My 17th annual cost research of 10 popular Brown -bag sandwiches

If you are like most people, it was difficult not to notice the increase in your monthly shopping account in the last four years. After a huge start-up prices for everything, from gasoline to food and despite the latest consumer price index that shows that inflation is currently being performed in 2025 on an annual clip of “only” 3%lake supermarket shoppers than ever, visibly shudder when the final total of the cash register on the cash register.

In the meantime, the estimated costs of a school lunch this year are $ 3.50. For a family with two children, that is $ 1260 in the course of a 180-day school year.

Oh, certainly; $ 3.50 Before lunch may sound like a lot, but the truth is, despite the inflation of food and those always rising messages, people who choose to give a sandwich, piece of fruit and carrot sticks or a portion of chips, will always spend less than the people buy their lunch in a restaurant, school cafetaria or fast food joint.

On the other hand, not all Sandwiches are made equal, as famous chef Martin Blunos demonstrated a few years ago with his decadent $ 184 cheese Sarnie. The good news is, while food prices Are Climb faster than ever, the results of my 16th annual Brown Bag Sandwich Price Survey will show that most people will spend much less than that in 2023.

How I sailed the sandwich survey

As usual, I visited my local supermarket and I recorded the per service costs of different ingredients for ten of the most common sandwiches with brown bag: peanut butter & jelly (PB & J); Bologna; tuna; Ham & Swiss; roast beef and 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 the brand. And to keep it simple, I also assume that all sandwiches are with wheat bread.

Sandwich Survey Ingredients Data

Here are the results of this year’s price investigation. The survey date is July 27, 2025. The first image shows the Sandwich-Serveer sizes and per service costs for each ingredient. It also includes the percentage increase or decrease in the per service price of each item compared to last year’s survey:

With that data in hand and the use of my handy spreadsheet, it is no trouble at all to determine the most economic sandwiches.

Sandwich Survey Rankings for 2025

Here are the official Len Penzo Dot Com rangers of the ten most common sandwiches with brown bag in 2025. Rankings are based on the total costs of ingredients, from the least to the most expensive.

As you can see, the non-announced, but Mighty PB & J Sandwich is the undisputed most economic sandwich.

That said, the presence of PB&J is only a small upset at the top of the survey. That is because this is only the fourth time in 17 years that Bologna did not succeed in at least having part of the most economic sandwich crown.

Regarding the rest of this year’s ranking, with one big exception, there was not much exercise. PB&J and Bologna held their positions at the top of the list, just like an eternal basement resident BLT. Apart from Salami, who climbed in the ranking of #7 to #3 – his best survey -finish ever – all other sandwiches are on or off in the rankings in one position.

Sandwich Survey Historical Price Data

The next graph is an annual comparison of every sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year only PB&J and Salami Sandwiches are cheaper than in 2024. Yet the overall effects of food inflation on the sandwiches surveyed are striking.

In 2010, the average price of all ten sandwiches was 84 cents-that was the low of all time. This year the average costs of the ten sandwiches of the survey are $ 1.46; That is 5% higher than last year. Even alarming, the average sandwich price of this year is 30% higher than the average of 2021 – and 54% more than in 2018. Au.

Tips and observations

• For the first time since 2015, only four sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than a goat. That is lower than five last year – and seven in 2018.
• The price of bread rose by 20% to $ 1.79. This is after seeing the price of bread from his all-time survey high from $ 1.99 in 2023 to $ 1.49 last year.
• Seven of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw the price increases this year: wheat bread, eggs, lettuce, mayo, tuna, bacon and ham.
• The price of Swiss cheese was more than doubled between 2019 and 2023. The price was stable last year and fell by 8%this year. Compare that with the prices of American and Cheddar, which remained fairly stable in the same period.
• Are you addicted to tuna? After a huge increase of 97% in 2022, the tuna prizes of Albacore withdrew 90 cents for the next two years. Unfortunately, the prize of the tuna of Albacore rises again; It has risen 30% compared to the previous year.
• The price of a BLT rose a modest 4%in the past year. The good news is, even for $ 4.20 this year, a home -made BLT is still $ 2 less than the average price of a Big Mac.
• Cooking your own ham and turkey and cutting yourself is a great way to reduce your shopping account. It is also cheaper to buy block cheese and cut at home.
• If you are like me and like to put tomatoes on a sandwich, your own will grow, you will save a bundle. The best of all is that they taste much better than everything you can buy from your grocer.
• You can save more than 40% by buying products. As my popular blind taste tests have proven, their quality is often just as good – if not better.

Photocredit: Neil Russo