To bring proper meals into the office?

[tellingeveryonehowbadly]

I’m on a bit of a health kick. Usually I bring in stews, casseroles etc.

My meal prep went wrong this week and I’m planning on taking a mini roast into the office tomorrow. There’s a few of us in the office who are trying to eat healthy and we were discussing lunches, I said this and a colleague went “urgh, great. The smell of gravy again”.

AIBU to do this? Everyone in the office tends to bring hot meals, but they’re usually ready meals. I figured a homemade meal would be fine, but now I feel a little self conscious.

My parents use it, so I was brought up on it - it really is!!

I’m not engaging in this snobbery debate, it’s really fine. The vast majority of people use it, it’s gravy.

The arrogance of someone to think that because you think something about a type of food it “really is” just exactly like how you think of it…. Astonishing

😂😂😂

That would be the vinegar, I assume.

Better than fish or curry. I wouldn't have taken those but a bit of gravy no issues.

I often took homemade vegetable soup or occasionally tomato and lentil soup.

Sounds like she just doesn’t like the smell of gravy, but that’s a personal thing!

If everyone is bringing in ready meals those smell much more strongly. So I think she’s being a bit silly.

I would just bring in my
mini roast and ignore her.

Why do you find it astonishing that I personally, find the smell disgusting? I don't find your odour dislikes astonishing 🙄 I'm allowed my own opinion FFS.

To be fair I want to make a beef curry next week (Indian style, ironic I know) because I’ve seen a recipe for naan that uses cottage cheese to make it low calorie but high protein 😂

To be fair you didn’t just say the smell was disgusting did you?

It's not a snobbery debate...I trained professionally at catering college, so learned how to make gravy from scratch at 16 years old. I cannot abide the smell of bisto, as I said, I was brought up on it and my mother is a terrible cook, so I have a negative association with it. Just my own personal opinion, nothing to do with being a snob, I very much am not one. My DH learned to make gravy from scratch in his 20's, he very much is a snob when it comes to gravy, so I shant tell him about this thread 😉

Yes, it is snobbery.

It would be ideal if I could make gravy everyday. But it’s a Wednesday night, I was up at 5:45 to go to the gym this morning and I want something I can easily make tomorrow at lunch to go with the meal

That's true, I find it disgusting to eat too, but that was clearly from my own personal experience/opinion. So I was empathising with your work colleagues who clearly don't like the smell either...it is a rather strong smell. I didn't make any derogatory comments regarding people who choose to eat it though, so not sure why I'm being set on!

If we all liked the same things, the world would be a boring place!

I'm not being a snob. My DH usually portions up gravy and freezes it so we have spare for whenever is needed. Anyway, as I said above, it's a strong smell, so can see why some of your colleagues are unimpressed, perhaps take that onboard, rather than trying to accuse people who don't like it as being snobs 😏

No rest break space at all? I'm wondering if they're complaint with H&S regs tbh.

Of course there’s rest breaks! They just don’t provide a separate seating area hence the Op eating at desk

oh come on. That is not what you were saying at all!!

and my guess - you had a dire childhood and every time you get a whiff of bistro… you are taken back there hence you thinking so dogmatically it’s so poisonous smelling.

and implied that it was FACT that it smelt awful

We have an old sofa but you certainly couldn’t eat a hot
meal there!

As @EppingIsFun hints, a separate rest area is mandatory in UK employment law. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require a separate clean area for food hygiene and mental health reasons. A separate room isn't obligatory and the space can be multi purpose, a meeting room that becomes a lunch area, for example, but employees are entitled to a proper rest area away from desks and workstations.

Was it maybe sarcasm? Oh great, we have to smell that again like what a hardship, oh no!?

That is if without such a rest place, the only space to eat is a factory floor would be a health and safety risk to risk due to potential contamination. If you read the section, it’s clear

And as I said, we get one but you can’t eat there. It’s an old, low, sofa.

That's a fair point, desks can be acceptable if the employer can assure hygiene and confirm the break time at the desk will not be interrupted. Many employers meet the requirements by providing a separate area rather than (for example) cleaning desks to food hygiene standards and shutting down workstations during breaks.

In practice it's good employee welfare to give staff a space to step away from work.