How much do Sandwiches cost?

Some days, the only money I spend is on my lunch. In the middle of my workday, it is nice to get away from my desk and be served a meal that someone else put together. 90% of the time, I eat lunch at Carl's Jr.

I weigh 350 lbs.

If I'm saving money, bringing my lunch to work is the first adjustment, and a homemade sandwich is often the main course.

But how much money am I really saving? How much does it cost to make a sandwich at home? Its not easy to figure out.

There are a lot of variables. Variable ingredients, seasonal prices and uncertain volumes of those ingredients. When pondering the price of a sandwich, it is tempting to consider each homemade sandwich as a unique snowflake, with a amorphous value.

But, come on. It is a sandwich.

The first ingredient is bread. How much is bread? I don't know.

Obviously there are a lot of different types of bread, from featherweight wonder to bulletproof baguettes.

Our family uses Costco bread, so I used that to calculate my sandwich price.

A $2.00 loaf of Kirkland Multigrain comes in 16 slices, so each slice costs 12 and a half cents, including the two end slices (heels).

White bread is cheaper.

These "round top" generic loaves of white bread at Target were $1.37 and were cut into 20 slices (7¢ each slice).

Oroweat Rye is one of my favorites. It is more expensive. These $3.99 loaves are cut into 16 25¢ slices.

They also come packed with 50% less heel than other loaves.

Fat sandwich rolls are a little more. These were $3.49 for six, or 58¢ per roll (29¢ per slice).

The most expensive bread I found in the store was a tiny loaf of frozen, wheat and gluten-free rice bread at 31¢ a slice.

If you buy bread at a neighborhood bakery, you might pay $6 a loaf ( 37¢ a slice).

Next, I needed to figure out the price of mayonnaise. How much is two knives-full of mayo? I prepared a sample measurement.

This sample of mayonaissed bread features 16.7 grams of mayonnaise. Dividing a $3.44 jar into 53 slices of mayonaissification comes at a cost of six and a half cents per slice or 13¢ per sandwich.

Miracle whip is the same price.

Plain yellow mustard is the next ingredient.

This sample cursive weighed 3.3 grams, 120th of a 396 gram bottle. That's 1¢ worth.