Chapter 2168: Self-Heating Box Lunch (3000 words)

The group cafeteria was decorated with joy, the roof was hung with ribbons and balloons, and a banner welcoming the flood control heroes home was also hung above the dish window.

And today, the cafeteria adopted a buffet form, and the food was richer than ever. In addition to Chinese food, there was actually Western food, and everything from fried chicken to steak was available.

"Oh!" Zhou Andong came to the dish area, looked at the rich food, and couldn't help laughing: "Today's food is too rich."

Wu Huilin said with a smile: "It's not just the group cafeteria. Knowing that you are back today, the old winery, Jiang Xiaobai, Xurishang, Yuzhou Technology, and the brewery have all added meals to celebrate the huge success of this flood control and flood resistance work."

Zhou Andong took a tray and picked what he liked: "Who came up with this idea, using this buffet method?"

"Me!" Wu Huilin also took a tray and served dishes: "I think this buffet method has many benefits. First of all

"But there are also drawbacks. Some people might try to fish in troubled waters and not pay for their meal tickets. Some employees might have no self-control, taking more than they need, which ends up being wasted."

"That's easy to solve." Zhou Andong pointed at the main entrance: "Set up a payment window at the entrance. You hand in a meal ticket to enter the canteen; if you don't hand one in, you don't get in."

"As for the fear of waste, that's even simpler. If you can't finish it, there's no charge for the first two taels remaining; for anything over two taels, we charge three yuan per tael."

"That's a good method!" Du Chun said with a smile: "It's just that the canteen will need more manpower to patrol and keep an eye on things every day."

"That's only for the beginning." Zhou Andong finished his meal and put down the spoon in his hand: "After a long time, they will naturally pay attention."

"Take less food at first; you can always get more after you finish. Our canteen's rule is to eat until you're full, and there's no extra charge. But if you leave leftovers, it'll cost three yuan per tael, and they won't be willing to pay that."

Because it wasn't noon yet, only the leaders were in the canteen, so they found a spot and sat down.

"Also!" Zhou Andong pointed at the food on the table: "If we want to promote this self-service method, then having it sit on the table many times won't work."

"It's fine in the summer, you can get away with eating cold food, but what about winter? Therefore, we need to research a type of food counter that can provide heating..."

Zhou Andong described the kind of warming and heating counter commonly used in fast food in later generations, then asked the Logistics Department head to find professionals to research it.

Everyone chatted while eating. After they were full, Zhou Andong held another meeting. He gave high praise to all departments of the group for their work in this flood control and disaster relief effort and expressed his gratitude to all participating personnel.

Next, the heads of each department spoke one by one, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the work in detail, and proposed a series of improvement measures and suggestions.

The entire meeting lasted nearly two hours, and it could be said that the atmosphere was very enthusiastic. Finally, Zhou Andong gave a concluding speech, clarifying the next work plan and goal, which was the start of the disaster reconstruction work in Jinli County.

After the meeting, Zhou Andong notified Gu Qing and Zhang Chaoming from the farm to come to the group office to find him at two in the afternoon.

Then he went into the lounge and fell asleep within minutes of lying down. He had been on the front line of flood control for the past few days and was truly exhausted.

Just as he was sleeping soundly, a knocking sound faintly reached his ears. He thought he was dreaming, but the knocking became more and more real.

Zhou Andong struggled to open his heavy eyes. At this moment, the knocking sound was clearly entering his ears. This time he was certain; it wasn't his imagination.

He lifted his wrist to check his watch; it was already ten minutes past two. He got out of bed listlessly, rubbed his face vigorously with both hands, and went out to open the door. Standing outside were Zhang Chaoming and Gu Qing, carrying a large black bag.

"I was asleep, sorry about that."

Gu Qing and Zhang Chaoming followed him in. Zhou Andong poured them a cup of tea himself, glanced at the black bag Zhang Chaoming had placed on the coffee table, and asked curiously.

"What's in this bag of yours?"

Zhang Chaoming didn't speak, but quickly opened the bag and took out more than ten exquisite plastic lunch boxes from inside.

Zhou Andong took one look and immediately perked up: "Self-heating lunch boxes?"

"Yes!"

Cui An hurriedly ordered people to do it. He had also discovered this problem but didn't have a better solution.

Next, Zhang Chaoming opened four more lunch boxes. The dishes inside were different; there were pork ribs, beef, and chicken legs. You could eat whatever you liked.

Originally, the self-heating lunch box had a built-in water bag and a heating agent. There was a small string on the water bag exposed outside the lunch box. Pulling the small string would break the water bag, and the heating agent would react chemically with the water to produce high heat, thereby heating the food.

But considering the winter, especially in the Ali region, which is extremely cold, border defense soldiers would find them frozen when carrying them on patrol. Therefore, Zhou Andong designed two lunch boxes, one large and one small.

The small one is the food box, and the large one is the heating box. When heating, you can use the water or snow you are carrying, and then place the food box on the heating box.

