food

The new meal service allowing Sydney workers to eat lunch for $7.50 a day.

How many times have you set yourself a “under $10” limit for lunch only to end up forking out closer to $20?

Well, Sydneysiders, you can rejoice (sorry, other capital city dwellers): a lunch subscription service that launched in the NSW capital on Tuesday promises to have the solution.

MealPal gives subscribers the choice to eat at more than 100 restaurants, including Guzman Y Gomez, Zeus Street Greek and Sumo Salad for just $7.50-$8 a meal.

Listen: Canberra schools are considering upgrading their lunches. (Post continues.)

The model has already proven successful at London, Toronto and many US cities after it was founded by a New York-based entrepreneur last year.

Budget-lovers and busy professionals who want to cap their lunch-time spending – but still prefer the convenience of picking up lunch over making it at home – can choose from two options.

They can either by 20 lunches at $7.49 each or 12 lunches for $7.99 each, which adds up to $149.80 or $95.88 per month.

The catch is that you have to be a wee bit organised. Lunch orders must be put through on the app by 9.30am the same morning, nominating a 15-minute window for pickup.

However, founder Mary Biggins told News.com.au the bonus was that the meal was already waiting for you when you arrived, so you won’t have to queue or wait.

Biggins also suggested pre-ordering was a great way to help you make healthier food choices.

(Image via iStock.)
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Right now the service is only available in the CBD, but is set to expand to other neighbourhoods. No word yet on if it'll make its way to other Australian cities.

And if the concept sounds familiar, say in a gym context, that's because Biggins is also the co-founder of fitness app ClassPass, which allows customers to make use of gyms across each city it operates in, including Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney.

Would you sign up to cap your lunch time spending?