Looking to cook more in the new year? It’s a great way to save money and know exactly what you’re eating. If you work in an area with lots of food and restaurants at your disposal, lunch can be the most tempting meal of the day. Here at FreshDirect HQ, we started a lunch challenge for our Marketing group and got amazing results. Get tips from our journey after the jump!
Want to start a lunch challenge at your job? Here’s how we did it. We started a joint Instagram account and hashtag. Every day for 30 days, each participant posted her lunch on the joint account or her own account, using the joint hashtag and her own made up hashtag (it helped us tally up lunches at the end to crown a winner). The meals had to come from home or be cooked/compiled at work. Here’s what we learned:
1. A reward is a powerful motivator.
We all threw into a pot and that pot kept us going during the most tempting days. Sometimes it takes a little incentive to create a new habit.
2. Reuse ingredients.
Our coworker Amanda H. stuck with themes, which helped with planning and ordering ingredients. One week she did sandwiches, one week it was salad jars, and another it was avocado toast (pictured above). For some salad jar inspiration, check out this post. For all of Amanda’s meals, peruse her personal lunch challenge hashtag.
3. Seeing other people’s lunches is super inspiring.
It’s very easy to get into a lunch rut. Even if you don’t want to put on a full-on challenge at work, consider doing a monthly pot luck or asking around to find out your coworkers’ go-to lunches.
4. Make something you’ll look forward to eating (and showing off).
You don’t need a boatload of participants to get motivated to make beautiful and healthful lunches. Do it for yourself! Snap a picture every day so you can look back and feel proud of your work. When you know you have an amazing lunch to look forward to, the less likely you are to order takeout and waste your hard work.
5. Meal planning does wonders.
It takes discipline but once you get into the groove of weekly meal planning, you’ll wonder what the heck you did before. Make extra at dinner so you have lunch leftovers, cook big one-pot meals on Sunday for the whole week, or write out exactly what recipes you plan to use and keep the ingredients on-hand when you’re shopping on our site (you can even create your own customized shopping lists when you click “Reorder”).
6. Accessorize.
Make sure you have a cute lunch tote for bringing your ingredients or tupperware. We also kept plates, bowls, and silverware at our desks, which were handy for plating but also made the shots prettier. You eat with your eyes after all!
Get your lunch challenge started by making Bacon Sriracha Egg Salad in Cabbage Cups; inspired by our coworker Jillian’s open-faced egg salad, this twist will be the envy of your co-workers!