Just signed an apartment for $2500 a month right next to my office. My food cost right now (haven't started FT yet) is $1085 a month ($35 a day). $3500 seems like a lot to be spending before other expenses. How do you keep the food cost down ( I know seamless but you're waiting until so so late to eat)? How much should I be spending as an analyst a month all in?
| +152 | How to stop feeling like shit for not making it in IB? | 57 | 4h | |
| +115 | If Tik Tok is forced to sell, what banks do you think would be involved in the deal? | 58 | 3h | |
| +80 | Updated LA Banking Scene (2024) | 57 | 1h | |
| +38 | Ranking banks that went under | 20 | 8h | |
| +34 | Burnt Out M&A ASO | 18 | 6h | |
| +32 | A strategy for SA applicants late to the game like myself | 15 | 15h | |
| +29 | Relevance of A-Levels for U.K. London recruiting | 21 | 21h | |
| +26 | Series 79 Help / Tips to Pass The First Attempt | 11 | 2d | |
| +26 | Intern Ettiquette | 4 | 17h | |
| +23 | What are hours like at BBs in London? | 47 | 17h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
following
Use your seamless to buy multiple meals. Eat one and put the rest in fridge for breakfast and lunch
Meal prep helps save on food expenses
Might be more helpful if you tell us how you end up spending $35/day (guessing this is mostly due to eating out on the weekend?)
I do $35 a day from literally 2 meals. $17 on lunch and $17 on dinner. 1 Just Salad is $16 bucks and a basic burger anywhere is the same. When I'm at the office its definitely $17 for lunch. I can't wait until 9pm to eat dinner that's so late
I don't have free dinner where I am so I don't quite know how it works, but aren't you able to order before 9pm if you know you'll be there past that time?
Dude I know others already said it, but you definitely don't have to actually wait until 9PM to order
Not sure which bank you’re at, but my BB lets me order after 6pm as long as I work until 9pm. So you should take advantage of the dinner stipend
I plan on it. Ordering tomorrow's lunch using today's seamless.
Are you in the office 5 days a week? You shouldn't be buying lunch and dinner out on WFH days. You can meal prep, make a quick lunch, buy Trader Joe's frozen meals etc... that will all come in far cheaper than what you're paying right now.
No one waits until 9pm to order, as long as you are working late you can order at like 6 or 7. It's an honor system and as long as you aren't regularly grabbing your dinner at 6pm and being done for the day, they allow you to order whenever. Buy large meals and eat half for the next day's lunch.
yeah I'm in 5 days a week. I thought about meal prepping lunch on Sunday for mon -wed. Cook up some chicken and rice. add a splash of fruit or something. For seamless, isn't it time stamped? so if they see you swiped in at like 8:30 and then you order at 7, can't you get in trouble with it? Or is it really if you truly are going to be working late they don't care so long as you are in the office working. Definitely going to start a rollover system
The rule is usually if you are working 12 hours you can order whenever you want. They are not sitting there looking at individual time stamps where you arrives at 9:06AM and left at 8:59PM you're in trouble - you just have to generally follow the rules and not be ordering your food at 5pm on your way out for the day.
Meal prep is a good idea and a nice way to eat some healthier food
$35/day as a banker is crazy. Just buy two chipotle pickups via your bank's stipend and save one for the next day. When you WFH, just get a quick microwave meal at TJ for $5.
yeah I didn't realize I was so out of pocket with my spending. Thank you so much
No worries. Your bank probably has a corporate discount program too for lunch. For us, we get $3 off Sweetgreen orders before noon, making salads around $12 dollars for most bowls.
How much is consistently reasonable if there is no dinner stipend. $35 def adds up quickly but wondering how to keep it low.
$4 breakfast + $13 lunch + $15 dinner + $3 caffeine = 35, and would presumably spend more on caffeine than $3/day. This is for mon-fri.
I do no breakfast and no caffeine lol. only office water. so mine is like 28 if eating out. I think meal prepping is huge even if you can only stomach it for 3 days of the week and then at home
I mean, you should skip breakfast, drink office coffee and meal prep your dinners so that it's basically $13 lunch + $8 mealprepped dinner
Insane that bankers are struggling to eat… somewhat facetious but not entirely
If you can get your hand on a nice airfryer/ instapot combo like the ninja foodi you can meal prep in like 15 minutes and it’s really easy to make food that is healthy and tastes good. Seriously- my home cooked food using my ninja foodi is way better than a lot of restaurant meals and all it takes is some basics and like 15 minutes of my time to make something that will last for at least 4 meals and cost less than $20.
do you ever get looks for bringing containers into the office? my problem is more of the actual food cost. say I buy a $10 steak. that's great for lunch. I can make that and bring it in. But then for dinner (if I don't do seamless and bring that next day) there's another 10-12 bucks for another large protein item. seems like throughout everyone's comments the play is to do
Monday: bring lunch buy dinner order seamless
Tues: use seamless for lunch do dinner that I brought or buy dinner then seamless for next day.
