7-day overtime meal plan for your office’s busy season
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Over the last few weeks, we’ve shared blog posts on ‘Tips for surviving—and thriving—in the busy season’ and ‘The best way to stay healthy during the busy season.’
In the first post, we talked about the importance of staying organized, focusing on your strengths, sleeping and eating well and taking care of number one. The latter blog post discusses just how important keeping your employees well-fed throughout the busy season is for keeping up energy, productivity, health and wellness and boosting morale.
Today, we’re taking this idea even further and actually giving you ideas for what to feed your overworked, overstressed and hungry team members during your office’s crunch time—whenever that may be.
In other words, how Foodee can support your office’s busy season and you in your weekly meal planning.
7-day overtime meal planning ideas for your office’s busy season
When it comes to ordering dinner for your overtime staff, family-style is the way to go. It brings everyone together to briefly stop what they’re doing, socialize, refresh and fill their plates with a little bit of everything. Family-style meals are made for sharing, which means that no one’s chowing down on one particular item—like an entire bowl of pasta to themselves, which could hamper your team’s productivity and health over time. Variety and moderation are what you’re looking for in overtime meal planning.
Monday: Sushi night
Everyone in your office has a severe “case of the Mondays” because they worked all weekend. As a fun treat, order in a spread of different sushi rolls, sashimi, miso soup, gomae salad, vegetable gyozas and make a pot of green tea to pair. Many of Foodee’s Japanese restaurant partners already have family-style platters to choose from. All you have to do is choose one, pick a delivery date in the future and then forget about it.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Sushi” to find a local restaurant near you.
Tuesday: Healthy grain bowls with protein
Now that your office is finished with the struggle that is Monday, something healthy, fresh and light might be a welcome treat. There are so many options when it comes to grain bowls and hearty salads. You could order poke bowls (or the fixings for a DIY poke bowl), go for a rice and vegetable bowl, choose a saucy peanut rice noodle dish, or pick various deluxe salad—the world’s your oyster in this category. Unless they’re deconstructed bowls, this isn’t as family-style as the other meal ideas for the week. Team members could choose one and stick to it here.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Bowls” to find a local restaurant near you.
Wednesday: Italian pasta and salad bar
Pasta and salads are a family-style staple—and could be your best friend this busy season. Order a few different varieties of pasta, like spaghetti, lasagna and ravioli, along with a classic Caprese salad, housemade and Caesar salad. Variety and little bites of everything is key to not overeating when it comes to Italian. Maybe even treat your staff to a bottle of Italian red wine, if your office allows it.
Ideas on where to order from:
Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Pasta” to find a local restaurant near you.
Thursday: Thai or Indian curries, salad and stir fry
Like a lot of ethnic foods, Thai and Indian food are both great for sharing family-style. Order a green and yellow curry, a spicy papaya or mango salad, chicken or pork skewers, a phad thai, vegetarian stir-fry, naan (if you’re going for Indian curries) and a few sides of rice and your whole office will smell their way to the kitchen. Order some fun sodas to cut the spice level of your meal.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Thai” to find a local restaurant near you.
Friday: Pizza, salad and beer
No one wants to work a Friday night, so better make it worth their while to spend a few extra hours working on files this busy season. Order in a few different types of pizza, like a classic Margherita, a vegetarian and a meaty pizza, along with a couple of salad options—so that your team gets their fill of greens for the day—and beer, if you’re allowed and support it. Take a moment to cheers your team over whatever kind of fizzy drink you provide. They’ve put in a good week.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Pizza” to find a local restaurant near you. If you’re a Vancouver Foodee, check out which craft breweries we offer.
Saturday: Barbeque and all the fixings
Saturday’s and barbeque go together, any time of year. This will be a messy family-style meal so be sure to gather everyone together in the common area or kitchen—and away from their files for this one. But believe us, any BBQ you order whether it’s pulled pork, chicken or veggies, is worth it for the morale boost and finger licking. Order fun sides like coleslaw, mac & cheese and potato salad.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “BBQ” to find a local restaurant near you.
Sunday: Mini meat pies and salad
Sunday is a day for roasts, meat pies, stews and classically warming meals. If your staff doesn’t go home for a family Sunday meal, then it’s always best to feed them what they’d (hopefully) get back at home. Whether mini or not, meat pies and veggie pies are the perfect dishes for your overtime workers. Think creamy chicken and mushroom or roasted winter vegetables pie. Yum. Serve them with a few side salads and they can take steaming hot bites at their desks or over a family-style seated dinner.
Ideas on where to order from:
*Go to www.food.ee, find your city and search for “Pie” to find a local restaurant near you.
These are just a few ideas for a week’s worth of overtime meal planning. Check out our blog post on how to order with Foodee to learn more about setting delivery times, dates, adding kitchen notes and letting your team members order for themselves (within budget).
Filed Under: Foodee HQ