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The offbeat personal finance blog for responsible people.

My 13th Annual Cost Survey of 10 Popular Brown Bag Sandwiches

By Len Penzo

I don’t know about you, but my monthly grocery bill has been increasing since the start of the new year.

Meanwhile, the average cost of a school lunch this year is $3.81. For a family with two kids, that amounts to slightly less than $1400 during the course of a 180-day school year.

Oh, sure; $3.81 for lunch may sound like a great deal, but the truth is, despite those ever-rising grocery bills, people who choose to brown-bag a sandwich, piece of fruit, and carrot sticks or a serving of chips, are always going to spend less than the folks who buy their lunch at a restaurant, school cafeteria or fast-food joint.

On the other hand, not all sandwiches are created equally, as celebrity chef Martin Blunos demonstrated a few years ago with his decadent $184 cheese sarnie. The good news is, while food prices are climbing, the results of my 13th annual brown bag sandwich price survey show that most folks will spend far less than that in 2021.

How the Survey Was Conducted

As usual, I visited my local grocery store and recorded the per-serving costs of various ingredients for ten of the most common brown bag sandwiches: peanut butter & jelly (PB&J); bologna; tuna; ham & Swiss; roast beef & cheddar; egg salad; salami; American cheese; turkey; and bacon, lettuce & tomato (BLT).

For consistency, I only selected items with the cheapest per unit costs, regardless of brand. And to keep it simple, I also assumed all sandwiches would be made with wheat bread.

Survey Results

Here are the results of this year’s price survey, which was conducted on July 30th, 2021. The first graphic shows the sandwich serving sizes and per-serving costs for each ingredient. It also includes the percentage increase or decrease in the per-serving price of each item from last year’s survey:

With that data in hand, and using my handy spreadsheet, it’s no effort at all to determine the most economical sandwiches.

Here are the official Len Penzo dot Com rankings of the ten most common brown bag sandwiches in 2021. Rankings are based upon total ingredient unit costs, from least to most expensive.

As you can see, at 43 cents, bologna and PB&J share the honor of being the most economical sandwiches in 2021. Bologna has now topped the list 12 of 13 times, and nine consecutive years; although PB&J has shared that honor with PB&J four times, and won outright once. In fact, the only time bologna failed to occupy the top spot was back in 2012, when it ranked second.

As for the rest of this year’s rankings, the only other positional changes occurred near the bottom of the list — Roast Beef & Cheddar fell two notches to rank ninth, while both Salami and Tuna Salad each climbed one spot, to the seventh and eighth positions, respectively.

The next chart is an annual comparison of each sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year, all but two of the ten sandwiches in the survey experienced a price increase. Somewhat ironically, with a 7% price cut, the perennial most-expensive sandwich in the survey — the BLT — is one of the two sandwiches that’s cheaper than last year. The other is Salami, which saw a modest 2% price cut.

click to enlarge

In 2010, the average price of all ten sandwiches in my survey fell two cents from the year before to 84 cents — that was the all-time low. This year, the average cost of the survey’s sandwiches is $1.13; that’s 6% higher than last year and 20% more than it was in 2018. It’s also six cents less than the all-time survey high of $1.19 in 2014.

Tips and Observations

  • Four sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than $1; that’s down from five last year, and seven in 2018.
  • After holding steady in 2020 — the price of bread climbed 8% in 2021 to $1.39. The last time a loaf was more expensive was way back in 2014, when it cost $1.99.
  • For the second year in a row, just five of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw price declines from the year before; this year, it was bacon, lettuce, tomato, ham and turkey.
  • Despite a 14% increase in the price of peanut butter in 2020, and another 7% gain this year, the cost of a PB&J sandwich is still a bargain at 43 cents.
  • You’ll be paying more cheese this year: American and Cheddar is 14% more, while Swiss is 29% higher.
  • After hitting all-time survey low last year, the price of a Roast Beef & Cheddar sandwich climbed 35% this year. Even so, at $1.67, it’s still a bargain.
  • If you’re the type who is hooked on tuna, you’ll may be disappointed to learn that, a sandwich will cost you 19% more this year. The good news is they’re still 33% cheaper than they were in 2016.
  • At just 69 cents and 72 cents, respectively, Turkey & Swiss and egg salad are still among the more economical brown bag options.
  • After falling 37% since 2019, the price of mustard soared by 50% this year.
  • The price of a BLT fell 7% this year to $2.66 — that’s almost 20 cents below its five-year average. It’s also $1.33 less than a Big Mac.
  • Cooking your own ham and turkey and slicing it yourself is a great way to reduce your grocery bill. It’s also cheaper to buy block cheese and slice it at home.
  • If you’re like me and love to put tomatoes on a sandwich, grow your own— you’ll save a bundle. Best of all, they taste much better than anything you can buy from your grocer.
  • You can save upwards of 40% by purchasing store-brand products. As my popular blind taste tests have proven, their quality is often just as good — if not better.

