What's Your Office "Kitchen" Like?

TastyReuben

TastyReuben

Nosh 'n' Splosh
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Lunch today had me thinking...if you're one of the unlucky folks like me, who have to spend some or all of their workweek in an office, what's you're office "kitchen" like?

I don't just mean a description of your break room; I'm talking about what foods you have stashed at work (just snacks/junk food? A whole side of bacon curing in the credenza?), what kind of utensils/lunchware (paper plates? Full place setting?), and how much food prep/cooking do you do with what I'm assuming are limited resources at the office?

Our break room has two microwaves, two sinks, tables, two vending machines, three refrigerators, tea/coffee services, and a big water dispenser (cold, hot, and boiling).

I don't eat much junk food, so I have a well-stocked pantry in one of my file drawers of various crackers, a bit of chocolate, nuts, and a few other halfway healthy things (though a pot noodle has been known to show up occasionally). I keep half-n-half and butter in the fridge, and I have a load of teas.

For lunch, it's about an even split between getting something from one of the five fast food places within walking distance and bringing something from home.

When I bring something from home, there's usually some prep involved. If I'm bringing a sandwich, I'd just as soon get a sandwich from across the street.

Today, for example, I brought in two leftover crepes from last night, a hunk of cheese, a couple of slices of deli ham, and two eggs.

I zapped the crepes, topped with cheese and ham, just enough to warm them up, then used the microwave to quickly scramble the two eggs, threw those on the crepes, folded over, and...POOF!...pretty decent office lunch (rounded out with some grapes). Beats the hell out of snack chips and candy bars from the vending machine, and probably cheaper for a serving.

I also have a proper bowl, plate, flatware, and a couple of teapots and teacup with saucer.

So, what's your office "kitchen" setup, and what's your routine? If you no longer work in an office, or if you never worked in an office, feel free to pitch in anyway.
 
It's been a while. No office "kitchen." We had a coffee maker in the photo copy room, a catering truck that came around twice a day, & studio commissary. In the old days, on the back lot, there were, what looked like, "fainting couches" in the restroom. Lol. Some executives had a bar and their own private restroom. The new modern off-lot building that was built for us, had vending machines on a different floor, and vendors that came around with baskets and coolers selling homemade (?) sandwiches, baked goods, salads, etc. Some vendors had food items you typically don't see like giant muffins (chocolate, blueberry), shrimp fried rice, sushi. Everyday it was different. Much better than the catering van's cellopane-wrapped bagel and cream cheese or burritos. You had to pounce on them when you heard them, or the good stuff was gone. No cooking, though.
 
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I'm retired...

But we did have a cafeteria. Around 2011 I started bringing at least four meals out of five a week from home for lunch (when I went on my serious weight loss endeavor). They had a microwave in the cafeteria seating area, so I either brought salads or I nuked my lunch, usually the latter. If the cafeteria had asparagus or spinach, I'd buy it as a side (or as I told my lunch table, it was "dessert" since I ate it at the end of the meal). This food plan worked - I lost 40 pounds over ten months, and that was the one of TWO changes I made. (The other was giving up potato chips, which I liked to eat when I was travelling in the car any real distance. )

We were lab workers and until the last few years there I didn't have an office. We sat in desks out in the lab - and you cannot consume food in a lab. (Not that some didn't try...)

When I had an office, the main thing I kept there was tea bags. There was a microwave down the hall and so days that I couldn't make lunch, I'd eat the lunch I would have brought to the cafeteria, at my desk.

The thing about the cafeteria lunches, no matter how much they proclaimed many of their dishes to be "heart healthy" - they were still overladen with starches. By eating things *I* cooked, I both lost those 40 pounds, made my triglyceride levels plummet, and developed an excellent HDL/LDL ratio. (My diet of choice was largely but not strictly Paleo.)
 
Semi retired here, but last place I had that had a kitchen I supplied a microwave, electric jug. Toasty grill, fridge and a heater. I hardly used it but staff did for reheating things or coffee etc. I supplied coffee and chicken soup powders. And milk. And a paper every morning.

Russ
 
The majority of places that I worked had a canteen. Some were better than others.

[With reference to TastyReuben's post hereafter, we always had to pay. The cook's salary and the energy were subsidised though. Coffee and tea were always free]
 
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I've worked three places that had full-service restaurants/cafeterias - Target world headquarters, Cargill world headquarters, and an Allianz insurance location.

Target's and Cargill's were quite posh, but Allianz's felt more like a basic school cafeteria. The advantage they had, though...Allianz's was 100% free. Target and Cargill, you had to pay, though it was subsidized by the companies.
 
I usually eat at my desk (as you can tell from the occasional photos I've posted).

My office has a sort of kitchen area with two microwaves and toasters, all second-hand and all of questionable safety. They've finally gotten the circuit routing sorted out so you can operate a microwave and toast some bread at the same time without blowing the circuit breaker. Big improvement! There were two refrigerators, but one is failing, so now everyone crams their food into the other. There's also a sink for washing dishes.

We also have "snack cabinets" where you can buy just about any unhealthy thing you can think of that doesn't require refrigeration. A portion of the proceeds benefit a charity, so you can feel a little bit better about the bag of chips and donuts you just bought.

Downstairs, we have a cafe that is above average in quality. They have an extensive salad bar, pizza by the slice, and burgers and other sandwiches available on the grill. In the morning, they can custom-make breakfast sandwiches for you with a variety of ingredients and a bagel, English muffin, or croissant as the bread. This is a nice touch. There are also fresh fruits and cold sandwiches available for purchase in refrigerators when the cafe is closed. Prices seem reasonable for what you get.
 
On an overland pipeline construction project in UK there are many crews which work as a sort of "production line" completing their tasks as they proceed from the start to the finish of the pipeline. Each crew has a facility for cooking food which may be a bus sized canteen for the larger crews to just a cabin for the smaller crews. I was passing the bending crew (they cold bend the pipe ahead of the welding crew) one day and was invited to share breakfast with them. It was only a crew of 5 operatives so the cooking facilities were pretty basic. Their breakfast "menu" that day was popeseye steak (which I'd never tried before) so I accepted. It was cooked in a frying pan in fat which I would say was at least a week old and although I ate it, I was reluctant to venture near that crew at meal times for the remainder of the contract.

That was in 1974 and the foreman subsequently became a very good friend.

Pipe_bending-2[1].jpg
 
My office is my home now. When I was working it was only a microwave and coffee maker. I don't microwave and I don't drink coffee. I often brought a slow cooker that had my lunch. A few times a hot plate to fix my lunch.
 
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