Zhou Andong took a thermos, went out to get a pot of cold water, and came back. He couldn't wait to take the food box off the top, poured the water into the heating box, and then put the food box back on. Soon, the water below was boiling.

Gu Qing stared dumbfounded at the steaming lunch box and said incredulously.

"How was this done?"

Zhou Andong laughed heartily, picked up the chopsticks from the black bag, squatted down, lowered his head, shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth, and picked up a piece of beef. The taste was quite good.

"Good, good, very good!"

Gu Qing curiously picked up the chopsticks, took a bite, then looked at Zhang Chaoming and asked again.

"How exactly was this done?"

Zhang Chaoming explained the principle. Gu Qing gave a thumbs up: "Manager Zhang, this thing sounds simple, but it is definitely an epoch-making thing. Amazing."

"Manager Gu, I dare not take credit for this." Zhang Chaoming shook his head vigorously: "It was the Chairman who came up with it; I am just the executor."

Gu Qing looked at Zhou Andong. That look was just like a simple young girl meeting her favorite idol, her eyes full of worship.

She really couldn't understand how their Chairman's brain was wired to be able to tinker with this kind of thing.

But not being able to understand didn't affect her worship of the Chairman.

If she were ten years younger, she really didn't know if she could resist this kind of charm from the Chairman.

Zhou Andong ate a whole box of rice and still felt a bit unsatisfied, so he ate another box, then satisfiedly patted his stomach.

"A bit full."

Gu Qing also ate a box: "The taste is very good. When will it be on the market for sale? I'll buy a few boxes first."

Zhou Andong said with a smile: "This was developed for the border defense troops and will not be sold on the market for the time being. Mainly because the cost is a bit high; even if it were on the market, the sales volume wouldn't necessarily be that good."

"The cost is high, so domestic sales won't be ideal, but what about Xiangjiang and Aomen?" Gu Qing said: "Life there is fast-paced and high-consumption. Can this kind of self-heating lunch box be welcomed by those white-collar and blue-collar workers?"

Zhou Andong scratched his head. In his previous life, self-heating lunch boxes were indeed very popular among a certain group of people, but because of food delivery, sales had been growing, but the speed was not fast.

As for Xiangjiang and Aomen, he didn't know if there were any self-heating lunch boxes sold there. But now it's 1994, so he could go over and try it. What if there's an unexpected harvest?

Zhou Andong said to Zhang Chaoming: "Regarding Manager Gu's words, you should study it after you go back and give me a feasible plan. In addition, the self-heating lunch box is provided for border defense soldiers to eat, so the quality must be strictly controlled; there cannot be the slightest carelessness."

"Understood!" Zhang Chaoming nodded heavily: "We are formulating safety standards to ensure strict quality control."

Zhou Andong picked up another box of rice: "What is the shelf life?"

Zhang Chaoming said: "Everything is strictly processed according to your requirements. After high-temperature sterilization at 125°C, it is vacuum-packed in the lunch box, with a shelf life of six months."

"In a while, you go directly to the Diya Packaging Factory and let them design the packaging for the self-heating lunch box. On the 25th, prepare two hundred boxes for me; I want to take them to Jingcheng."

"Okay!" Zhang Chaoming agreed: "When will the factory building be constructed?"

"The sooner the better!" Zhou Andong said impatiently: "It's best if it can be put into production before winter, so that the border defense soldiers in the Ali region can eat a hot meal while on patrol."

Zhang Chaoming said with some difficulty: "In the Ali region, winter starts in September. At most, there are two months left. The time is too tight."

Zhou Andong said helplessly: "It is indeed me being too anxious."

"However!" Zhang Chaoming said thoughtfully: "Under current conditions, producing ten or twenty thousand boxes before October should be no problem."

"Produce as much as you can, and send it to Ali first to see how the effect is."

Zhou Andong turned around twice in place: "Although the heating principle of self-heating uses the chemical reaction of the heating agent to generate heat energy, it is not affected by the air pressure at high altitudes.

But because the air pressure in the plateau area is low, the boiling point of water will also decrease, which may affect the heating effect of the self-heating rice. Especially in winter, when border defense soldiers carry it on patrol, it will definitely freeze."

Zhang Chaoming said with a smile: "You can deepen the heating box and enlarge the heat pack. When carrying it out in winter, pay attention to heat preservation, and there shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Like this!" Zhou Andong said: "Freeze it with a refrigerator, and let's do more experiments ourselves. Just as you said, deepen the heating box and enlarge the heat pack. As long as the heating time is long enough, the problem won't be too big."

The self-heating lunch box gave Zhou Andong a surprise. Then he talked about the reconstruction plan for the disaster area in Jinli County.

"Merging several villages is definitely no problem, so your work can start first."

After speaking, Zhou Andong picked up a cigarette, handed one to Zhang Chaoming, lit one for himself, leaned against the back of the sofa, and said lazily.

"Next, you have plenty to be busy with."