TAKE THIS QUIZ!
It’s not that people don’t know what to do;
it’s that they don’t do what they know. ~Lunch Line (2010)
FOR KIDS & ADULTS
This is great! Take this Portion Size Quiz. I didn’t do as well as I thought I would, but it’s fun and teaches – both kid and adult appropriate – what portion sizes should be relative to what is usually served in this feeding-frenzied world.  This is must-have information for all who eat, regardless of your size or your aspiring size.
Especially helpful when dining out, they recommend separating out the food you’ll take home and focus on enjoying a meal of reasonable portion size. Then bring home the leftovers and have instant lunch at work. Or leftovers at home. The better to practice filling those crepes, my dears.
A friend of mine advocates servings the size of your fist. This is a method that is scalable, and anyone can use. Get into the habit of assessing portion size and you’ll have an easier time managing what you eat.
BACK AT THE OFFICE
Apparently there’s a new controversy raging in the workplace, that of reheating and eating food at work. I’m all for brown-bagging it. Aromatic consideration does need to be given to coworkers, however, as this article from The Baltimore Sun describes. Burnt popcorn is unforgivable, being something that should be cooked while monitored by the cooker. A list of office eating no-no’s, written by the folks at Chow.com, goes pretty far in the list of prohibitions. Seems as though some people don’t like to smell any foods emanating from the kitchen.
There are solutions, though. As one much more savvy than I once said, many hands make light work:
- Designers: Include exhaust fans when doing pantry build-outs. Like food disposers, they’re going to wish they’d put them in when given the chance, so push to do it right off the bat. Think twice about installing a dishwasher; someone will have to run it and unload it. Essential to large companies who have the staff for this type of housekeeping, they can be more trouble than they’re worth. Dishwashers can encourage employees to neglect cleaning up after themselves, especially if there is someone who does it for them. The best things you can do is to design a nice-looking, efficient pantry. It actually encourages employees to keep it clean. Crappy pantries always look crappy – no matter how clean they are – and don’t inspire tidiness, especially if there is no place to put things.
- Office managers: Candles absorb odors. Stock inexpensive, unscented votive candles. Put them in jelly jars and keep them on the kitchen counter.
- Human Resources: Training employees – via a published list of office pantry rules – is important from the moment of hiring. Declare weekly removal of all refrigerator debris (after a week, everything’s debris) and maintain that discipline. Or at least toss anything that isn’t labeled with owner’s name and date.
- Employees: Your maid doesn’t work at your office. Clean up after yourselves, not only washing and drying your own dishes, but cleaning the table of all evidence of your lunch. And if you use the microwave, don’t leave the room while it’s cooking. And if something smells pungent, even pleasantly pungent (to you), light a candle!
Can’t we all just get along in the workplace kitchen? We surely don’t want to live without out it, do we?
