Turn Your Office Breaks Into Recharge Time

Sharlyn Lauby

31 Mar 2016

One of the things I love about working from home is lunch. I get to step away from my desk, even for a few moments and relax. I also like making salads for lunch and it’s so much easier to do when I’m at home. I actually feel like I’m splurging.

When I go to a client site, I’ll often bring my lunch because it’s better for me than fast food. But do I pack a salad? Rarely. But during this year’s HR West conference I got the best piece of swag that might just change that.

It’s a salad container. Isn’t that cool? There’s a small cup in the top for salad dressing and a fork that snaps to the side. Inside the container were a couple of bands and a running pack for your phone and earbuds. Best, of all, it’s the perfect size for my tote bag.

The company that gave it to me is Lahlouh. They help companies deliver their marketing messages to customers. And they were at HR West because they realize that messaging extends to employees.

I couldn’t resist sharing this with you because it might be a great logo item for employees. Or a nice logo product for volunteers. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to find unique promotional items. I also thought that, instead of serving the traditional box lunch at a company event, it could work as an option to serve lunch in a logo salad cup. For example, this Asian Quinoa Salad or Taco Salad would be perfect.

Then once you get the salad cup home, find some great recipes for yourself. Right after getting my cup, The Muse ran this post on “52 Creative (and Easy!) Lunch Ideas That’ll Make Your Co-workers Jealous.” The lentil and goat cheese salad looks yummy!

This post might seem frivolous to some. Lunch is an important part of our workday. It’s a time to step away from our desks and recharge a little. We need to take breaks during the workday. Part of that recharge is eating properly. I’m not anti-eating out, but bringing some tasty healthy eats from home can be wonderful for ourselves and our wallets. It can make us feel energized and ready to take on the afternoon.

I’m really looking forward to packing my next lunch. That’s what it’s about. Finding that container or recipe that makes us want to spend a few moments in the kitchen creating something fabulous. Then looking forward to actually taking those lunch and office breaks so we can recharge and be more productive in the long-run.