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My lunch every day for the past 3 years has been.

Piece of bread, piece of cheese, salad and a cold drink/greek yogurt.

Ending with a fruit usually an orange.

You can escape the sheep herding lifestyle, but you can never leave.

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The lost art of the cheap office lunch

by Julia_Wise🔸

Feb 281 min read 5

172

Building effective altruismCommunityDraft Amnesty Week (2025)Community infrastructure

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This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft.

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.

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Kim StiensMar 33

Interesting post! I mostly have worked at nonprofits where the only thing provided in-office is coffee, but I did work at a media company that didn't provide free lunch per se, but you could live on what they did provide - there were always apples and bananas (among other snacks), and they stocked bread, peanut butter, jam, bagels, and cream cheese at all times. Plus LaCroix and sodas in the fridge.

Kim StiensMar 36

I am very ambivalent on what I think is the employers obligation here, as I am generally not a fan of the trend where our society makes employers responsible for everything because there's needs that aren't being filled in other ways. I hate my employer being involved in my healthcare, but that's completely embedded now. I don't like how paternalistic it feels to have my employer be in charge of my food too.

titotalMar 46

I think employers should be obligated to have at least a kitchen area where people can heat up or make their own food. People should not be forced to buy lunch.

TheoLakeMar 23

Great post. I have always thought that accessible nutritious food would be a very effective altruism project in any place, but particularly I think about it in developed countries. Making it easy and affordable is the key, people mostly take the path of least resistance, and currently that leads to a fast food chain…

NobodyInterestingMar 71

My lunch every day for the past 3 years has been.

Piece of bread, piece of cheese, salad and a cold drink/greek yogurt.

Ending with a fruit usually an orange.

You can escape the sheep herding lifestyle, but you can never leave.