No kitchen?!
kaydeexoxo
Posts: 37 Member
I have the biggest dilemma.
I'm a server. Which if you've ever servered you know I usually go all day at work with stolen french friea and ramekins of soup or mashed potatos. We get to eat when were not busy which isn't often and 2 of our managers refuse to let us eat on the clock. So if I work 14 hours on a double with no break I'm hardly eating all day.
I try to take something with me to snack on but snacks aren't meals and its so hard to eat 3 good meals a day on days i work.
On top of that i barely eat breakfast because I dont wake up early enough.
And the kicker to all this is I live in a tiny 1 room apartment with no kitchen! All i have is a toaster oven, mini fridge, and microwave.
Can anyone give me any advice on how and what to eat healthier given my daily conundrums.
I'm a server. Which if you've ever servered you know I usually go all day at work with stolen french friea and ramekins of soup or mashed potatos. We get to eat when were not busy which isn't often and 2 of our managers refuse to let us eat on the clock. So if I work 14 hours on a double with no break I'm hardly eating all day.
I try to take something with me to snack on but snacks aren't meals and its so hard to eat 3 good meals a day on days i work.
On top of that i barely eat breakfast because I dont wake up early enough.
And the kicker to all this is I live in a tiny 1 room apartment with no kitchen! All i have is a toaster oven, mini fridge, and microwave.
Can anyone give me any advice on how and what to eat healthier given my daily conundrums.
0
Replies
-
Wake up earlier for breakfast. Bring a packed lunch. Legally you get a long enough break time if you're working that much8
-
Yeah your boss is breaking some labor laws if you're not getting any breaks during a 14 hour day15
-
I agree with the others, no breaks? That doesn't sounds legal. Anyways, I like to poach eggs in the microwave. I have a poacher that does two eggs at a time in about 1 minute. You can also get one of those bacon microwave things and precook a batch a bacon. Put everything on some toast with cheese and you got a quick easy breakfast sandwich.3
-
At home:
ramen in microwave, add spinach, thin sliced mushroom, store-bought rotisserie chicken (I shred it all as soon as I get it and put it in a ziplock bag, won't take up as much room) or soft-boiled egg, hot sauce
High fiber/whole grain english muffin, pizza sauce, cheese, favorite topping (toaster oven)
Chicken breast or pork chop - add salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, bake in toaster oven, top with tomato, spinach, and cheese, put it back in for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbly
Toasted cheese sandwiches and soup - bread and cheese in the toaster oven, with canned or frozen soup in the microwave. Toss some deli meat on the sandwich if you'd like.
Baked eggs - put spinach, hot pepper flakes, and marinara sauce in a little oven safe ramekin, crack an egg, and bake in the toaster oven until the egg white is set, eat with toast
Waffle with peanut butter and apple
Baked potato in microwave - top with canned black beans, salsa, and cheese
Frozen breakfast sandwiches if there's freezer room in your mini-fridge. Just eat them on your way to work.
In your situation, you might want a get small crock-pot and a hot pot (like a tea kettle, but electric). You can make hard-boiled eggs, soup, ramen, macaroni and cheese in a hot pot. Look for cookbooks written for college students- they have tons of stuff that can be done in a hot pot and microwaves. Look for them at thrift stores if you're low on cash.
You might want to mention to the manager who does give you breaks that the others don't. It's technically violating some labor laws to make employees work that long with no lunch/breaks (in the US anyway), but they also probably aren't going to get in trouble or change unless there's a lawsuit. In any case, maybe you can leave a cooler in your car and grab something during a smoke break (the restaurants I worked at were happy to give smoke breaks, for whatever reason). Hard-boiled eggs, PB&J, apples, cheese sticks, beef jerky, tuna and crackers, celery and cream cheese.
Hope something here helps!3 -
bethannien wrote: »Yeah your boss is breaking some labor laws if you're not getting any breaks during a 14 hour day
As a server they ask us usually but if were short staffed and super busy you can just pull a server off the floor if thet still have tables. How would you feel if you were out eating and your server left to go on a break.
