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The Stacking Benjamins Show · Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Len Penzo's 18th Annual Sandwich Survey Shows Inflation Impact

Len Penzo returned to The Stacking Benjamin Show to present his 18th annual sandwich survey, a method he uses to measure inflation. He started the survey 18 years ago to compare the cost of making his children's lunches at home versus buying school lunches.

personLen Penzo

The tape

4 quotes
How much does a sack lunch sandwich cost today versus a year ago?
Doug
Len Penzo is back with his famous school lunch sandwich survey.
This is the 18th year. Unbelievable. I just thought thought of that, 18 years of doing this is just crazy.
Len Penzo
I just thought thought of that, 18 years of doing this is just crazy. But 18 years ago, when my kids were small, and I was pinching pennies and I wanted to know, well, is it cheaper to just give them the school lunch or is it, should I, you know, do the brown bag thing?
Len Penzo
Heard on The Stacking Benjamins Show — “Len Penzo: The 18-Year Sandwich Survey That Predicts Recessions (SB1883), published Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.07