I feel silly writing this up, but it’s draft amnesty week. Caveat: I’ve been a visitor to several EA offices but haven’t worked regularly in any of them, and maybe I’m overly nostalgic about reheated felafel.
Some EA offices have catered lunch or lunch cooked on the premises every day. This is nice, but not every workplace can afford it.
5+ years ago when everything in EA was lower-budget, the main way EA offices did lunch was to provide sandwich / wrap ingredients. Ops staff would order the groceries, and would put out the spread about 15 minutes before lunchtime and microwave some of the foods. There was a designated time to show up, often 1 pm.
This method works pretty well for a crowd because you don’t all have to wait for the microwave. It was pretty flexible for different tastes and diets. People who wanted to bring their own food or buy food could still do that, of course.
Standard items I remember:
Tortillas
Bread
Microwave packages of rice
Hummus
Refried beans
Shredded cheese
Cherry tomatoes
Pre-washed spinach, arugula, or salad mix
Avocados
Other stuff I found on old grocery receipt emails:
Naan
Focaccia
Olive bread
Guacamole
Salsa
Packaged falafel
Quorn meat substitutes of various kinds
Marinated tofu
Chips / crisps
Broccoli florets
Sugar snap peas
Tabbouli
Pasta salad
Sprouts
Olives
Spinach and feta packets (basically mini spanakopita)
Various fruits
Various frozen meals
This sort of lids for cans makes it easy to put away the half can of beans afterwards.
The lost art of the cheap office lunch
I feel silly writing this up, but it’s draft amnesty week. Caveat: I’ve been a visitor to several EA offices but haven’t worked regularly in any of them, and maybe I’m overly nostalgic about reheated felafel.
Some EA offices have catered lunch or lunch cooked on the premises every day. This is nice, but not every workplace can afford it.
5+ years ago when everything in EA was lower-budget, the main way EA offices did lunch was to provide sandwich / wrap ingredients. Ops staff would order the groceries, and would put out the spread about 15 minutes before lunchtime and microwave some of the foods. There was a designated time to show up, often 1 pm.
This method works pretty well for a crowd because you don’t all have to wait for the microwave. It was pretty flexible for different tastes and diets. People who wanted to bring their own food or buy food could still do that, of course.
Standard items I remember:
Tortillas
Bread
Microwave packages of rice
Hummus
Refried beans
Shredded cheese
Cherry tomatoes
Pre-washed spinach, arugula, or salad mix
Avocados
Other stuff I found on old grocery receipt emails:
Naan
Focaccia
Olive bread
Guacamole
Salsa
Packaged falafel
Quorn meat substitutes of various kinds
Marinated tofu
Chips / crisps
Broccoli florets
Sugar snap peas
Tabbouli
Pasta salad
Sprouts
Olives
Spinach and feta packets (basically mini spanakopita)
Various fruits
Various frozen meals
This sort of lids for cans makes it easy to put away the half can of beans afterwards.