healthy recipes for those always on the go?

  • I'm a full-time student who works 30 hours a week, so I'm usually in school, work, or on the way to either! Any suggestions for on-the-go healthy meals? I am sick of spending buttloads of money on outside (not-so-healthy) fare. Before the holidays I just did that and gained weight so any suggestions are welcome. Thanks
  • I usually have to pack my food for the day too! Is there a microwave anywhere that you can use? Having a good thermos and a lunchbox that can act as a cooler has been very helpful for me also.

    I eat a lot of canned tuna & salmon, salads with the dressing in a seperate container- I make mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon and microwave them, lots of fresh fruit and veggies, jerky, leftovers in my lunchbox with an ice pack, nuts, and protein shakes.

    Invest in a good lunchbox so that you can keep things cold- that's been a lifesaver for me!!
  • I can use the microwave at work but have yet to find one in school. Do you mind maybe PMing me some recipes or posting them on here? I am literally so bad with figuring out what to eat...

    I was looking at canned stuff, but I'm worried about the sodium content. Fresh veggies/fruits are easy I love mangoes and strawberries especially. What do you put in your salads? I find them kind of boring. And what are in your protein shakes?

    Thanks!!
  • My husband goes to school full time and works full time, so he eats a LOT of his meals out of the house! I pack things like...

    - Fresh veggies and fruits! Apples, pears, berries, carrots, sweet potato fries, etc.
    - Beef/Bison jerky
    - Yogurt (we make our own now, but before that we'd get the BIG tubs of it and pack it ourself in reusable tupperware - cheaper, and better for the environment!) either plain or with frozen berries, honey, or jam
    - BIG salads. A typical salad would be a greens mix (we like organic girl super greens or trader joe's power to the greens), sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, pumpkin/sunflower seeds, cauliflower or broccoli florets, green onions, boiled eggs, and chicken or salmon
    - lettuce wraps - usually not fancy, with roast beef or natural salami and cheese
    - cooked sausage or brats or summer sausage and sauerkraut
    - home made larabars - sometimes the bought ones, if I'm feeling really lazy - sometimes just dates and nuts in a snack bag if I'm feeling REALLY REALLY lazy.
    - plantain chips
    - chicken drumsticks
    - boiled eggs or egg 'muffins' (eggs baked in a muffin tin - very portable!)
    - stuffed bell peppers (ground beef, egg, onion - sometimes other veggies, if I need to use something up)
    - portobello mushroom cap 'pizzas' or with eggs baked in them
    - homemade grain-free meatballs (usually ground turkey or chicken, sometimes ground pork)
    - avocado (I pre-cut it, loosen the pit, but put the pit back in it and then rubber band it together so it doesn't turn brown - put the whole thing in a snack bag and eat with a spoon!)
    - guacamole - either homemade portioned into a small tupperware container or in those little snack packs
    - meat and vegetable skewers
    - coconut or almond flour berry muffins, completely sugar/sweetener free
  • Try steamer bags. I throw some frozen veggies, tilapia or chicken, and some spices in a bag and microwave 5-6 minutes. Healthier than frozen dinners and tasty as well. You can even pre-make these and freeze them yourself. They last for a week or two in the freezer.
  • I really eat almost the SAME thing every day... boring, but its easy and works for me...

    salad- baby spinach, almonds, strawberries and or chopped apples, feta cheese, and a raspberry vinegarette dressing (sometimes I add cold chopped up grilled chicken if I have some laying around)

    protein shakes I just make with whey protein and almond milk. Sometimes I add peppermint/mint extract - or Ill add a mandarin orange to the chocolate for a chocolate orange protein shake... I add 1/4 c of mashed pumpkin to the vanilla for a pumpkin flavored shake... PB2 goes in to a lot of my shakes also.

    I eat a LOT of fruits and veggies- and I almost forgot about hard bolied eggs. I do those quite often also!

    I'll sometimes do spaghetti squash with either marinara sauce or a tsp of olive oil and feta cheese that I can warm up in the microwave.

    If you google "homemade protein bars" a million options will pop up, sunday is my "baking" day and ill make a weeks worth of those every week also.

    Hope that helps!
  • I find that I have to make my comparisons properly in order to keep things in perspective.

    I sometimes find it really hard to make "healthy made at home food", and so end up eating out (and really not healthily at all). Likewise, I sometimes think prepared foods are "so expensive" but again, I'm comparing them to making things from scratch, rather than eating out. I know that prepared food has more of all sorts of additives and sodium than home-cooked stuff. I just have to be realistic about what I'm willing and able to do. Given that, I've acknowledged that purchasing prepared food is often a better choice than eating out--both financially and in terms of health.

    So, I eat a lot of frozen meals for lunch. I'm starting to bring fruit or a small salad to go with them, since 280-330 calories isn't enough for a meal.

    I buy some salad fixings already prepared, especially shredded carrots, and sometimes bagged lettuce.

    I do several days worth of chopping at one time. (A friend calls that 'butchering salad'.) It's a lot easier to put together things to take with me if I'm assembling and not cooking. I don't like to premake entire salads because the veggies don't all last the same amount of time. (Hint: put a piece of paper towel in the ziplock bag with your veggies--it absorbs moisture and the lettuce and such don't wilt as quickly.)

    If I am cooking at home, I prepare the next day's lunch while preparing or cleaning up dinner, which saves a lot of time. So, when I measure out the fruit for dinner, I put an additional helping in a container for lunch. When I make up the salad bowls for dinner, I make an additional lunch sized one at the same time (and add in meat and cheese).

    I don't really care for the texture of canned chicken, so I've started cooking extra chicken breasts and putting them in the freezer. I can pull one out at dinner time and it's ready to cut in the morning to put on my (already made) salad for lunch.

    They're all little things--but they add up.
  • Wow, thanks so much everyone definitely gonna give all these a go.