I work Long shifts. Can anyone help?

I'd recommend you put together a few standard daily menus that you can rotate through so that you can always make sure you're purchasing those items on your trips to the store and you don't have to expend too much mental effort when planning your food for the day. If you do this, you can also make your logging more efficient by saving particular food combos as "meals" in My Fitness Pal so you don't have to log everything individually every time.

Since you need to be mobile, I would probably pack a cooler for the day - if you plan to use it a lot, it's probably worth investing in a good one that will keep your food fresh for a full 24 hours instead of a flimsy "lunch bag" type. Keeping your food in a cooler means you don't have to waste time putting stuff in a fridge or pulling it out if you're going to move locations. Stock this cooler with items you like that fit into your calorie goals - my faves are string cheese, yogurt, dinner leftovers, deli meat sandwiches, salads, cut fruits and veggies, hummus.

In addition to fresh foods kept in a cooler, I would keep some non-perishable items on hand all the time (either in your car or if you have some sort of cubby, desk or storage area at your various hospital locations). Protein bars, jerky, pre-portioned nuts or trail mix, low-sugar instant oatmeal, etc. I have found that keeping a protein bar in my bag at all time has really helped me out when I have been too busy to stop and eat and need a little boost.

Do some homework on the items that are generally offered at your cafeterias. I find many health care facilities make nutrition information available and attempt to help guide you toward healthy items by marking dishes that are lower in calories, fat, etc. Identify a few "go-to" items that you know are likely to fit in your goals so that you can easily and quickly choose a meal in the event that you need something convenient.

Meal prepping is something that might work well for you. Some people put aside a portion of a weekend day to make a few large batches of food that they then pre-package in containers for the week. That way you can just grab a container on your way out the door and know that you're set. There are tons of resources online for this.

Be strategic with your caffeine consumption. When you have crazy long work hours, it's easy to become over-reliant on caffeine but when it's timed well it can definitely help with controlling appetite as well as alertness. https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-when-you-should-be-drinking-your-coffee-according-to-science
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/how-athletes-strategically-use-caffeine/283758/


Best of luck to you!


*I am an organ donor!

Identify the root of your problem. Everyone has challenges, and the key to success is figuring out how to work around those challenges by making good decision as easy as possible and bad decisions as difficult as possible.

Some things that might help...
If you're tempted to get take-out, leave your money/credit cards at home.
If you're schedule is unpredictable, have a number of easy, quick foods on hand.
If you tend to fall back on foods you'd rather avoid, stop buying them.

Ultimately, it's a whole lot of trial and error... so if something isn't working for you, try something different.

pork rinds, individual packets of any kinds of seeds or nuts, jerky or meat sticks, etc.

Ooh, I can sympathize with you there, although I only work 13 -14 hr days.

ETA: UGGH! It's so frustrating when only one or two sentences of my post will actually show. I had a long post and now I don't even remember everything I said so. Anyways I hear ya! I am an RN and in work 13 to 14 hour nights.

I would bring assorted protein bars, string cheese, turkey bacon and a few of those little fruit/veg trays from the produce section. You could pre-pack a week's worth into gallon size ziplock bags. Then just grab one out of the fridge, put a freezer pack into your cooler and go.

I work long shifts too and know how hard it is between cafeteria food and the lovely snacks our nurses bring in (which I'm also very grateful for). Good on-the-go items are jerky, protein balls/bars and yoghurt in pouches. Foods in a thermos are great if you put in the work beforehand, like mentioned before.
On a side note, on night duty we tend to order pizza pretty often, and i can usually fit this in with portion control. Not the healthiest choice, but the social interaction is good for my mental well being.

Granted I know this is a few weeks old and OP doesn't look to have come back but....

As someone that's worked almost exclusively 24s for years, I have to say it's somewhat EASIER to keep track that way. Meal prepping and tracking is going to be what you're going to want to do. 1 shift= 1 day, so it's pretty easy for tracking purposes. Meal timing is largely irrelevant, so don't worry too much about that.

For one it's cheaper, but you're also not "stuck" having to eat whatever is around at 3am (take out, vending machine crap,etc). You can get a little "6 pack cooler" instead of a smaller lunch box, to be able to bring a full day's worth of food. I tend to do breakfast at home, before I leave.

Having a finite amount of food also helps you with eating when you're "actually hungry" as opposed to eating when you're bored/thirsty/just for the hell of it. Usually I finish up with all the food I've brought with me by about 7-8pm (I work 8a-8a, with bunk time being 10p-7a). Some days when we have an exceptionally busy night, I'll grab a little something in the 100-200 calorie ballpark. I only do this rarely, and if I'm both hungry AND have been active the better part of the night.