Photo Credit: neil russo

August 2, 2021

Comments

  1. 1

    Nicole says

    Thanks for putting this together, Len. I look forward to your survey every year!

    • 2

      Len Penzo says

      You’re very welcome! I hope you find it interesting if not helpful.

  2. 3

    Steve says

    You mean I can pack four BLTs a week for just over $10? I may have to start doing that.

    • 4

      Len Penzo says

      I know, right? Considering a Big Mac is $4 or more, a BLT is a bargain.

      (If you’re like me, you prefer it on toasted bread!) 😋

  3. 5

    Susan says

    Looks like inflation hit baloney (I refuse to say “bologna. It’s like saying “vaz “instead of “vase”.) and roast beef hard this year. It’s hard to ignore a 50% increase in one year. Lucky for me I’m a peanut butter and grape jelly gal.

    • 6

      Len Penzo says

      What’s a bit odd is that despite that huge markup on bologna, PB&J still couldn’t take the cheapest sandwich award outright this year!

  4. 7

    Kenny says

    What??????? No meatloaf sandwich?

    • 8

      Len Penzo says

      I love meatloaf sandwiches, Kenny … but that’s a real “specialty” sandwich, don’t ya think?

  5. 9

    Sam I Am says

    Inflation is continuing on the same pace it’s been running for the last few years. I’m kind of surprised the curve didn’t get steeper this year.

    • 10

      Len Penzo says

      I am too, Sam.

  6. 11

    Belinda says

    I look forward to this survey every year, Len.

    • 12

      Len Penzo says

      Glad you enjoy it, Belinda! 😀

  7. 13

    Clifton says

    Amusing and useful at the same time! Great work putting this together

    • 14

      Len Penzo says

      My pleasure, Clifton.

  8. 15

    Wendy says

    Love this annual survey. My office on the other hand is mixed. Every year, I quote the results, The long timers roll their eyes. The newbies are either fascinated or ambivalent.

    I’m still the only one who brings their lunch. Everybody else orders out. I’m also the only debt free person in the office. House and cars paid off and plans to pay cash for a house in 5 years.

    • 16

      Len Penzo says

      Good for you, Wendy! And thanks for spreading the word to your friends about this survey. 😀

  9. 17

    Karen Kinnane says

    Love this survey! Look forward to it every year. As I read my mind keeps spinning with how to get the costs down further while keeping the quality high. Lettuce from the garden 6 months of the year (Leaf lettuce, cut and it comes back.) Bacon on sale means lots of packages of it go into the freezer.

    The local grocery store sells cold cuts ends for $3.49 a pound. Sometimes it’s beautiful perfect slices when they sliced too much but mostly it is chunks and ends which can be sliced by hand for sandwiches. Arnold’s multigrain whole wheat bread is normally $4.49 so when it’s on sale at $2.99 more goes into the freezer.

    There’s a discount grocery lady who sets up at a local flea market. Suspect her wares fell off a truck or are broken boxes and you can pick up fresh dated peanut butter, canned tuna, mayo, mustard and catsup at a real savings. Also I vote with the meatloaf sandwich person, that’s a great sandwich.

    If you make a big meatloaf there’s lots left over for cold sandwiches with mayo or bottled barbeque sauce and lettuce or home grown tomatoes! Extra meatloaf freezes fine.

    • 18

      Len Penzo says

      Great tips as usual, Karen! Thank you for sharing them.

  10. 19

    Scott S says

    Hay Len! Good work. I have a sandwich every day when I work from home. I buy my ingredients from Aldi’s and all of my ingredients are less expensive.

    • 20

      Len Penzo says

      Thanks, Scott!

Trackbacks

  1. Friday Flight: Drunk Investing, Help for Homebuyers, and Paying to Cut in Line – Episode 399 - How to Money says:
    August 20, 2021 at 7:45 am

    […] an electric vehicle is more affordable for you, drunk investing, investing fee transparency, whether inflation has impacted the price of brown bag sandwiches, & cutting the cost of […]

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