work. Two sandwiches, a soda pop, an apple, and sometimes a yogurt just to mix things up.


Nineteen years have passed since the inception of lunchtime sandwiches. Lunch remains largely the same these days. The soda pop has been switched out for water. Two sandwich allotment has been reduced to one, turns out my motor no longer takes as much fuel to keep afloat. The apple and occasional supplement remain in force.

The lunching experience has evolved over the years. At inception, I ate lunch in the car parked in the shade listening to the radio and reading Sports Illustrated. This pleasure of solitude was occasionally traded in for lunch with company cohorts, but not often. After a job change, this packed lunch was eaten at my desk enjoying the silence (silence because everyone else was out to lunch) and reading a magazine or book. Present day, I often eat while driving on the freeway listening to talk radio as much of my job has me in the field for the bulk of my work week.

I have difficulty imagining my two decades of lunch breaks had the homemade sandwiches not been implemented. The difficulty imagining pertains to health, weight gain, financial outlay, and time wasted getting to lunch, waiting in line, and getting back to work. I’ve no patience for line standing. I’m pleased with myself, but then, I like routine.

Lunch today was 1.5 toasted bagels bookending ham, turkey and mozzarella. [Thanks Mom Klem for the leftover Easter pig and bird.] Also ate a pear. Consumption increase for today was due to the approaching ‘throw out’ date of the bagels. More bagels remain, but I think I can beat the date.
-klem