*trend continues until weekend where cooking at home
I’m older than you so optics don’t matter (and I hate to admit I wfh 80% if the time). However, I haven’t always worked from home and have had time when budget mattered but now it’s more like I just like to be efficient and eat healthy so I cook a lot of meals at home- it’s faster than takeout when i use the ninja foodi.
My analyst packs his lunch a lot and IMO it looks respectable- he’s taking care of his health rather than ordering out all the time. Another associate regularly packs his food as well and no one blinks an eye about it. If you’re worried about looking funny- maybe consider very large protein packed breakfast at home to shift the meal times around for you? Sometimes some of those Sweetgreen salads are like 500 Calories and leave me starving while costing $13-$15 but with a larger breakfast i tend to not get hungry during lunch time and will eat an earlier dinner.
I shop based on sale items so, while easy to pay $10/protein per meal when cooking at home, it’s also possible to pay $5/portion for protein. I don’t have a lot of “shopping time” so I order my groceries online and pick them up/have them delivered which actually also saves me money and helps me to meal plan as I can shop the sales just by clicking buttons and keep an eye on my budget.
Enjoy your analyst years, don’t budget
cook on the weekends if you're not tired, meal prep for weekdays and save your dinners for lunch the next day. you paying 2500 for a studio?
yeah 2500 is actually a steal. decent location close to office. never need subway. will meal prep for 3-4 days. def cooking at home on weekends. I need my space so the 500 of cost in rent vs 2000 split a place is 10000% worth it
Whole wheat sandwich with ham salami provolone tomatoes and lettuce w Mayo with a bit of salad in a Tupperware.
Total cost? 4 dollars a meal
I'm confused why this whole thread has become about food. $35 / day on food is reasonable (some could argue on the high-end but fine). Anyways the incremental savings you would get by changing your habits is probably not worth it given you're in a high-stress environment at work.
I don't think your budget is crazy. You are making $5.5/6k a month as a first year. $3.5 is gone through rent and food. That's another $1-1.5k a month IF you want to save ~$1k a month. Breaking even is also fine your first year in NYC (big bonus). Also you don't have to go out EVERY weekend where the expenses really add up.
Let's say it's 5.5k a month. That isn't post 401k. Idk what contribution breakdown is but let's say you're left with 5k for argument sake (I think it's more like 4.5). 2.5k on rent that leaves you 2.5 left. 1k probably on food realistically. that's 1.5k left. Put in 2-3 skincare items and medication now you're down to like 1k left. That isn't a lot of extra change for emergencies/general expenses (haircuts, dry cleaning, etc). I think if I pocketed even a few hundreds to shove into market and bank whole bonus would be a win. no?
Dolore mollitia et voluptatum repellendus repellat. Est magnam impedit hic debitis nesciunt. Est unde nam illo doloremque temporibus odit consequatur nemo.
Dolor et quia non autem. Ad nisi error ex ipsum. Molestiae corrupti omnis recusandae voluptas omnis aut. Iusto voluptate et nobis eveniet magnam fugit. Rerum eos at natus optio animi. Fugit ea sit nihil ut impedit sit. Natus omnis quae velit tenetur quia.
Commodi aut eos magnam suscipit voluptas incidunt. Omnis et consequuntur impedit eaque. Ut illum dolorem sit distinctio qui. Voluptatem animi id dolores similique.
Modi autem voluptas nostrum aut molestias reprehenderit. Enim voluptatibus ea magni aliquam. Tempora dolorum ad nobis amet. Quia qui ratione ut alias. Nostrum laborum nisi eligendi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Animi et minus id. Voluptas voluptatem eum tempora aliquam. Veniam dicta recusandae animi. Velit quia quia quis quis odit ullam nam.
Soluta temporibus qui dolores odio et. Sunt delectus quia aperiam quia voluptatem labore. Sunt voluptatem mollitia esse. Ducimus dolorem alias quia neque totam veniam et. Molestias debitis ea perspiciatis quod.
Nesciunt optio mollitia ducimus totam. Et dignissimos maxime aliquam dolor fugit. Ab quasi aut perspiciatis qui non. Totam natus qui hic beatae.
Nobis aut ab qui pariatur tempore animi ut. Veniam et eos dolores nihil accusamus aliquam sed.