Recommend snacks to get me through LONG days!

Cafe Society
1

Hello all,

First of all, my apologies to the mods if this is better-suited for IMHO.

I hate to complain, but I have a horrible schedule, and no reprieve for the next two months. I started a new job just about a month ago, so I’m still learning a lot and it can be stressful. I like it, and my only complaint is that I have to commute 45 minutes–on toll roads, across three counties–to get there. Then I have to take a very long class in the evenings (required to become fully certified in my job and lock in my employment), most weeknights for the next two months. Luckily, the class is located between my home and my workplace, but I leave for the class during rush hour, and it doesn’t end until 9 or 10. That leaves me with NO time during the week to run errands or accomplish much else. My days break down like:

Wake up at 6 AM.
Leave the house around 6:40.
Get to work around 7:30.
Work all day until 4:30, leave for class.
Arrive at class site around 5:20, and it starts at 6.
Finally get home around 10 or 10:30 PM.
Unwind, check e-mail and message boards, watch a little TV, try in vain to study, try to eat, and usually go to bed after midnight to do it all over again!

So during the day, I could really use some snacks for energy bursts. I find myself sluggish and tired at times, especially during the night class where I need to be taking notes from videotaped lectures. I’m not a coffee drinker and I’ve tried to cut back on soda, but I drink the Pepsis they provide for free during the class, just for a jolt of caffeine and sugar to keep me going. I pack a small lunch to eat at my desk and a turkey sandwich for dinner, usually scarfed down during the lecture, but it doesn’t ever seem to be enough. I have tried introducing an apple at some point during the day, but they can be messy.

Obviously, eating dinner when I get home so late is unhealthy, and I know I’m not getting enough sleep and not exercising. In March, when the class is over, I will get myself back to a good schedule–I know I’ll have put on weight by then, and I’ll need to work it off. I’m trying to let myself eat whatever I want for now (lots of salsa and chips and cheese and crackers for snacking at home, and pasta, which I love), but I could use healthy snacks and other energy-related food items that can help me through these days. Any advice?

2

Trail mix (a combination of dried fruit and nuts) is good and also could be somewhat healthier than junk foods.

3

Get thee some cheese. A couple of pieces of individually wrapped string cheese are good for the car. Easy to eat, no mess, just open them before getting on the road. Or, cut some other type of cheese in cubes and put it in a baggie.

Eating a small lunch then eating again only at the lecture is a sure bet to have you low on energy for the class. Eat something late in the day at work or in the car, it will at least get a chance to hit your blood stream during the class. I’d stay away from sugary snacks, they’ll spike your blood sugar then let you crash a half hour later.

4

Cheese is good. Seeds and nuts are very good, if you can handle them.

5

Oh, not only do I have this crummy schedule and I don’t exercise or eat the right things at the right times, but I don’t eat breakfast either!

I’ve never been a big fan of nuts, but maybe I can get some lightly-salted pistachios or something, or make my own trail mix for the week on Sundays (probably cheaper than buying the pre-made kind). Cheese is always a good thing, too. Keep the ideas coming!

6

Really hot pepparoni sticks. They will wake you up :slight_smile:

7

That needs to change, and pronto. A big breakfast can keep your hunger levels down for the rest of the day.

8

I enjoy Reduced fat Cheez-its.

9

If you do this, get some Altoids, too.

'Nother fan of the seeds & nuts idea. If you like pistachios, you can get them already shelled*, there’s sunflower seeds and punkin seeds too. Dried fruit is good (tread lightly here if you’re funny about community toilets.) Crackers, with or without cheese or peanut butter. If you’ve got time at home, cut up veggies or fruit in zippie bags (less mess on the premises if they’re already cut up.)

(*Personally, I think the whole point of pistachios is turning your fingers all red, but YMMV.)

10

My guess is that you aren’t eating enough. Two meals, one of them consisting of a sandwich and one you describe as “small.” If I might make a general suggestion, I’d say go to www.fitday.com and enter what your normal day’s intake looks like. You might be surprised.

As for suggestions:

I echo the nuts, cheese, and seeds recommendations.

Baby carrots are easy, tasty, and ready to eat.

