The No Refrigerator, No Freezer Diet

[sirdle]

Okay, I am trying to get my work schedule changed around so I will have more exercise time and be able to spend more time with my wife, but I really need help with my diet if I am going to make a full change to Veganism. Any help will be appreciated.

 

The new schedule would:

 

5:00 AM Get my butt out of bed! and eat a light breakfast.

5:45 AM Leave the house and drive to the harbor.

6:30 AM Catch the boat to an offshore oil platform.

7:30 AM Arrive at the platform and start work.

8:30 AM 2nd Breakfast.

11:30 AM 1st Lunch.

2:00 PM 2nd Lunch.

3:30 PM Catch the boat home.

5:00 PM Arrive at gym and start workout.

7:00 PM Finish workout and head for home.

7:30 PM 1st Dinner.

8:30 PM 2nd Dinner.

9:00 PM Beddy-bye.

 

Problems

I can't eat a large breakfast or I will get sick on the boat.

If I only work 8 hours offshore, I have to bring my own food and I am not allowed to use the microwave or refrigerator. (Don't ask me why, that's just the way it is.)

That leaves me 1 hour (1/2 hr for lunch and 2 breaks) to eat enough low-fat, healthy, vegan calories to get me most of the way through the day --- probably around 1500-1800 calories. Preferably something that won't spoil.

This means 5-1/2 hours between lunch and dinner. Wow!

 

Any suggestions??

[Jay]

When you're at work you can eat fruit, fruit juice, nuts, P&B sandwiches, various sandwiches.. (I like spelt bread with hummus.) Same stuff for that first meal and then whatever in the evening. I don't think you really need to eat twice in the evening....? With so little free time you don't want to spend it all just eating. It's not really that important to eat that many meals. (Eating many meals is overstressed relative to just eating healthy.)

[CollegeB]

jay has a good point with nuts. I like rice and beans for lunch, but have had bad experiences leaving them un refrigerated for a few hours. Anyone know how long you can leave tofu out? Perhaps have some with a kind of sauce to keep it from spoiling. And raw veggies like carrot and cucumber are things I have for lunch. Maybe an insulated lunch container could give you more variety... Works for school kids.

[bronco]

You could allways buy a cooler bag ( or whatever the english term is for those bags taht are well insulated and you put in some sort of frozen canister to keep it cold) to keep your lunch cold, then you should be able to bring whatever. As for non-warm food, Im a fan of pasta-sallad, rice-sallad, potatoe-sallad etc, eny sallad basically as long as it contains a decent source of carbohydrates .

[SeaSiren]

*Morning bananas or a Dive Bar with Ginger - they are made to help with sea sickness

 

Take for the day lots of fruit and nuts and possible some Raw dishes, they will keep through your day. Also whole wheat bagels or other vegan bread topped with Peanut Butter & agave

[Gorilla]

Yeah nuts and raisins are the solution. You can buy them in foil packets and just eat them straight from the packet. That gives you around 540 calories per 100g. I often get through two 150g packets in a day. That's a good 1620 calories.

[Kathryn]

Get a good cooler and a thermos. If you put frozen packs in the cooler, it will keep cold items for several hours. If you put hot soup in the thermos in the morning, it wil still be somewhat warm later in the day.

[sirdle]

Thanks everybody, those are all excellent suggestions. I always forget about nuts. I usually try to avoid them because of the high fat content, but if I am exercising enough, it shouldn't be a problem. And eating nuts is much better than not getting enough food and grabbing some junk on the way home...

 

Jay --- what is hummus made from (besides the garbonzo beans)? Will it spoil? I guess if I get a good cooler bag like Bronco suggests then I won't have to worry about it too much.

 

SeaSiren --- I want to eat at your house! "Morning Bananas"? "Dive Bar"? "Agave"? I don't even know what these things are. Am I thick? Where can I get them?

 

Kathryn --- Yea. Soup. I always forget about soup in a thremos. (Talk about a high-tech appliance. Put something cold in a thermos and it keeps it cold. Put something hot in a thermos and it keeps it hot. How does it know what you want it to do? )

 

Thanks again, everybody.

[Jay]

Store bought hummus usually has garbanzo beans, olive oil, tahini (crushed sesame seeds) and lemon juice as the main ingredients. I make a homemade version without tahini. I really don't think it should go bad within 8 or so hours... It's not like nonvegan stuff like mayonnaise, milk, egg salad, meat, etc.

[compassionategirl]

Ya, hummous should not go bad. Hummus is a GREAT idea. YOU can cut up some veggies and dip them into your hummus - talk about a healthy and nice tasting lunch that wont leave you feeling heavy and tired. I have had such a lunch often lately and I feel great.

 

Also, Rick, for some change (since you cant eat hummus every day and not get bored), how about making some homemade bean dip, or guacamole to dip some veggies in.

 

Avocado and tomato sandwiches are another option, as is some of the faux lunch meats just to give it some variety.

 

And like everybody said, nuts, seeds, lots of fruits, even large healthy salads with tons of beautifully coloured ingredients and the dressing obviously in a small separate container so the salad does not go soggy.

 

Or a bean salad - a variety of beans of your liking splashed with a dressing consisting of a lil olive oil with some lemon juice or apple cidar vinegar and salt and pepper to taste?

 

I just want to say that I admire and respect your determination to be vegan even in the face of great adversity and inconvenience. Kudos to you and all others with similar obstacles/adversities. For example, it probably isnt too easy to find vegan food in Los Alamos unless it is?

 

All of you vegans rock damn it!