Economics of Take Out

I hardly ever cook. A friend of mine and my sisters express surprise. Aren't you a poor grad student? How can you afford to eat out all the time?

Today is a perfect example. I went to the store the other day and bought food. This morning, I was running a bit late, but since I had the food, decided to make myself a quick breakfast. Toasted sourdough, avocado, and bacon sandwich. I ate it with a glass of OJ and read news on the internet.

Normally, when I come to the temp job, I pick up a breakfast sandwich or bagel from the place downstairs and eat it when I come up to work. I'm guessing, all things considered, making the breakfast caused me to lose 1/2 hour coming here, but saved me $5 or so.

Since I get paid $17 an hour, I ended up losing $8.50 for my 1/2 hour to save $5 (minus the sunk cost on buying the food - although my bfast sandwich was better than the one downstairs). So I actually lost money by making my own breakfast, according to my calculations.

When you make your own hours, which 90% of my current jobs allow me to do, you really start to realize the value of your time.