Every place ive ever worked has done the same thing and I've been a server for years.0 -
FYI. Restaurants have their own set of labor laws. You arent required to take breaks. They do give options but you also have to remember a 30 min break could make you lose 50$+ on a busy day. We get paid 2.85 an hour we depend on staying on the floor and our tips. Break = no tables = no tips = no money.0
-
I've been at restaurants where the server was sent on break. They sent another waitress to our table to finish us off. I let them fight it out for the tip, but I was understanding and had no problem with it.
You should be able to eat some time during a 14 hour day. That's just not right. I work 8 hours at a desk job and I get 3 breaks.4 -
Consider quick, eat-out-of-hand foods for part of your eating. Some of my favorites, some of which don't require refrigeration, are:
- Ezekiel pita or small tortilla with peanut butter
- Individually-wrapped cheese with hearty whole-grain crackers or pita or corn tortilla.
- Hard-boiled eggs.
- Apple with peanut butter.
- Dry-roasted soybeans.
- Crispy chickpeas (purchased, probably, since you don't have a real oven).
- Whole fruit that you eat out of hand (plums, bananas, etc.), or dried fruit.
- Dry-roasted nuts, seeds, or a nutritious trail mix.
Some of the above you can literally keep in a pocket, and toss in your mouth in a spare moment.
I routinely eat breakfast in transit: Rolled pita with peanut butter and flax seed, travel cup of kefir, usually.
Some good suggestions above (some of which I've repeated) from @laur357 especially. Besides the cooler-in-the car idea, there are some tiny (purse-sized) soft-sided coolers available that will fit a small reusable "ice" block and a meal or two worth of quick-to-eat foods. If you have a hook to hang a coat, you can hang a tiny cooler underneath, too. The ice will fit in a mini-fridge freezer (as long as it has at least a tiny one) - I've put mine in motel ones lots of times.
To eat at home, you can cook almost anything with the kit you have in your room, plus maybe a hot plate or crock-pot, short of a full-sized roast or something: Veggies, meats, soups, stews, salad. Add a blender, and smoothies for breakfast (very quick) become an option.0 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!3 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
That is what waitstaff make an hour it is expected they will make up the difference in tips. Hence the reason they dont want to miss any tables. And the reason my husband and i tip at least 30%. It's a hard job and i tip my hat to anyone that can do it well.3 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
If their wages plus tips for the pay period don't equal minimum wage the employer is required by federal law to make up the difference to get them to minimum wage.3 -
can you get a hotplate?
1 -
kaydeexoxo wrote: »FYI. Restaurants have their own set of labor laws. You arent required to take breaks. They do give options but you also have to remember a 30 min break could make you lose 50$+ on a busy day. We get paid 2.85 an hour we depend on staying on the floor and our tips. Break = no tables = no tips = no money.
These types of employers are forcing workers back in to slavery. Most places recognize a work day as 8 hours, and anything extra is paid at overtime rates. In your scenario, the second shift is optional, but there should be some way to pause for a short while before resuming. Then there's usually a maximum of 4 hours you can work continuously without a break, but again your situation dictates otherwise, because the customers are paying you more than you get from your boss.
The easiest part for you to fix right now is to wake up earlier to have breakfast, but I guess you're very tired after working 14 hours the previous day. Do you have any options on a different type of employment?1 -
bethannien wrote: »Yeah your boss is breaking some labor laws if you're not getting any breaks during a 14 hour day
That was my first thought as well. 14 hour with no breaks for coffee and meals is illegal where I live and the labor board would be very interested in hearing about such breaking of the rules. Labor laws are in place to prevent this sort of abuse of workers.2 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
That is what waitstaff make an hour it is expected they will make up the difference in tips. Hence the reason they dont want to miss any tables. And the reason my husband and i tip at least 30%. It's a hard job and i tip my hat to anyone that can do it well.
But why should the customers have to pay the workers instead of the owner paying them appropriately? Why should the owner get away with paying their staff next to nothing? That is not right.
And shouldn't a customer expect that the pricing on the menu includes the relevant cost of supplying the item (food and service) rather than being slapped with a hidden "oh by the way, the owner is a slave laborer, so if you don't tip generously, the poor waiter is going to go home with not even three bucks an hour"?4 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
That is what waitstaff make an hour it is expected they will make up the difference in tips. Hence the reason they dont want to miss any tables. And the reason my husband and i tip at least 30%. It's a hard job and i tip my hat to anyone that can do it well.
