Allison Malec is a Marketing Manager at Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, and is an editor at The Recipe Club. She lives in New York City, and loves to cook, bake and eat. She loves anything sweet, especially Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies, Ben and Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Crunch Ice Cream, and Vanilla Mr. Softee cones with rainbow sprinkles.
The Random House crew was complaining how expensive lunch in this area of New York was these days (we work in Midtown Manhattan), when a lightbulb went off. Why not challenge everyone to get the best lunch they could buy for $4 or less? We all brought our purchased lunches to a conference room and cast our votes for the winner.
The Winner’s lunch was from Tehuitzingo Deli & Grocery (10th Avenue and 49th St).
The lunch was:
1 cheese quesadilla
1 chorizo and potato taco
1 drink
The total cost was $4 even.
The Runner Up’s lunch was from China Gourmet (8th Avenue at 53rd).
The lunch was:
Hot and Sour Soup (pint)
Egg roll
Fortune cookies (5)
The total cost was $3.75.
The complete list of lunches:
- Bagel with turkey, mustard, tomato, and swiss cheese, toasted from Bagel and Bean (bagel and mustard) and Morton Williams Grocery Store (cheese, turkey, tomato). Total cost: $3.21.
-Toasted Bialy with Boar’s Head turkey and meunster cheese, and mayo with a side of blueberries from Bread & Honey. Total cost: $3.98.
-Steamed vegetables and tofu from Thailand Restaurant. Total cost: $3.85.
-Bagel with vegetable cream cheese and a bottle of water from Bagel & Bean. Total cost: $4.00.
-Sesame chicken with green beans and a side of pasta salad from Bread & Honey. Total cost: $3.95.
-Lunchables from Food Emporium. Total cost: $3.39.
Check out all of the photos of these $4 lunches on Flickr!
