What’s on Teachers’ Plates?

Lunchtime for teachers may sound like a break, but for many it’s just another part of their busy day. From packing meals at home to keeping snacks stocked in their classrooms, many teachers have unique lunchtime routines. Some use the time to help students, while others catch up with colleagues or try to squeeze in a quick bite.

Many teachers find it hard to fit eating lunch into their busy schedule, especially those who use their break time to grade assignments or help students. “I had a bunch of students in my classroom at lunch going over their essays the other day, and I didn’t want to send anybody away,” English teacher Jason Hunt said. He explained that he doesn’t feel comfortable eating in front of students when they aren’t eating, and that he doesn’t always have time. “I was like, ‘Oh, I lost my lunch time,’” he added.

Science teacher Rachel Richards explained that she has to choose between using lunchtime to prepare for classes or using it to eat. “I don’t have enough time to do both,” she said. “Sometimes I find time to sit down and have a nice lunch, and then the other half the time I’m running around, grading, prepping, or helping students,” she said. 

Because of this, many teachers wish lunches were longer. “As a high school student, I had a 50 minute lunch and open campus,” Hunt said. He noted that he feels more energized after Feel Good Fridays, which are days with long lunches and activities set up around campus. “I think that on days where there’s a lot going on, it’s really important for both teachers and students to have time to take a breath and relax.”

“Lunch is usually enough time for me to eat food, but it’s not enough time to decompress,” English teacher Rachael Wan said. 

Some teachers use lunch as an opportunity to bond with each other. “On Wednesdays, I eat lunch with [English teacher Liane] Strub over in the C-wing, and sometimes on Fridays as well,” Hunt said. He explained that other than those days, he likes to stay in his classroom to get work done. 

“Sometimes I will go and wander around to other teachers at lunchtime,” Wan said. 

With their busy schedules, teachers go about what they are eating in different ways. Some keep their rooms stocked, some prepare their meals in advance to make mornings easy, and others pack their lunch on a day-to-day basis. 

Hunt likes to bring a mixed salad for lunch that he prepares the night before. “I live in San Francisco, so I need to get out of the house as quickly as possible in the morning to beat the traffic,” he said. He likes to chop up vegetables from Trader Joes, add tuna or chickpeas, and coat the salad with a miso ginger dressing from a market near his house and croutons. 

“My favorite part is the croutons that I add,” he said. He also likes DoorDashed Curry Pizza House, yogurt, bagels, and sandwiches. 

Wan meal preps on the weekends to make her life easier during the week. “I take Tupperwares and add carbs, veggies and some protein, like rice,” she said. It takes her two or three hours to prepare her meals for the week.

Wan explained that other times, she and her colleagues often eat whatever is easy to transport and quick to grab from their pantries at home. “We have a lot of teachers to do a girl dinner kind of lunch,” she said. Girl dinner is a trending concept in which people eat assorted snacks in place of a meal. 

Teachers also store amenities and snacks in their classrooms for a quick snack during the school day.  “I have a fridge in my classroom that I like to fill with snacks like yogurt,” Hunt said. He also used to keep a Keurig Coffee Maker in his room before moving it to the teacher’s lounge for shared use. 

Richards has a fridge, freezer, microwave, coffee maker, and even a stove in her classroom. While the stove is usually used for labs by her class, she has used them to boil eggs for lunch a few times.

“I like to keep freezer meals in my classroom, especially vegetable lasagna,” she said. Another favorite lunch of hers is rotisserie chicken, which she keeps in her classroom’s fridge, or sandwiches with potato salad from Delucchi’s Market that she picks up on her way to work. 

“There are lots of clubs in my room, and so they stock Ramen noodles and soup. Since I’m the advisor, they let me take them, and I sometimes donate to the pile too,” Richards said. 

While the school provides free lunches for all students, many teachers aren’t interested in eating it. “Sometimes, I walk across campus 25 minutes into lunch and there are still kids waiting in the lunch line. It just doesn’t sound healthy to be inhaling food with no time,” Hunt said. 

Others wish that they were able to eat it, but face the issue of it being only for students. “The staff is really nice, and if you go after lunch they’ll put stuff together for you with leftovers. But in general, we’re not really supposed to have the school lunches, which is unfortunate,” Richards said. “I already brought it up to the principal, but it’s decided on by the state legislation.” She added that sometimes a student who isn’t getting school lunch that day will use their ID number to get her a meal.

Despite the endless to-dos and fast-ticking lunch bell, teachers strive to fit in lunch and make it work for them.