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The offbeat personal finance blog for responsible people.

My 14th Annual Cost Survey of 10 Popular Brown Bag Sandwiches

By Len Penzo

If you’re like most people, it’s been hard not to notice the increase in your monthly grocery bill over the past year. I guess that’s to be expected with the latest “official” inflation rate as measured by the CPI coming in at a jaw-dropping 9.1% last month. That’s not only a four-decade high, it’s also grossly understated when compared to the original methodology used to measure rising prices in 1980.

Meanwhile, the estimated cost of a school lunch this year is $3.93. For a family with two kids, that amounts to $1414 during the course of a 180-day school year.

Oh, sure; $3.93 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 faster than ever, the results of my 14th annual brown bag sandwich price survey show that most folks will spend far less than that in 2022.

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 29th, 2022. 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 2022. Rankings are based upon total ingredient unit costs, from least to most expensive.

As you can see, at 45 cents, PB&J has the honor of being the Most Economical Sandwich in 2022.

By the way, you may be surprised to know that this is only the second time PB&J has held the undisputed title of Most Economical Sandwich since the survey’s inception in 2009. However, PB&J has also shared the honor on four previous occasions.

This year’s survey results also end a streak of nine consecutive years where bologna either topped or shared the least expensive sandwich honor. Even more impressive, this is only the second time in 14 years when bologna has failed to hold at least a share of the Most Economical Sandwich crown.

As for the rest of this year’s rankings, the only other positional changes occurred near the bottom of the list, where Roast Beef & Cheddar swapped positions with Tuna Salad.

The next chart is an annual comparison of each sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year, every sandwich in the survey except Ham & Swiss saw a price increase from the year before.

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 ten sandwiches is $1.43, which is an all-time survey high; it’s also an eye-watering 27% higher than last year and 42% more than it was in 2018. Ouch.

Tips and Observations

  • Like last year, five sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than a buck; that’s down from seven in 2018.
  • After holding steady in 2020 — the price of bread climbed 8% in 2021 to $1.39, and then another 7% in 2022 to $1.49. The last time a loaf was more expensive was 2014, when it cost $1.99.
  • Just four of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw price declines from the year before; they were ham, turkey, tomato and mustard.
  • Not all cheeses are created equal: American and Cheddar prices remained stable, but Swiss cheese climbed 24%. Over the past two years, the price of Swiss cheese has risen more than 50%.
  • After hitting an all-time survey low two years ago, the price of a Roast Beef & Cheddar sandwich has climbed 57%, including a 17% increase this year.
  • If you’re the type who is hooked on tuna, you’ll may be disappointed to learn that a sandwich has never been more expensive. In fact, with the price of albacore tuna nearly doubling in 2022, and mayo prices up by nearly a third, a tuna salad sandwich now costs 83% more than it did last year.
  • At just 72 cents and 99 cents, respectively, Turkey & Swiss and Egg Salad are still among the more economical brown bag options.
  • After two years of price declines, the BLT climbed 29% this year to $3.42 — that’s almost 50 cents above its five-year average. The good news is it’s also 57 cents 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

19 Comments August 1, 2022

Comments

  1. 1

    Kelly says

    I was excited to see this year’s results. I knew inflation was going to push prices up, but 27% is a doozy! So much for the 9% inflation that is being advertised to us.

    Reply
    • 2

      Len Penzo says

      Thanks, Kelly. I have to admit, that 27% year-over-year price will get almost anybody’s attention.

      Reply
  2. 3

    Pat says

    The humble PB&J. Tried and true. Delicious, nutritious AND still a bargain even in the face of high inflation.

    Thanks for this, Len. Lucky for me my kids love PB&J. They like boloney too, which is a still a relative bargain too.

    Reply
    • 4

      Len Penzo says

      My pleasure, Pat. I am a big PB&J fan too.

      Reply
  3. 5

    JB says

    I don’t know why but these are my favorite posts. PB&J is always a tried and true winner in my book.

    Reply
    • 6

      Len Penzo says

      Glad you enjoy it, JB. You’re not alone; this annual survey is always among my most-viewed articles.

      Reply
  4. 7

    Lauren P. says

    PB&J is still a fave here, and is even served for dinner occasionally on super-hot days (with chips, of course!) Given the price you quoted for school lunches, it looks like a bag-lunch is still a better deal.

    Reply
    • 8

      Len Penzo says

      No matter how high prices climb, I am sure brown bagging it will always be the less expensive alternative, Lauren.

      Reply
  5. 9

    Jason says

    This article made me hungry.

    Reply
    • 10

      Len Penzo says

      Good! Then go make yourself a sammich, Jason!

      Reply
  6. 11

    Derek H says

    I do love peanut butter and jelly, but I’ll pay the premium for peanut butter and banana.

    Reply
    • 12

      Len Penzo says

      I love peanut butter and banana too, Derek. However … I don’t like them fried (or maybe I should say grilled). I heard that fried peanut butter and banana was one of Elvis’s favorite foods, so I tried grilling mine and it tasted awful. Maybe frying it brings different results, but I wasn’t prepared to actually try that.

      Reply
  7. 13

    Nicole says

    I look forward to this every year, Len. Good job!

    The good thing about BLT’s is that if you don’t want to eat one every day, you can use the extra lettuce and tomato (and even bacon) to make a simple salad for lunch.

    Reply
    • 14

      Len Penzo says

      Thank you, Nicole. And you make a great point on the salad!

      Reply
  8. 15

    Karen Kinnane says

    Thank you for my annual all time favorite article Len! Note to those raising their own tomatoes: scuffle up a small patch next to them in the garden and grow leaf lettuce. Put in a 1′ by 2′ area with seeds like oak leaf, ruby, red or regular romaine. Plant another similar sized patch each month until two months before frost. Keep watered. Harvest leaf lettuce by cutting it and leave about 2″ which will grow back several times. If your local grocery store has a breakfast buffet you can buy cooked bacon for less than you can buy bacon and cook it yourself due to the fat melting during cooking. Cooked bacon is one of the few store bought foods where it costs more to make it yourself. I wash out the Shop Rite container and bring it back with me to refill with bacon at the breakfast buffet. I don’t like wasting plastic.

    Reply
    • 16

      Len Penzo says

      Thanks, Karen! And great tips, as usual!

      Reply
  9. 17

    Matt says

    I look forward to this every year! Love it

    Reply
    • 18

      Len Penzo says

      Glad you enjoyed it, Matt. I look forward to do the research and publishing the results every year too – especially this year!

      Reply
  10. 19

    gravyluvr says

    Love this study. I think you have earned a promotion so I consider Len a SandWizard.

    Reply

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