Cherry or grape tomatoes.

Clementines might work, they are those tangerines with the loose skin that usually don’t make a mess.

Take dried beef, spread a layer of cream cheese on the slice, then roll it (you can add horseradish). This is easy to eat, filling, and not messy, even if it has to be left unrefrigerated for a couple of hours.

Beef jerky.

Nutrition bars or shakes.

This is weird, but it works. Take some ground flax seed and mix it in with any condiment on your sandwich. Mustard works best. You’ll be adding some healthy calories to the sandwich, good oils, and a filling amount of fiber.
But please, do take a look at fitday. You really don’t want to get too few calories, as it will make you really tired and cranky, as well as not contributing to good health.

11

Hard boiled eggs are great, too.

12

Wow, this sounds like me when I started grad school before I got a part time job. Trail mix has already been said, but you can also try having a big salad (like those Wendy’s salads) at lunch. Those Campbell’s Soup-to-Go thingies are pretty convenient and surprisingly tasty, and there’s always those nutrient bars (e.g. Slim Fast) - you know, the kind that have 220 calories and lots of vitmamins and minerals and generally don’t taste all that great. There are a few that are actually good, like the cranberry-apple bars. If Slim Fast isn’t up your alley, you could just try regular granola bars.

13

Seconding the trail mix idea. (Make sure you get plenty of water when you eat it though.) Hard boiled eggs are also good. Can you stomach bananas? How about peanut butter? Maybe a peanut butter and honey sandwich from time to time? Fig newtons, or a generic version of them, are good for energy. Home-made Rice Crispy bars with peanut butter, raisens, and M&Ms are tastey, and pack quite an energy whallop. String cheese to eat in-between lunch and dinner? Nature Valley Granola bars?

Can you bring food that requires refrigeration, and are you able to reheat things? If so, make something fairly quick and easy the night before, and bring it with you to eat. Something like Lipton Noodles, with some grated cheese thrown in, (when you are packing it, so the cheese melts when you heat it) is filing, maybe a serving with a sandwich for lunch? Most of the varieties I’ve tried aren’t bad leftover/reheated. There are also some Uncle Ben’s type rice dishes that aren’t bad leftover, as well as boxed Au Gratin potatoes. They come in generic varieties that don’t cost much at all. Buy a pizza the night before, with the specific purpose of having it cold the next day for variety? Heck, even something unconventional like those instant oatmeals would work as a quick warm snack. Go heavier on your lunch, and maybe you can adjust enough to handle lighter meals?

14

Personally, I would die of starvation if I didn’t have lots of saltine crackers to eat during the day.

15

bouv my SO loves Saltines as well.

Me too – I find that I snack less but feel more energized, full, and happy if I eat snacks like that, plus the carrot suggestion was good – I dip them in a fat-free dip or mustard.

16

Homemade granola bars may be a bit more convenient than a bag of trail mix. Most of the recipes here look pretty good. Tasty, healthy (albeit pretty high in calories) and cost efficient. Make a big batch, cut it into bars and wrap them individually. One of those, a chunk of cheese and a piece of fruit- you’ve got yourself a healthy snack. Oh christ. I think I’m channeling my grade school nurse.

17

Can you taste it? I mean at all? (In other words, can somebody who dosen’t usually eat that sort of thing taste it?) I really could use a quick trick like that, but not if it’s, you know, adulterated in taste. I’ve been considering using mustard as a sauce, like for baby carrots - would I know the difference in taste and mouth-feel?

18

Do you ever use mustards that have a grainy feel to them already? If you do, you wouldn’t notice a difference in one of those. I don’t think I’ve ever tried it in straight mustard, just as a dip.

It can be milled very fine. The taste is a little nutty. I do not have a well-developed sense of taste, though, as my sinuses are virtually always causing me fits. So, don’t trust me on the taste issue.

But, and this is an enormous but! Ground flax can go rancid quickly. I think it only has about a 30 day life in the fridge. Outside of the fridge, more like three days. You can definitely taste the rancid stuff!

19

Thanks for the heads-up - I’d hate to get a bite of nasty rancid flax-gunk and go “Man, that’s revolting! jsgoddess must have it in for me!” :wink: