Help a gentile who needs to eat kosher
David_273
Posts: 42 Member
There is a young gentile who needs to eat kosher at work. Here is his story from food.com and it is a real chillul Hashem. I can post advice if you don't have an account there. http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?p=5956584#5956584
In my normal every day life, I am a person who does not keep kosher. I eat anything and everything and I absolutely love my meat and sandwiches with cheese on them. However, my boss keeps kosher. Not only at home, but he also requires that our office be kept kosher. I'm his only employee other than his children (who can bring lunch from home because their home is kosher). I've been here a year now and have seriously struggled with this the entire year. For lunch, I'm not allowed to bring in outside food unless it marked with a kosher symbol - and even then if it's a kosher symbol from Peru it's still not okay apparently? I'm also not allowed to bring in any of my own plates, Tupperware, etc from home to use (I brought an empty coffee mug to use at the office once and got yelled at so I haven't made that mistake again) so even if I bought kosher ingredients to cook meals for lunch, I can't cook anything at home because none of my pots/pans are kosher. My house is too far of a drive from the office to go home and back everyday for lunch. Therefore I'm stuck with either not eating lunch (which is what I've done most days and it's wreaking havoc on my body/mind in more ways than one), going out to eat lunch which gets too expensive, or bringing in some of kind of prepackaged item, already made or ready to microwave item to eat.
I'm looking for suggestions for cheap, prepackaged items that are kosher which I can bring for lunch. I've had my fill of cans of tuna, pretzels, granola bars, bananas, and peanut butter, because those are the major snacks I've been eating for lunch on days I do eat. It seems everything I check at the grocery does not have a kosher symbol. I'm tired of just eating snack food every day or not eating lunch at all . So please help! What else is out there I could make a meal of that's inexpensive, kosher and doesn't require cooking other than a microwave?? I'm desperate!
Then he wrote: 1) Yeah, he did say never used plates and things are fine. So I did have a mug to take in. But my main point in that was that even if I wanted to buy some kosher ingredients to cook large meals to split up for the week for work, I can't do that... my pots at home are not kosher and neither is my Tupperware that I would use to take the food to work. Even if I bought a new pot to use as a kosher pot, it would become unkosher the very first time I washed it.
2) Glad you cleared that up about the lean cuisine and weight watchers. Dr Gaellon's post I actually did see, and afterwards I went to the store and looked at all of the frozen lean cuisine and weight watchers meals and couldn't find a single one that was kosher. I went to a larger grocery store than I usually go to and they did have a handful of kosher frozen meals, but they were incredibly expensive. They were $6-$8 per meal. That may seem normal to some people, but I don't have the income to spend that much on just the lunch portion of my meals every day. The thought of being forced to pay that much per meal because of my boss's religion also infuriates me because when I do buy frozen meals for myself at home, I tend to buy the Banquet or Michaelina's ones which are about $1-2 per meal and actually have more of the type of food that I prefer.
3) Several people told me they believe what he's doing is illegal. So far I haven't seen any specific laws or anything to back it up that I could present to him. And even if I did, I don't want him to fire me for not wanting to eat kosher because I desperately need the job. And nope, it's not a food service facility. Following the kosher rules then would be completely understandable and expected! Or even if it was a Jewish religious institution of some sort, I would understand. But it's a law firm... And there are no other employees to complain because the only other employee under him besides me is his son.
As you mentioned, I never understood why I couldn't bring in food securely wrapped, keep it in my office away from the kitchen area, eat it at my desk, and take my dirty trash/dishes home with me to dispose of... But he does not like having even wrapped non-kosher food in the office. His mother once accidentally bought an non-kosher loaf of bread while he was home for lunch and he brought it to the office for me to take home instead of him throwing it out. He told me I had to immediately take it out to my car and it couldn't even sit in the office unopened until end of business that day. I asked one of my Jewish friends here why it is that I couldn't bring in wrapped food to eat at my desk. He doesn't keep kosher but said his understanding from his family and other Jewish community members in this area is that they worry that particles of the non-kosher food will float through the air and land on their kosher surfaces or food and dirty them.
4) I'm in Tennessee. The Peru product I mentioned was a jar of artichoke hearts. He was stocking up for his family for one of the holy days around the beginning of September and the jar of artichoke hearts he bought had a kosher symbol on it, but it was a Peru product. He brought the jar immediately to the office to me and told me to take it home with me because certifications from Peru can't completely be trusted. But anything with the U inside the circle, or the K, or the D is fine.
