My 17th Annual Cost Survey of 10 Popular Brown Bag Sandwiches

If you’re like most people, it’s been hard not to notice the increase in your monthly grocery bill over the past four years. After a huge run-up in prices for everything from gasoline to food – and despite the latest consumer price index showing that inflation in 2025 is currently running at an annual clip of “just” 3% – more grocery shoppers than ever can be seen visibly wincing when the final total flashes at the checkout counter.

Meanwhile, the estimated cost of a school lunch this year is $3.50. For a family with two kids, that amounts to $1260 during the course of a 180-day school year.

Oh, sure; $3.50 for lunch may sound like a great deal, but the truth is, despite food inflation and those ever-rising grocery bills, people who choose to brown-bag a sandwich, piece of fruit, and carrot sticks or a serving of chips, are always going to spend less than the folks who buy their lunch at a restaurant, school cafeteria or fast-food joint.

On the other hand, not all sandwiches are created equally, as celebrity chef Martin Blunos demonstrated a few years ago with his decadent $184 cheese sarnie. The good news is, while food prices are climbing faster than ever, the results of my 16th annual brown bag sandwich price survey show that most folks will spend far less than that in 2023.

How I Conduct the Sandwich Survey

As usual, I visited my local grocery store and recorded the per-serving costs of various ingredients for ten of the most common brown bag sandwiches: peanut butter & jelly (PB&J); bologna; tuna; ham & Swiss; roast beef & 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 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 survey. The survey date is July 27th, 2025. The first graphic shows the sandwich serving sizes and per-serving costs for each ingredient. It also includes the percentage increase or decrease in the per-serving price of each item from last year’s survey:

With that data in hand, and using my handy spreadsheet, it’s no effort at all to determine the most economical sandwiches.

Sandwich Survey Rankings for 2025

Here are the official Len Penzo dot Com rankings of the ten most common brown bag sandwiches in 2025. Rankings are based upon total ingredient unit costs, from least to most expensive.

As you can see, at just 44 cents, the unheralded-but-mighty PB&J sandwich remains the undisputed Most Economical Sandwich.

That being said, PB&J’s presence alone at the top of the survey represents a minor upset. That’s because this is only the fourth time in 17 years that bologna has failed to hold at least a share of the Most Economical Sandwich crown.

As for the rest of this year’s rankings, with one big exception, there wasn’t a lot of movement. PB&J and bologna held their positions at the top of the list, as did perennial basement-dweller BLT. Except for Salami, which climbed in the rankings from #7 to #3 – its best survey finish ever – all of the other sandwiches either moved up or down in the standings by one position.

Sandwich Survey Historical Price Data

The next chart is an annual comparison of each sandwich since my inaugural survey in 2009. This year, only the PB&J and salami sandwiches are cheaper than they were in 2024. Even so, the overall effects of food inflation on the surveyed sandwiches are striking.

 

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

Tips and Observations

• For the first time since 2015, just four sandwiches in this year’s survey cost less than a buck. That’s down from five last year – and seven in 2018.
• The price of bread rose 20% to $1.79. This is after seeing the price of bread fall from its all-time survey high of $1.99 in 2023 to $1.49 last year.
• Seven of the 18 sandwich ingredients saw price increases this year: wheat bread, eggs, lettuce, mayo, tuna, bacon, and ham.
• The price of Swiss cheese more than doubled between 2019 and 2023. The price held steady last year, and declined 8% this year. Compare that to the prices of American and Cheddar, which have remained fairly stable over the same period.
• Are you hooked on tuna? After a massive 97% increase in 2022, albacore tuna prices retreated 90 cents over the following two years. Unfortunately, the surveyed price of albacore tuna is rising again; it’s up 30% from the year before.
• The price of a BLT rose a modest 4% over the past year. The good news is, even at $4.20 this year, a home-cooked BLT is still $2 less than the average price of a Big Mac.
• Cooking your own ham and turkey and slicing it yourself is a great way to reduce your grocery bill. It’s also cheaper to buy block cheese and slice it at home.
• If you’re like me and love to put tomatoes on a sandwich, grow your own— you’ll save a bundle. Best of all, they taste much better than anything you can buy from your grocer.
• You can save upwards of 40% by purchasing store-brand products. As my popular blind taste tests have proven, their quality is often just as good — if not better.

Photo Credit: neil russo