Packing a Lunch?

A

ArnoldC

Member
Location
Texas, USA
Does anyone in the work-a-day-world even pack a lunch anymore? Or, heaven forbid, carry in a lunch pail with sandwiches, apple and a thermos? Do offices and/or factories even have lunchrooms anymore?

Asking this because I have lost yet another two hours of discretionary travel time during the day. 11:00AM-1:00pm are now no-go as the highways, by-ways and roads are clogged with cars hustling about to fast-food outlets. Gets me to wondering how workers get out and about and back again during the 'traditional' 30-minute lunch break? Or perhaps that tradition is long gone as well?

Seems, at least reading online, the workplace lunchbreak and lunchroom I used to know would now be unrecognizable.
 

Most of the offices I worked in had coffee and bottled water all day. At lunchtime, some of the sites I have been to supply lunch in the mess hall or cafeteria. Otherwise, lunch is on your own.
 

ArnoldC said:
Does anyone in the work-a-day-world even pack a lunch anymore? Or, heaven forbid, carry in a lunch pail with sandwiches, apple and a thermos? Do offices and/or factories even have lunchrooms anymore?

Asking this because I have lost yet another two hours of discretionary travel time during the day. 11:00AM-1:00pm are now no-go as the highways, by-ways and roads are clogged with cars hustling about to fast-food outlets. Gets me to wondering how workers get out and about and back again during the 'traditional' 30-minute lunch break? Or perhaps that tradition is long gone as well?

Seems, at least reading online, the workplace lunchbreak and lunchroom I used to know would now be unrecognizable.
Click to expand...
No need to carry a lunch anymore.
Just watched a Gordon Ramsey episode named "got this in the bag"

The contestants were in teams to provide lunch to office workers that called in lunch orders. According to Ramsey this is now a billion dollar a years business. or look at what is possible
https://www.fox.com/watch/5039549e885229f867b9b9b61c6700c9/

You Google this
order lunch online delivery

or look at what is possible
https://www.google.com/search?q=ord...j0i22i30l6.14414j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
 
I misspoke. I didn't always bring my lunch.
When I started my last career in the early 2000s everyone ate out everyday. Mexican, Italian, fast food, etc.
It didn't take too long for me to pack on ten pounds. Plus, I felt lousy everyday and was less productive.
That's when I started taking my lunch and making better choices when I did eat out.
 
ArnoldC said:
Seems, at least reading online, the workplace lunchbreak and lunchroom I used to know would now be unrecognizable.
Click to expand...
The last place I worked before I retired had small kitchens (refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, sink) located in each work area plus they had a lunch break room on an upper floor with lots of cafeteria type tables (separated into two areas walled off from each other with a glass wall, maybe due to the TVs being on in different areas) and multiple microwaves, plus junk food snacks and a wall and a half of refrigerated food including frozen entrees, ice cream, sodas, sandwiches, sides, etc (paid for via self checkout type machines).

I don't know how much time the hourly rate workers got for lunch, but the exempt workers got an hour. A surprising number of people would go out to lunch. All that was pre-covid, during covid the company got rid of that building and consolidated people into another building, but I only went into the new location for an hour after covid (to avoid my manager getting in trouble that the ID scan records reports were showing almost nobody had gone back to the office as instructed), and I didn't bother to look at lunch areas. Didn't even locate the bathrooms, didn't want to be in the horrid offices at all, luckily found that my assigned cube didn't even have a chair or monitors so I had a good reason to go back home.

Insulated zippered lunch containers took the place of lunch pails long ago (in my experience).
 
Unless I had a meeting I packed a lunch every day of my working career. My brother in law made me a heavy steel lunch pail and I used that for probably twenty years until it got so nasty looking my wife tossed it. Then I started using little Igloo coolers.

I didn't do it so much as a way to save money but simply so when I took lunch I could sit and relax waste my time driving around for food.
 
Back then -- every minute of my lunch hour was always precious to me, so no, I didn't go anywhere. I usually took a container of yogurt out of the freezer in the morning and put it in my purse. It would be thawed by lunchtime and I would eat it in the smoking section of the cafeteria with a large cup of coffee. After the yogurt I would smoke three cigarettes. That was the important part of my "lunch."
 
As a home-visiting nurse, a packed lunch is a must. Also, as I often eat in the car or at my desk, non-crumbly/messy food is essential. Sandwiches are wraps, veggie-sticks, apple slices or grapes. Individual cups of yogurt or soft/bitesize cookies for dessert.
 
Always packed breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks for myself and the hubby. I always cooked extra at dinner and that would be lunch for the next day. Husbands friends were always waiting to see what he had each day. Dare I say, he was spoiled.
 
ArnoldC said:
Does anyone in the work-a-day-world even pack a lunch anymore?
Click to expand...
Seems a lot of factory scenes had a lunch truck come by.
We called it The Gut Wagon
The paycheck to paycheck folks lived for it

But, most folks zapped whatever they brought from home in the kitchen microwave

When I got kicked upstairs it was almost compulsory to go to the local watering hole for lunch
Get back to the office around 1:30 or 2p....or maybe not even go back
 
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ArnoldC said:
Does anyone in the work-a-day-world even pack a lunch anymore? Or, heaven forbid, carry in a lunch pail with sandwiches, apple and a thermos? Do offices and/or factories even have lunchrooms anymore?

Asking this because I have lost yet another two hours of discretionary travel time during the day. 11:00AM-1:00pm are now no-go as the highways, by-ways and roads are clogged with cars hustling about to fast-food outlets. Gets me to wondering how workers get out and about and back again during the 'traditional' 30-minute lunch break? Or perhaps that tradition is long gone as well?

Seems, at least reading online, the workplace lunchbreak and lunchroom I used to know would now be unrecognizable.
Click to expand...
When I worked, I carefully packed a good healthy and inexpensive lunchbox which I put in the refrigerator in the staff kitchen. As soon as my lunch hour began I got a hot drink, grabbed my box and a book or magazine and settled down to relax at my desk. After 30 minutes I always went out for fresh air and a walk. It meant I was recharged to do my work well all afternoon.

Everyone else first went out to buy sandwiches, wait in queues and had barely time to eat before work again.

It's old fashioned, but I have always prepared in advance and I like to be sensible and thus reduce stress. Buying fast food or even just sandwiches is incredibly expensive and time wasting.

Even retired, I always sit and relax over meals. I take an hour at lunch to read, rest and enjoy. I never buy sandwiches! The price is extortionate compared to making your own which take but a few minutes.
 
C50 said:
Unless I had a meeting I packed a lunch every day of my working career. My brother in law made me a heavy steel lunch pail and I used that for probably twenty years until it got so nasty looking my wife tossed it. Then I started using little Igloo coolers.

I didn't do it so much as a way to save money but simply so when I took lunch I could sit and relax waste my time driving around for food.
Click to expand...
The words 'lunch pail ' is strange to the English person. A pail to me is a bucket. I like the differences between language meaning of Americans and English. Lots of phrases are to us very unusual.
 

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