Snacks while driving and no time for a meal

Truckerwife92207

I have seen a few snack idea posts and they are all great. The problem I am having is eating while driving and quick snacks while at work. I work at a convenience store an hour from home. I am not allowed to eat except during my 5 min breaks (I get 2) and my 15 min dinner (I work 2nd shift). Since my dinner is no more than a snack, I am ravenous when I get off work. By the time I get home it is close to midnight and at that point the snacks I should have are no longer appealing (I don't want to have a meal that late at night because I go to bed around 1am). I have found some snack ideas that work with a schedule that forces me to eat like a convict (i.e. boiled eggs, cheese and meat stix, veggie stix) but by day 2 of the work week, I am sick of those.

Most of my eating is done driving or at work, so the only "meal" I really have time for is breakfast and I already get up at 7am to squeeze that in. My calorie goal is about 1400 - 1500 per day (because of the amount of cals I burn while working according to Fitbit) and my snack library struggles to get me to 1000 calories.

Any suggestions on snacks that suffice as a meal (quick eat for my 15 min dinner) and snacks that are packable, no-mess, no fumble while driving?

mmultanen

do you have access to a fridge at work or do you have an insulated bag, and a microwave? Quick and satisfying dinner ideas from my own time with a 20 min dinner break:

• egg salad avocados (you can take 2 hard boiled eggs to work, mix at work in a bowl with a fork and mayo packet, cut avocado in half and spoon in the egg salad to both halves. top with salt and pepper.) It's good fat and protein and has in the neighborhood of 500 calories which is a good sized meal.
• If you have a microwave at work you can make cheese crisps which make a ceaser salad mix feel like a meal. pack shredded cheese, bagged salad, pre-cooked chicken (your own, or store bought), and caeser dressing. Put about a tablespoon of cheese on parchment paper (only parchment paper...not wax) and nuke for about 35 seconds. the crisp will get toasty in color and when cool, you can peal off. and eat as many as you make as croutons in your chicken caeser salad. you can also make the crisps at home and store them in zipolc bags or tupperware
• Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. Depends on your dietary goals however, I worked with a woman who would make the condensed soup with heavy whipping cream in the microwave at work and it really upped the fat and protein. As is the condensed soup has about 16 grams of carbs for the entire can so it can easily fit into some low carb diets.

as for car food, I have fewer ideas.

• You could make your own wraps with low carb tortillas, eggs, cheese, ham etc. They might be easy to eat in the car. Like a breakfast burrito. Again, depends on your dietary goals. I've
• I make smoothies sometimes: Fage 2% unsweetened Greek yogurt, spinach, blackberries, coconut milk, and half a peach. Has about 10g carbs depending on the size. Blend it in the blender and pour and go.
• I've also relied on the premier protein shakes in a pinch. Not bad. A little artificially sweet but mixed with coffee makes a great fast snack drink.

Sunny_Bunny_

Honestly, I would just eat when you get home. That's just what I would do. I think anyway... I haven't had a situation like this.
What I'm thinking is that you would essentially do an intermittent fast during your work hours. Eat your late dinner and then breakfast and you should be good to go until you get home again without being ravenous. I eat like this but just on a different schedule. I eat only 1 or 2 meals but my first one is about 3 and I'm done eating by 9 and that's assuming I have a snack after dinner. Then I just drink coffee, tea or water until about 3 again. On one meal days, which I only do if I'm just not hungry at 3... I eat dinner about 6:30 as usual, maybe have some cheese and meat or coffee or tea with cream as an after dinner snack and I'm set until the next day about 3. I find the more often I try to eat, even or especially if it's just a snack, I'm just hungry all day long. Once digestion gets going, the hunger train is hard to stop.
The first thing I thought when you talked about being ravenous and then not wanting to eat a meal that late and preferring to eat more snack style was "well no wonder you're so hungry". I would just eat the meal. This may even be micronutrient related if not enough fresh meats and whole meals are being consumed.

Truckerwife92207

Thanks ladies. I like the egg salad in avocado and soup ideas for dinner (salads take me too long to eat, I have to chew slowly or I eat the inside of my mouth ) and the burrito or drinks in the car sound good (especially the protein coffee).

As far as fasting, not an option. I am surrounded by food (our store serves hot fried foods, fresh muffins and breads) if I don't eat every chance I get, I will eat EVERYTHING. I struggle with binge eating and it has been proven (by me) that the longer I go without food the more I will eat when I can. Like my brain says "Eat as much as you can because who knows when we will get more." I try to eat something small every couple of hours.

Truckerwife92207

PS. I don't want to eat a "meal" just before I go to bed because that is how I gained all this weight. My body adapted to the concept of not being able to fall asleep unless I was FULL. It took me a long time to change that habit, I don't want to trigger it again. So now I try to eat just enough to "kill the burn" before bedtime.

cstehansen

One thing I do on my ride home from work almost every day is eat sunflower seeds. It helps with sodium. Also, since eating this way causes you to be full with less food, and these take a long time to eat (when eating the ones in the shell), I have found by the time I get home, I am not nearly as hungry. The 200-300 calories of seeds feels like double that. It also gives me something to do which helps if I am tired from a long day.

canadjineh

Those egg/bacon or ham 'muffin cups' could be a useful idea too....
Nuke or eat cold. 3 could get you enough protein for a meal and add a coffee or tea with hwc and that would be a decent calorie/fat count too.
ditchthecarbs.com/2015/06/02/ham-and-egg-cups/

MissMorts

I've taken precooked bacon and/or meat patties, have even made the Phillidelphia cream cheese & sundries tomato balls rolled in crushed pistachio nuts -yum! The mozzarella balls are always a good fast fill me up, and I always keep a jar of almond butter and a Tupperware container of some carefully selected nuts on hand (I have a preference for Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamia nuts and pecans!). Jump onto Pinterest, the web or Facebook and search "keto on the go" and there are tons of ideas, I particularly like the 2 patties with cheese and bacon wrapped in lettuce as a burger!

Lois_1989

cstehansen wrote: »

One thing I do on my ride home from work almost every day is eat sunflower seeds. It helps with sodium. Also, since eating this way causes you to be full with less food, and these take a long time to eat (when eating the ones in the shell), I have found by the time I get home, I am not nearly as hungry. The 200-300 calories of seeds feels like double that. It also gives me something to do which helps if I am tired from a long day.

Seeds are a good idea. I eat pumpkin seeds when I'm bored at work. Just measure out a portion first! I also like almonds and pecan nuts.

GaleHawkins

I eat nuts daily when driving but I am on the road min of one hour daily and some times much more.

motorcyclekopp

I've been using those EAS Myoplex Ketogenic powder packs this last week at work. I put a packet in a shaker (blender bottle) with unsweetened vanilla almond milk (and sometimes MCT oil too). It's super quick with just about no prep time -just dump it all in the bottle & shake it all up (don't think it gets any quicker & easier than that). You can use it as a meal replacement or as a snack. I've been using it as a replacement for my lunch.