Epic bowls of chili. Elbow-deep buckets of potato salad. When you have a crew of hungry button makers to feed, get ready to serve seconds. Every week, Affordable Buttons sponsors a free lunch program for our employees. Whipping up 55 servings of our CEO Linda’s famous beef stroganoff? That’s nothing compared to the 50,000+ buttons we make and ship every day. Join us each Wednesday as we take our production line efficiency to the kitchen.
What’s going on in the kitchen?
Every Wednesday, our CEO, Linda Christopherson, can be found in the Affordable Buttons’ kitchen, flipping through a cookbook for the recipe of the day. And then tripling it. Linda implemented a free lunch program for Affordable Buttons employees last year.
“I saw some of our employees shelling out eight or nine bucks every single day, just to buy lunch,” she explains. “We have a lot of young people working in our button factory, and I really wanted them to see how cheap and easy it can be to make a healthy, home-cooked meal.”
The Free Lunch program is about more than saving money. “Once we started doing it, it really started to build community,” Linda says. “Everyone eats together, and we do the dishes as a team. We all look forward to Wednesdays.”
“My favorite recipe was the almond-crusted chicken,” says Danielle, a graphic designer.
Cody, a button maker, disagrees. “The Pasta Alfredo is my new favorite,” he says, dishing himself another helping.
Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
Ingredients:
2.5 packages linguine noodles
5 cups fresh broccoli
10 tbsp butter
5 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
5 cans cream of mushroom soup
2.5 cups of milk
2.5 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 2.5 tsp of pepper
Directions:
1. Cook linguine according to package directions.
2. Add broccoli for the last 4 minutes of cooking. Drain.
3. Heat butter in a skillet. Cook chicken until brown.
4. Add soup, milk, cheese, pepper, and linguine. Mix and heat well.