Do you go out to a restaurant for your work meal break?

[bluezy]

I haven't worked in an office setting for over 25 years (quit my paying job to stay home with the 5 kids....my sales job was easier. ), but when I did, I went out almost every day. Frankly, I needed to get out of the fast-paced, high stress office and mentally reset during that hour. Our company was located in a small town with several privately owned cafe-type restaurants, pizza places, etc. and we had a Burger King and a Subway. Plus the grocery store had a great salad bar at the time. The owners of the local restaurants knew we had an hour for lunch and worked very hard to make sure they got us served and back to work on time. There were over 300 people working at our company at the time, so those restaurant owners counted on the business and definitely did whatever they could to entice us to come to their restaurants on our lunch hour. The last year or two that I worked there, we had a caterer who would bring in boxed lunches once a week (we placed our order with them on a Tuesday -- they'd offer 2 options each week -- and they delivered on Thursday). They were awesome! It was always some type of cold sandwich or salad with a side and a small dessert (cookie, brownie, etc.) but always "kicked up a notch". Everything was homemade. Those meals were amazing and very reasonably priced -- cheaper than Subway and way better in quality and taste. I'm not a person who likes to eat the same thing for lunch every day and I'm not big on leftovers, so it was cheaper for me to go out or just pick up lunch every day than to buy the variety of foods I would want for my lunches so I could have something different every day.

 

[barkley]

I miss work potlucks (such phenominal cooks/such diversity/so many shared recipes on little file cards I have to this day).

I esp. miss 'church lunches'. a co-worker's local church decided to do a fundraiser at one point and had the PHENOMINAL cooks in the church use the big church kitchen and prepare together to-go hot lunches that their members could order for pick-up or local delivery. co-worker had hers delivered to our officehomemade fried chicken, greens, green beans and potatoes, corn bread-with melt in your mouth sweet potato pie for dessert. it started as one or two of us asking if she could up her order then snowballed so that little church was delivering upwards of 100 every other week to our office (many of us, like myself ordered enough to take home for dinner). such gooooooooood food.

 

[kymom99]

When I worked at school I almost always packed. I never ate the cafeteria food. We had too little time to go out as classroom teachers, but when I was a resource teacher I could sometimes sneak out for a special occasion. Some people do door dash.

In the hospital I have to pack because I never know when I will get my 30 minutes. Often the cafeteria is closed when I go on my break.

 

[TippyThomas]

The work was at home so all the meals were as well. I don't remember ever eating out during the week at all growing up. We did usually do something on the weekends but that was not work related.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I'm a teacher... no.

 

[RangerPooh]

not very often. I usually bring my lunch, however I often work through lunch.

 

[tvguy]

In the hospital I have to pack because I never know when I will get my 30 minutes. Often the cafeteria is closed when I go on my break.

My mom was an O.R. Nurse. She usually ended up bringing home whatever she packed if she didn't get a meal break, plus a sandwich because her supervisor always had sandwiches brought up if they were too busy for meal breaks. She refused to stay and eat at work, and was livid that the supervisor refused to make sure they had enough staff on duty to have a "float nurse" give the nurses working cases their meal break.

 

[kanne323]

No, not usually. I bring my lunch. I often don't have much time for lunch. We don't have a lot near work- there are a few restaurants in driving distance but they'd take too long, and in the summer, the traffic is a nightmare (the main road in a beach town.) We did have a cafe open up walking distance away just last year, and I've ordered and picked up from there four times. It makes for a nice short walk each way and the food is good, but I can't justify doing it often.

 

[BayouQueen]

Before I retired, I did work in a downtown setting, and ate at restaurants sometimes, so that's what I put on the survey. Most days, though, my standard lunch was a kids hamburger and a side salad from McDonald's.

But this thread really did make me ponder how the state workers being there or not would impact restaurants. People do make lunch dates occasionally or order food to bring back to the office, and that all adds up for the restaurants. In my home town, we had an air force base and there were some really nice restaurants supported by the military officers and others working at the base. When the base closed down, the restaurants all went out of business.

Anyhow, I can see why the restaurant owners would be anxious to see real live people back in offices. It all adds up. It's so sad to see shuttered up towns.

 

[midnightbast]

Honestly, most days I just grab something quick nearby 'cause stepping out takes too much time. But sometimes, when the vibe’s right, I hit a restaurant to chill and recharge. My buddy who’s into Pharmacy B2B says it helps clear his head for the afternoon grind. I know right? It’s kinda a nice break from staring at screens all day.

 

[firefly_ris]

I work from home so I always eat at home unless I have to drive into the office for a meeting every once in a while, at which time I'll usually go out to lunch with my boss and co-worker. Rare though.

