March 16, 2020: Just-In-Time WFH Lunches
Happy Monday!
Closures and cancelations in the USA finally seem to be picking up steam. In SF, my climbing gym has closed, schools are closed, bars are closed, and people experiencing homelessness are being moved into hotels & motels. I only hope these measures have come soon enough.
China has been quick to offer assistance, most famously with Jack Ma’s donation of supplies and test kids, but also interestingly with WeDoctor’s offer of free consultations from chinese doctors who have firsthand experience with coronavirus.
In today’s post, I aim to show you how making your WFH lunch can be the best part of your entire workday.
Just-In-Time WFH Lunches
Some people like the bulk Sunday meal prep, but I get sick of reheating the same leftovers again and again. I find just-in-time meal prep to be far more satisfying, and it can also be lightning fast.
First, we need to set ourselves up for success. This is a learning project, and learning will take time. To start, I recommend devoting 90 minutes to lunch each day this week as you train yourself to make a great WFH lunch. I realize this is a lot of time, but hopefully you have some extra time now that you don’t need to commute. Eventually, you may only need 30 minutes for prep + eating, but for now, set aside enough time so you’re not rushed.
The goal is to get really good at just a few recipes. For example, I have 2 lunch recipes (an Asian noodle bowl and a Mexican tortilla bowl) that cover 90% of my WFH meals, and I have learned how to make either of them in 15 minutes flat.
To be so quick, I discovered three superpatterns that you can use too:
Bulk Components
Mastering Kitchen Skills
The Zero Second Rule
Let’s go into detail.
Bulk Components Prep
Bulk components prep is just like bulk meal prep but for individual components. For a trivial example, if I’m making rice, I make lots of rice and store a tupperware of rice in the fridge. Here are some of the components I enjoy making:
Pickled Red Onions
Prechopped vegetables (e.g. bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots…)
Oat milk
Chili oil
Sweet soy sauce
Prechopped fruit
Frozen banana chunks (smoothies made easy)
Homemade bok choy
Homemade dressing in a squeeze bottle
Homemade spice blends like togarashi
Frozen spinach (just freeze the whole bag, then take a handful out for smoothies)
Pizza dough (1 big dough recipe makes 8 individual-pizza doughs that get wrapped in plastic and put in the freezer)
Pizza sauce (also frozen, you can scrape some off to use without even defrosting the entire batch)
Guac (put plastic wrap on top, touching the guac, to keep it green)
Frozen flatbread dough (can be toasted without defrosting)
Frozen individual-portioned soup (can be microwaved individually)
Frozen cookies
Frozen rolls (can be microwaved in 15 seconds)
I could go on for a long time, but you get the idea. The magic of this type of prep is that you do it just-in-time, a.k.a. when you’re actually making lunch, and yet you prep more than you need for that lunch, reducing the time future lunches take. Every day your food is freshly cooked, and yet on average it’s quick compared to prepping everything day-of.
Mastering Kitchen Skills
I didn’t know how to skillfully use a knife until I took a cooking class as a 26-year-old when I first started working from home. I really wish someone had taught me when I was young, learning kitchen skills has made a huge difference in how fast I am in the kitchen and how enjoyable cooking is.
Go watch some youtube videos for the following skills:
Knife skills
Frying skills (listen for the Jordan sizzle, named after a good friend)
How to taste salad dressing and know how to improve it
How to use prep bowls
How to use a meat thermometer
As you try these, remember that it takes time and effort to learn any new skill.
The Zero Second Rule
This one is a bit counterintuitive, but I promise it speeds things up. Honor your kitchen by cleaning each dish immediately after you are done using it. Just poured a prep-bowl of veggies into your stir-fry? Wash the prep bowl. Just turned the stir-fry out into your bowl? Wash it. Just finished your last bite? Wash your plate.
This discipline speeds things up because it gives you a cleaner kitchen, and avoids a bunch of cleaning work at the end. You will naturally find mini free moments of time while you cook that can be used to clean up as you go.
As a bonus, your housemates will love you.
Beyond “Just” Cooking
Once you’ve mastered just-in-time cooking, try these ideas to further turn your WFH lunch into the best part of your day:
Cook with other people, even if it’s just a video chat with your mom.
Use cooking (and eating) as a break from work, a reward for great work done in the morning. Don’t read your work email while you eat!
Try being playful in the kitchen like by challenging yourself to see how you can make a meal out of the ingredients you already have at home.
WFH Setup Of The Day
Sorry, today there is no WFH setup of the day. Send me yours!
Thanks for reading, good luck with your work. And if it is hard to get back into work today, remember, building WFH habits takes time!
See you tomorrow,
Andrew