I work at a public school, so I have either brought my lunch or grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria for literal decades at this point. The last thing I want to do during lunch is socialize. Thatâs me time (except when I need to connect with a coworker or student).
I suspect that people who have to drive somewhere for lunch are going out a lot less than those who work somewhere where they can just walk to someplace in five minutes.
60 ⏠for a dinner for two in Sicily. Wine & tip included 
Iâve been turned off fast food recently more because of the health concerns, re: highly processed foods / ultra processed foods.
Itâs been about 3 months since my last food order at McDonaldâs, Tim Hortons or Starbucks.
I am still ordering breakfasts sandwiches at indie restaurants and coffee shops. Iâve been avoiding bacon, sausage and cured meats the past month.
I had been ordering daily or twice daily cappuccinos, cortados or iced lattes for the past 25 years, and I stopped that habit recently.
A tall cappuccino at Starbucks cost $3.10 Cdn in 2000, when I started drinking coffee. Last time I ordered a tall cappuccino, it was around $5.25 Cdn (prices vary a little, depending on location).
The cortados are mostly around $4.25-$5 Cdn before tax at most places I visit. My cardamom lattes, the one specialty coffee splurge I order once or twice a month, is $5.25 Cdn before 13 % tax at the Swedish inspired coffee shop and $6.95 Cdn before 13 % tax at the Persian brunch spot.
I might buy 3 lattes or cortados a week now, mostly from indie coffee shops on the weekend.
I gave up the daily latte habit over a decade ago. While finances were a big consideration, the clincher was when I calculated how much time I was spending standing in line for coffee. I figured 10 minutes a day, x 5 days a week x 50 weeks out of the year = 2500 minutes or 41.666 hours a year. An entire work week. Then (and now), what I wouldnât give for an extra week of time every year. It made giving up the habit easy.
It isnât really the cost of the daily latte for me. I didnât have kids, I canât travel right now, I donât go to concerts or theatre anymore. I was a light drinker and now Iâm only buy booze for cooking, or other people.
It is more, me asking, am I actually enjoying this $6 Grande iced latte purchased through a chain drive thru, that much more than an iced coffee made with instant at home that I have in my Keep Cup?
I do still spend around $20 a week on cortados, lattes, chais and whatnot at indie coffee shops. I probably spend $100 a week at bakeries or coffee shops on food.
I hate lines. You wonât catch me waiting in a line with more than 3 people ahead of me. I go elsewhere or go without!
When I was working, I would get a coffee at the coffee shop in the building. It was a way for me to take a break, get some exercise (even if only a quarter mile round trip), and feel I was giving myself a treat. Yes, I could have gotten a cup from the department coffee pot, but it didnât accomplish the same things. And of course coffee was cheaper then.
And I guess it depends what you do with the time âsaved.â I would almost certainly be scrolling my phone or doing something inane when I could be caffeinating instead 
The time I was talking about was well before smartphones. The best one could do was to read Usenet on a terminal. (Well, I guess there were some PCs around as well.)
Good piece from Eater:
Insightful read, thanks!
P.S. I love the folks at Cong Tu Bot. Theyâre working hard to provide a living wage. Wish I lived closer so I could go there more than once in a blue moon.