 

[RedAngie]

When I was working, eating lunch at a sit down restaurant was perhaps a monthy occurrence. I usually brought something from home or got something quick from Wawa.

 

[design_mom]

It has depended a lot on the specific job... and my coworkers.

When I was young, I'd often socialize with the other young people in the office around lunch. We'd often go out somewhere and there were pleny of restaurants around that could get you in/out in less than an hour (and the boss was pretty flexible... as long as you were getting your work done/didn't miss meetings or deadlines, he didn't care if your "lunch hour" was an hour and 15 minutes.)

When I was a parent with preschool/school-age children, money was tighter and I wanted to get out of the office "on time" to pick up the kids, so I either packed my lunch or bought something from the on-site cafeteria. I would eat at my desk or in the cafeteria depending on my workload.

Now, I only work part-time and am only in the office 2 days per week. I almost always pack my lunch (have only "forgotten it" once in 3 years) and eat at my desk. The office has a set lunch hour where almost no meetings are scheduled and many people go out. If a meeting does "have to be" scheduled during the official lunch hour, the company provides lunch, which is a nice treat.

 

[rndmr2]

At my current job (Nursing Supervisor at a nursing home) I rarely get a dinner break on my 1st shift (I work Double shifts) when I do it's in front of the computer. I sometimes order door dash. Mostly I bring food from home. Occasionally I will go out but it is usually to grab fast food and bring it back but that is rare because I usually can't leave the building. The 2nd shift of my Double is Night shift so there aren't any restaurants open during those hours.

 

[tvguy]

At my current job (Nursing Supervisor at a nursing home) I rarely get a dinner break on my 1st shift (I work Double shifts) when I do it's in front of the computer. I sometimes order door dash. Mostly I bring food from home. Occasionally I will go out but it is usually to grab fast food and bring it back but that is rare because I usually can't leave the building. The 2nd shift of my Double is Night shift so there aren't any restaurants open during those hours.

The first 25 years I worked 8 straight was graveyard shift (11pm to 7 am). Boss left it to me if I wanted to take a lunch, but back in 1980 Denny's was about the only thing open all night. Taco Bell had not yet discovered how many people get the munchies at 3 am. And I really couldn't leave my work area as I was often the only one in the building, and being away from the police and fire scanners would put me at risk of missing something news worthy.

 

[texaslover]

I work in education so always bring my lunch. I'm not a classroom teacher but serve students from all grade levels so my days vary, I can't have a set lunch break. If a student needs me during their reading block and it's at 12:00 I'll just be eating earlier or later. I bring easy stuff like crackers/cheese, yogurt/fruit, PB/apples, pre-made salads,etc. I also have protein bars, nuts, and snacky stuff in my desk if I forget. Maybe once a month I'll treat myself and order Door dash. I always eat at my computer either preparing for things happening later in the day, answering emails, etc. so my break is around 20 min.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

I work in a downtown area with many restaurants 2 days a week. I still bring my lunch, eat it quick at my desk then go for a walk. It’s just more convenient.

 

[mary_jones]

Honestly, I really like to go out, because it takes me a lot of time to cook different dishes at home, so sometimes I go to different food places. But because of health problems, stomach especially, I can't always allow myself to eat my favorite junk food. So I cook healthy meals at home, take the necessary medications for Pharmacy B2B, and try to take care of my well-being as much as possible.

 

[Christine]

Pre-COVID, I used to eat out in DC about once per week. During COVID we worked from home full time and then we returned to office back in late 2022 for 3 days per week. At that point, the restaurants had increased their prices so much and added surcharges that I just refused. The mayor of DC then advocated for everyone to come back 5 days a week solely because the city was in a slump and she wanted to use employees as a prop for restaurants, all the while putting in more hurdles to people trying to commute to work.

I refuse to partake in the mayor's economy and most of my coworkers are in on it. As a result, even though DC is full of workers most days now, people are refusing and boycotting spending any money there. I know that hurts the employees but I don't care to help out a government that cares so little about my ease of getting to work and then wants to drain my wallet at lunch.

 

[NotUrsula]

The reason that a state capital city usually has a "lunch economy" is because of the lobbyists; they buy lunches for legislators and for bureaucrats, whose support they wish to have for the causes they are being paid to push. It's also fairly common for politically-appointed department heads and/or attorneys to buy lunches or evening meals for staff and have them delivered, if there is a big deadline project that needs to get done ASAP.

Personally, the answer is no; I'm not well-paid enough to afford to eat out on days when I work in the office, nor do I have the time, because my office is in suburbia, and it's the equivalent of a 6-block round-trip walk to my parking area from my office. Our standard lunch break (unless the boss is treating for some reason) is 30 minutes. I refuse to use 3rd-party delivery services just on principle; around here they tend to cost more than the meal itself.