You would be better served lobbying for better wages and that minimum wage applies to servers.2 -
rileysowner wrote: »14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
That is what waitstaff make an hour it is expected they will make up the difference in tips. Hence the reason they dont want to miss any tables. And the reason my husband and i tip at least 30%. It's a hard job and i tip my hat to anyone that can do it well.
You would be better served lobbying for better wages and that minimum wage applies to servers.
There are issues with this in some places. In the US, a few restaurants have tried raising the wages to $15/hr, but the waitstaff actually lost money (tips were better). Plus, hours would get cut, etc. It's a hot topic here.1 -
14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
That is what waitstaff make an hour it is expected they will make up the difference in tips. Hence the reason they dont want to miss any tables. And the reason my husband and i tip at least 30%. It's a hard job and i tip my hat to anyone that can do it well.
But why should the customers have to pay the workers instead of the owner paying them appropriately? Why should the owner get away with paying their staff next to nothing? That is not right.
And shouldn't a customer expect that the pricing on the menu includes the relevant cost of supplying the item (food and service) rather than being slapped with a hidden "oh by the way, the owner is a slave laborer, so if you don't tip generously, the poor waiter is going to go home with not even three bucks an hour"?
This is how it works in the US. When I went to Europe, it was strange not having to tip.0 -
I've known some waitresses in busy resturants to take home 3 or 4 hundred bucks a day in tips. . . None of them would be willing to give them up even for 15 bucks an hour. A co-workers wife is a server in a popular tourist spot she cleared 56k last year. . . she would have been lucky to get 16k at minimum wage. . Its a trade off.1
-
You already have a toaster oven so get a hotplate, a pot and a pan and you'll be able to cook anything in your make due kitchen. Been there, done that and it wasn't the worst.0
-
Invest in a small grill if you have an outdoor area to cook, you can usually find the little charcoal tabletop hibachi grills for $15...a small crock pot, $10...and an electric skillet, $20...between these 3 things you can cook just about anything without having a stove or oven....soups, rice, casseroles, roasts, or oatmeal in the crock pot...any kind of meat/veggies on the grill or electric skillet...and anything breadish can be done in the electric skillet (biscuits, cornbread, etc) as well as anything you would normally cook in a skillet like eggs or stir fry...I don't know what kind of food you like, but start with whichever appliance you are most likely to use first, then just add on to your kitchen as you get the hang of it...any camping skillet recipe can be made in the electric skillet, plus anything you would cook in a pot like pasta or potatoes.1
-
BeckyD1105 wrote: »14 hours with no break? That can't be legal!
$2.85 an hour?! THAT surely can't be legal! That's practically slave labour!
If their wages plus tips for the pay period don't equal minimum wage the employer is required by federal law to make up the difference to get them to minimum wage.
Unfortunately, the service industry is notorious for breaking labor laws in every way they can get away with, including avoiding this law.
I agree with wake up early for breakfast (or get prepackaged things, like prepackaged breakfast sandwiches, or make quick meals - you can scramble some eggs in the microwave in a few minutes) and get a few more "fast cooking" appliances. Crockpots are fast, easy, don't require a kitchen, and give you solid meals. 14 hours without a solid meal is difficult but doable!0 -
omg, buy a crock pot. They are food magic. You can toss in any meat with a sauce, set it on low and when you get home you have dinner. So yummy. Ex- pork chops with a cup of Non Fat Italian dressing, pork chops with BBQ sauce, or chicken with the Italian dressing. Campbells also makes a ton of Slow Cooker Sauces- Hawaiian Pork, Pot roast, Beef Stew, and Buffalo chicken are the ones I've tried and likes.0
-
RachelElser wrote: »omg, buy a crock pot. They are food magic. You can toss in any meat with a sauce, set it on low and when you get home you have dinner. So yummy. Ex- pork chops with a cup of Non Fat Italian dressing, pork chops with BBQ sauce, or chicken with the Italian dressing. Campbells also makes a ton of Slow Cooker Sauces- Hawaiian Pork, Pot roast, Beef Stew, and Buffalo chicken are the ones I've tried and likes.
May i add pork chops with cream of mushrooms soup and a packet of dry ranch dressing powder? Awesome!0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions