To think that a lunch hour

[CardyMow]

At work, should be at a time at least somewhere around lunchtime? I have to have my breakfast at 7am (dropping dc off at 2 different places) - I'm STARVING by the time my rota'd lunchbreak comes up at 1.30pm. We aren't allowed to have snacks in between either. Is it just because I'm still bf'ing my 7mo in the evening and through the night? Am I abnormal that by 12.30pm, my stomach is growling SO loudly that customers comment on it?? . I had porridge for breakfast, so a hearty breakfast not a weedy cereal bar.

You're not abnormal to be starving by 12.30pm. I have porridge for breakfast at 6am but ate my lunch at 11.40am today because of hunger. But a lunch break starting at 1.30pm is reasonable. I think a break starting anywhere from 12pm to 1.30pm is fine. Can you swap your lunch break time with someone else?

By law you should be having a 20 min coffee break mid morning. Do you have this? You could have a snack then?

Banana - good idea. Nope, lunch breaks set in stone so that they are staggered. I get that it's not that late, but my stomach ends up growling so loud the customers comment on it! I did have some dried apricots on the bus to work though - only a small pack (something like 30g).

9.30-5.30pm.

All I can say is... we sometimes get lunch breaks at half eleven, sometimes not til gone 2pm.

As DeepLeaf said, definitely have a snack before you start.

What kind of work do you do? Do you not get a little tea break?

Ha to a break - my first day yesterday, got to leave 20 mins early to make up for lack of morning break...think that's how it works here. Can't go complaining and rocking the boat about it while I'm on my 12 week probation period. Bloody retail!

Mind you - one of the other girls IS off with flu, so maybe it's just that they are short-staffed?

Is that right about a 20 minute coffee break? Can you point us in the direction of that legislation? We've had similar issues at work and all we could find was stuff that said we must be allowed a 20 minute break after 4.5 hours.

Do you get a coffee break OP? can you eat a banana just before you start?

Will try the banana tomorrow. And an even bigger bowl of porridge. Shuffling around on MN until 'lunchtime' is over. I have stuffed pasta salad, a pear, and a ham sandwich down my face. Starting on the crisps now...

no that is incorrect. By law you have to have a 'break' after 6 hrs
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029451

I take my lunch hour at 9.30 - 10.30 so I can go spinning...there are no lunch time classes at the gym. We're a small company so no one cares :)

I have my break when I have been at work from 9.30, so 4 hrs after I start. Irrespective of the fact that as I leave my house at 7.50am to drop the dc off, I have to have my breakfast no later than 7am. I've got be off and back to work now, but I'll be back later on after work.

I am lucky that my boss lets me take my lunch break at 3.30pm and I use it to travel home (I start work at 8am). Just have a sandwich at my desk when I get hungry. Might be against current legislation but I love my early finish and would not change it.

Your break shouldn't be at the very end or beginning of your working day, t has to be within it. Its difficult when you are really hungry isn't it. I have worked places where breaks aren't allowed and its tough going.

Having lunch at 1:30 when you start at 9:30 isn't illegal though.

, when do you eat Betty? I wouldn't be in a fit state to work immediately after a spin class.

OP - YANBU

Poor you, 6 1/2 hours is a long time to go without.

What sort of job is it that means you cannot even have a 5 minute break to scoff a cereal bar or something?

I am amazed at some of the things people on here have to put up with as employees.

I start work at 7.30am - the latest lunch break I've had was well after 4pm! But my job is very much about adapting to the workload, and I know that if possible we'll get extra breaks on quieter days. Plus it's usually so busy I don't even realise I'm hungry until I start eating.

Ok, so you start work at 9.30, then eat a banana just before you start work, and that should last you until your lunch break. It isnt your employers problem or fault that you eat your breakfast so early, but there is the opportunity to do something about it. Eat a sandwich on your way to work perhaps or a snack bar.

If I was you I'd be claiming a loo/ciggie break about 11 and be scoffing a banana or something.

I think that it´s unfortunate that you don´t start work until two and a half hrs after breakfast.

Where are you at 9-is it possible to eat something then?

I have breakfast at 7.30 and by 11 am peckish and by 12 I am starving! I usually have a small snack mid morning to keep me going.

Can you not take a loo break mid morning and scarf down a cereal bar or small banana while you are on the way there? They must allow loo breaks in that time surely (if they didn't and I worked there I would bleed beautifully all over the shop floor at that special time of the month).

Can't you get to work for 9am and have breakfast in the staff room?

Can't you tell them you are b/feeding all night and feel faint if you don't get a mid-morning break. I am sure there are rights for b/feeding mums but they should just be understanding about it...

porridge never gets me through to lunch time. You need some fat and high quality protein. One slice of wholemeal with either melted cheese, an egg, a bacon rasher or kipper will keep you going far longer. And will be not that many more calories if you are worried about that. Not that helpful if you are vegan though.

Get some nuts in your pocket and secretly eat them while you work

Re the banana - i have the same problem and i was told that it should be eaten with complex carbs and not on its own (something to do with blood sugar), so have it with a wholegrain cracker or nuts.

I find that a boiled egg, on its own or with a cracker keeps me very full till lunch.