Also, as if I wasn't struggling enough just to find kosher things to eat, he has now declared that the office is vegetarian only kosher and took out the meat sink and utensils and dishes. He doesn't mind because he's on an extreme weightloss/diet kick and has removed all meat from his diet even at home so he mostly eats salads. And he lives 5 minutes from the office so he's able to go home for lunch anyway. I'm personally not able to thrive off salads (unless they have a ton of chicken or steak or something in them). I can eat a huge vegetarian salad and feel immediately full, but then an hour or two later I'm starving again and start feeling lightheaded because they just have no real substance to them. Not to mention salads and fruits and things tend to be kind of pricey...
Basically that's what it all comes down to - price. I get upset because I like to eat cheaply, and buy the cheapest things for myself to eat at home - I almost never buy brand names if a cheaper off-brand is available for that item, instead I'll buy the Kroger brand, or Walmart brand, etc. But after examining every item I've bought for home the past year to see if any of it could be taken to work, I've realized almost all of the cheapest things are never kosher. So it upsets me that because of someone else's religion I'm supposed to spend all of this extra money on food for lunch every day, food that doesn't even taste any better than the cheap food! I'm wanting to find CHEAP kosher food, which is why I've had so much peanut butter, pretzels and bananas the past year, that's all I'd really found that was cheap
. It would be different if I had a high paying job and was making $45k plus per year. But I've only been out of school for year and am not making near that much, not to mention all of my student loans are due now, I have to buy my own health insurance for the first time, etc. I'm feeling like being kosher and being poor just don't mix.
I've tried expressing my frustrations to him about the cost and the struggle to find kosher things to buy, but haven't gotten the best response. When I first started working there, I complained after a week or two and he said he would keep the office stocked with things for sandwiches or something at least so I could eat that. So he did that for maybe a month then stopped. Then he would sporadically provide lunch a few days here and there. But then stopped doing that and for months I went with nothing. If I complained he'd sometimes buy a can of tuna or something for me to eat at the office (and nothing to go with it, just the tuna) but that was seldom. Now he's back to providing occasional meals again, which has been great and some of them have been fantastic recipes he's cooked, but they're very sporadic and not even a majority of the time, so that's why I've been trying to find a way to provide myself with cheap options on most days when he doesn't bring us food.
In my normal every day life, I am a person who does not keep kosher. I eat anything and everything and I absolutely love my meat and sandwiches with cheese on them. However, my boss keeps kosher. Not only at home, but he also requires that our office be kept kosher. I'm his only employee other than his children (who can bring lunch from home because their home is kosher). I've been here a year now and have seriously struggled with this the entire year. For lunch, I'm not allowed to bring in outside food unless it marked with a kosher symbol - and even then if it's a kosher symbol from Peru it's still not okay apparently? I'm also not allowed to bring in any of my own plates, Tupperware, etc from home to use (I brought an empty coffee mug to use at the office once and got yelled at so I haven't made that mistake again) so even if I bought kosher ingredients to cook meals for lunch, I can't cook anything at home because none of my pots/pans are kosher. My house is too far of a drive from the office to go home and back everyday for lunch. Therefore I'm stuck with either not eating lunch (which is what I've done most days and it's wreaking havoc on my body/mind in more ways than one), going out to eat lunch which gets too expensive, or bringing in some of kind of prepackaged item, already made or ready to microwave item to eat.
I'm looking for suggestions for cheap, prepackaged items that are kosher which I can bring for lunch. I've had my fill of cans of tuna, pretzels, granola bars, bananas, and peanut butter, because those are the major snacks I've been eating for lunch on days I do eat. It seems everything I check at the grocery does not have a kosher symbol. I'm tired of just eating snack food every day or not eating lunch at all . So please help! What else is out there I could make a meal of that's inexpensive, kosher and doesn't require cooking other than a microwave?? I'm desperate!
Then he wrote: 1) Yeah, he did say never used plates and things are fine. So I did have a mug to take in. But my main point in that was that even if I wanted to buy some kosher ingredients to cook large meals to split up for the week for work, I can't do that... my pots at home are not kosher and neither is my Tupperware that I would use to take the food to work. Even if I bought a new pot to use as a kosher pot, it would become unkosher the very first time I washed it.
2) Glad you cleared that up about the lean cuisine and weight watchers. Dr Gaellon's post I actually did see, and afterwards I went to the store and looked at all of the frozen lean cuisine and weight watchers meals and couldn't find a single one that was kosher. I went to a larger grocery store than I usually go to and they did have a handful of kosher frozen meals, but they were incredibly expensive. They were $6-$8 per meal. That may seem normal to some people, but I don't have the income to spend that much on just the lunch portion of my meals every day. The thought of being forced to pay that much per meal because of my boss's religion also infuriates me because when I do buy frozen meals for myself at home, I tend to buy the Banquet or Michaelina's ones which are about $1-2 per meal and actually have more of the type of food that I prefer.
