Yes mom, they do feed me
Updated: Sep 8, 2021
One of the many perks to working at the Monhegan House as a seasonal employee, is access to three (in reality an unlimited number though) completely free, filling meals a day. Plus all the snacks, tea, coffee, milk, and hot chocolate one’s heart could desire. Seeing as our meal dynamic at the inn has changed a little since the last time I harped about it on the blog, I figured it would be nice to give you all a rundown of my current day-to-day food plan.
Breakfast:
Typically, I wake up around 7:10 AM which gives me 20 minutes to get myself ready before heading downstairs to order breakfast off of the menu from the computer in The Novelty. Every day there’s a different special which I’m allowed to order (though admittedly, I rarely take the time to go all the way into the kitchen to ask what it is), but the only real special breakfast order that I go out of my way for is the eggs Benedict which is served every Wednesday. On every other day of the week, my order is fairly simple: eggs, toast, pancakes, yogurt, a pastry, a breakfast sandwich, sausage, bacon, or any real combination of those. Lately I’ve been saving pancakes for special occasions like my day off, that way they feel like more of a special treat than a daily ritual. To be fair though, you could eat pancakes for every meal of every day and still lose weight here—one of the perks to housekeeping at an understaffed institution.
Anyway, as one of the first folks to order breakfast (everybody else has until 9 AM to put in their orders), I’ll finish scarfing down my final bites around 7:50 AM, giving me just enough time to brush my teeth, freshen up, and make a cup of tea before clocking into work.
Lunch:
Lunchtime is more or less a fend-for-yourself situation, but with a walk-in fridge and staff room chock-full of ingredients for a hearty meal—it isn’t hard to find something to your liking. I try to take a 15-minute break around 1 or 2 PM for food every day, but depending on the busyness of departures, that isn’t always possible. When I do have time to sit and I’m not shoveling a leftover muffin down my gullet in the linen room, I’ll normally make a quick yogurt bowl or PB & J.
Lately the kitchen staff has been putting out fresh salads with greens from our garden which is an awesome addition to my usual diet of pancakes, pizza, and late-night grilled cheese. But there’s also always leftover fruit salad and apples/bananas if I’m feeling a need for that as well.
Dinner:
This meal has been the only real change since my on boarding at The Monhegan House. While we used to have family-style dinners every evening based around one big dish, complaints about a lack of nutritional value and variety have led us to now be able to order off of the menu most nights. We still do family-style dinner once per week, and pizza night from The Novelty always falls on our head chef’s day off, but so far, the whole eating-like-a-guest bit has been pretty successful. Of course there are certain items from our daily rotating menu that aren’t available to staff: scallops (sadly), some fancy fish dishes, the occasional upscale salad, etc. But for the most part, there’s a chicken option, a vegetarian dish, and typically a cut of beef or fish alongside a few soups and salads to choose from. While the portion sizes aren’t always ideal, it’s nice to have a plate of quality food with true thought put into the presentation for a change. Not to mention the fact that I don’t have to pay $28 for it.
Dessert:
Unfortunately, the post-dinner sweet treats have fallen a bit to the wayside with the change up of dinner service. We haven’t been enjoying the usual crisps, jellos, and bread puddings that we thrived on earlier in the season. But sometimes if we’re lucky, we get to snag the extra slices of cheesecake, lemon squares, and tiramisu that I’m sure came from a frozen box (hey a sweet is a sweet when you’ve been deprived of your mom’s baking for two months, alright?). When pickings to satisfy a sugary craving are particularly slim, I’ll sneak up to the front desk to grab a chocolate from the candy jar when no one’s looking. Okay fine, maybe I do that a few times a day—I think it’s safe to say I could use a mini snickers more than the average Monhegan guest anyway.
In addition to the handfuls of chocolate chips and fun-sized Milky Ways that I snag on the daily, all employees do receive a dozen ice cream tickets which can be used for free small cones at The Novelty!
Beverages:
Like I mentioned before, most standard drinks are always available in a limitless cspa city around the kitchen. There are usually several leftover pots of coffee left in the staff room throughout the say, and milk and juice are always heavily stocked in the fridge and walk-in. The juice is a huge plus because before going out (if you’re smart enough to stock up on liquor), you can hijack a container of as much cranberry, orange, or grapefruit juice as you want to create the perfect Friday-night concoction. The chefs usually laugh at me now as I inconspicuously (but in reality quite conspicuously) strut into the walk-in wearing a party outfit looking for a portable fruity mixer. I may or may not also have been known to take ice, limes, and pre-prepped grilled cheeses during my late-night kitchen raids as well.
So there you have it, a perhaps overly detailed rundown of the Monhegan House meal plan and a true day-in-the-life snapshot to my free-of-charge food consumption. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
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