Anyone with a long commute to work?

Linda916

My husband takes two trains to and from work. He leaves the house at 3:00 pm and returns the following morning at 11:30 am and does it all over again. Fortunately for him, I make his meals! Planning is the key. I pack his salads in quart sized mason jars and layer them: dressing on the bottom, followed by firm veggies like carrots, radishes, celery, broc, then softer veggies like mushrooms and tomatoes, and top it with the greens. Salad in a jar will keep for up to a week. I over-cook for dinners in order to pack him the left overs. I also pack fruit and yogurt for snacks.

My commute is only an hour. I bring my food to work on Mondays: salad fixings, healthy snacks, sandwich stuff, cereal & milk. And I also bring left overs from dinner.

planning, planning, planning.... you just have to decide to do it.... good luck!

lk27

I have a long commute too. I leave my house at 7:25 am and don't get home until almost 7:00 pm. I make my meals on Sunday so that everything is grab and go. I make egg muffins for breakfast so that I just pop them in the microwave for 1 minute then run out the door. I bring my lunches (usually salad or soup that I made on Sunday) and I'l make a big batch of soup, grill a whole package of chicken breasts, make a big batch of quinoa, veggies, salad, etc for dinner so that all I have to do is walk in the door and heat something healthy and homemade up. I rarely opt for something easy and on the way like pizza. I hate wasting food, so if I make it I like to eat it.

tlamarch

I drive an hour each way to work, so if I dont cook for the whole week on sunday I'll be bad and grab food on the way home

mjsunshine16

Crock-pot meals and cooking extra to have leftovers are the best bet.

elainecroft

With commute I am gone 12-14 hours per day, but I love to cook so found a variety of strategies works best:

1. At the grocery store, I buy with "meals" in mind - fresh stuff for about a week, then frozen stir fry, etc. to keep me going if I can't make it back to the store.

2. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have plenty of frozen veggies, so even if I heat up frozen pizza or make pasta I can throw in a few servings of veggies.

3. I try to cook for at least two meals at once. So instead of making two pieces of chicken, I'll make a whole package and then eat it over several dinners. Or I'll make a whole cabbage into cole slaw. Note that sometimes this does get me in trouble though, as I sometimes struggle with portion sizes. I found that acknowledging portions "I am making 4 servings of chicken" helps because if I say it then I have mentally put the extra aside for another meal.

4. This all works better if you have a plan - even if it is done on the train/'car on the way home, plan out what you are going to make, and if you are me, what you are going to eat as a snack when you get home because you will not be able to keep away from the junk food if you don't eat something asap.

5. Share the load - whether with a significant other or getting together with friends, I try to have at least one "home cooked" meal a week that I don't make (and of course reciprocate by cooking for them!). Tonight, my sister and some friends are coming over so I'm already brainstorming what I can put together with the stuff in my fridge.

semeyer

I have a 40-60 minute commute one way. To keep me sane, and have a little fun, I usually make a weekly dinner menu ahead of time (I am a nerd and I having been making them movie themed lately, so one night we have date night and watch the movie with dinner...). I try to do my week's shopping sometime over the weekend to save time from having to go to the store after work every night as well. To cut back on time I spend on thinking about dinner, I also add up all the calories ahead of time and put them on the menu.This way I know how to allocate the calories the rest of my day and also if I'm having chicken the next night, take it out of the freezer and into the fridge to thaw the night before, etc.

I'm including a pic of my weekly menu below. Its not always the food greatest choices, but I am trying to get better! :drinker:

LBxLB

Thanks guys these are great ideas/suggestion even some tough love. I appreciate it all!

missySwanker

I spent a year commuting a minimum of five hours a day. Left house at 7am and got home at 9pm. Was really hard as I was hungry getting on train to come home at 7pm so would eat some nuts to get me through till I could eat proper dinner at home around 9.30pm. Then up at 6.15am to do it all again. Also because I was so tired all the time I craved more sugar. It's a different world now I'm working closer to home.

I find unsalted pistachios in their shells a great snack food. Only 4kcal each and having to open each one guards against eating too many without thinking about it.