3) Several people told me they believe what he's doing is illegal. So far I haven't seen any specific laws or anything to back it up that I could present to him. And even if I did, I don't want him to fire me for not wanting to eat kosher because I desperately need the job. And nope, it's not a food service facility. Following the kosher rules then would be completely understandable and expected! Or even if it was a Jewish religious institution of some sort, I would understand. But it's a law firm... And there are no other employees to complain because the only other employee under him besides me is his son.
As you mentioned, I never understood why I couldn't bring in food securely wrapped, keep it in my office away from the kitchen area, eat it at my desk, and take my dirty trash/dishes home with me to dispose of... But he does not like having even wrapped non-kosher food in the office. His mother once accidentally bought an non-kosher loaf of bread while he was home for lunch and he brought it to the office for me to take home instead of him throwing it out. He told me I had to immediately take it out to my car and it couldn't even sit in the office unopened until end of business that day. I asked one of my Jewish friends here why it is that I couldn't bring in wrapped food to eat at my desk. He doesn't keep kosher but said his understanding from his family and other Jewish community members in this area is that they worry that particles of the non-kosher food will float through the air and land on their kosher surfaces or food and dirty them.
4) I'm in Tennessee. The Peru product I mentioned was a jar of artichoke hearts. He was stocking up for his family for one of the holy days around the beginning of September and the jar of artichoke hearts he bought had a kosher symbol on it, but it was a Peru product. He brought the jar immediately to the office to me and told me to take it home with me because certifications from Peru can't completely be trusted. But anything with the U inside the circle, or the K, or the D is fine.
Also, as if I wasn't struggling enough just to find kosher things to eat, he has now declared that the office is vegetarian only kosher and took out the meat sink and utensils and dishes. He doesn't mind because he's on an extreme weightloss/diet kick and has removed all meat from his diet even at home so he mostly eats salads. And he lives 5 minutes from the office so he's able to go home for lunch anyway. I'm personally not able to thrive off salads (unless they have a ton of chicken or steak or something in them). I can eat a huge vegetarian salad and feel immediately full, but then an hour or two later I'm starving again and start feeling lightheaded because they just have no real substance to them. Not to mention salads and fruits and things tend to be kind of pricey...
Basically that's what it all comes down to - price. I get upset because I like to eat cheaply, and buy the cheapest things for myself to eat at home - I almost never buy brand names if a cheaper off-brand is available for that item, instead I'll buy the Kroger brand, or Walmart brand, etc. But after examining every item I've bought for home the past year to see if any of it could be taken to work, I've realized almost all of the cheapest things are never kosher. So it upsets me that because of someone else's religion I'm supposed to spend all of this extra money on food for lunch every day, food that doesn't even taste any better than the cheap food! I'm wanting to find CHEAP kosher food, which is why I've had so much peanut butter, pretzels and bananas the past year, that's all I'd really found that was cheap
. It would be different if I had a high paying job and was making $45k plus per year. But I've only been out of school for year and am not making near that much, not to mention all of my student loans are due now, I have to buy my own health insurance for the first time, etc. I'm feeling like being kosher and being poor just don't mix.I've tried expressing my frustrations to him about the cost and the struggle to find kosher things to buy, but haven't gotten the best response. When I first started working there, I complained after a week or two and he said he would keep the office stocked with things for sandwiches or something at least so I could eat that. So he did that for maybe a month then stopped. Then he would sporadically provide lunch a few days here and there. But then stopped doing that and for months I went with nothing. If I complained he'd sometimes buy a can of tuna or something for me to eat at the office (and nothing to go with it, just the tuna) but that was seldom. Now he's back to providing occasional meals again, which has been great and some of them have been fantastic recipes he's cooked, but they're very sporadic and not even a majority of the time, so that's why I've been trying to find a way to provide myself with cheap options on most days when he doesn't bring us food.
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Replies
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The boss is nuts. I've never heard of such stupidity in my life. What is he (the boss), a BT who doesn't know anything about kosher??
I'd share a microwave with non-kosher employees. If everyone double wraps, there's no problem. One sink is good enough. Why should the employee have to eat kosher at all?? He doesn't!!0 -
OMG, saving this to show my husband. CRAZY. What if he brings his treif lunch leaves it in a cooler in the car and eats it on a picnic bench at lunchtime? No he shouldn't have to do this but I can't think of anything else as inexpensive as what he needs. Hopefully he doesn't take the train to work or live in Alaska!0
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Crazy0
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Not crazy, just strictly observant. He sounds similar to the men in Israel who throw rocks at people who drive on Saturday. He has issues, true. And what he is doing to you is possibly illegal.
I would eat lots of meat before and after work. Nuts, soy cheese, and eggs should help get you through the day. Hummus and pita bread. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies. And meditation to help you deal with the man.
I wish you well.0
