I'll take that to go, please!

A common pitfall for dieters (make that eaters!) is the bad choices we tend to make when hunger strikes and we're unprepared to deal with it in a healthy way.  If I haven't eaten in hours and the only thing available is a Snickers bar and a cherry Coke, guess what I'm going to do? Yes, exactly...

The solution is to plan ahead, so that when we find ourselves famished, and still hours from home and our own well-stocked pantries and fridges, we're not at the mercy of whatever junk (albeit sweet, moan-inducing, delicious junk) we can get our hands - and our mouths - on, fast. 

These strategies work for me; they might work for you, too...


When you leave home, for any reason, for any length of time, ALWAYS take with you:

• A bottle of water. We have a variety of reusable water bottles, mostly from thrift stores. I picked up a nice 3-cup brushed aluminum one at Dollar Tree recently, too.  But I digress...

• Food, ready to eat. Fruit, granola bars, trail mix. Baby carrots. String cheese & crackers -goldfish, wheat thins, triscuits. Cherry tomatoes. Pretzels. WW english muffin w/ peanut butter. Celery stalks, plain, or w/ peanut butter or fat free cream cheese. Raisins. Boiled eggs. Smoothie, in a thermos. Soup in a thermos. Mmmm-mmmm-good!

• Nice to have: a small "flask" (thermos) of tea, ready to drink - for me, this means milk and "sugar/not" added.

You can just grab and go, but a little extra effort in the beginning will remove obstacles to making it happen  later on. Supplies you'll need:

• Reusable plastic containers with lids, and ziploc-type bags, in a variety of sizes. 
• Any combination of the following: paper napkins, wet wipes (generic baby wipes are great), cloth napkin. Roll of paper towels. A kitchen towel - supremely handy for protecting your clothes if you're eating while driving. 
• Insulated lunch bag. These come in all sizes from itsy to jumbo. You can find a variety every day at your local thrift stores. Yes, they may have "John Redcorn's Body Shop," or "Courtesy of Strickland Propane," or "Support the Arlen Longhorns Boosters," emblazoned across the front, but who cares? While you're at it, why not get a Strawberry Shortcake, Hello Kitty, or Incredible Hulk bag, too? Your inner child will thank you. Some really crappy morning, you'll glance over into the passenger seat or open a desk drawer and see Kermit the Frog grinning up at you from your $2.99 thrifted lunch bag, and it will make you smile inside and out. Fuck you, world - I have a happy lunch bag. So there.

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• Bag(s) - canvas, plastic, woven, whatever. Freebies, "gift with membership," thrifted, re-purposed. Again, I like a wide range of choices - an eat-on-the-go wardrobe, if you will - but even if you don't want another excuse to shop, you'll probably find a use for several of these bags/totes, in assorted sizes. Keep them handy in the kitchen, so you can toss in your water bottle, an apple, granola bar, and a leftover pancake with peanut butter as you walk out the door. If you're going to need to keep yourself fed for longer than a few hours, you'll need a bigger bag. If you're feeding more than yourself, it will need to be bigger still. 
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• Small zipper pouches. For your napkin(s), plastic cutlery, salt/pepper packs, individual water flavoring packets. Use one to keep your fruit separate from the rest of the food in your bigger bag. Pack your car/desk stash (below) in one. You can either go with ziploc-type bags, or re-purposed cosmetics bags, pencil pouches, etc. Cosmetics bags often have the added benefit of being waterproof; Clinique and Estee Lauder make really nice ones, and it seems no one ever keeps them, because they're in every thrift store I go into.

To keep in the car (because face it, you will forget/be too rushed to pack "away food" sometimes, so just go ahead and plan for it now, and it won't be a crisis later.):

• Granola bars
• Individual packets of crackers, goldfish, pretzels
• Tuna, salmon, chicken in a pouch
• Dried fruit, raisins, trail mix
• Individual water flavoring packets
• Packets of your sugar/not of choice (mine is Sun Crystals: 1/2 sugar, 1/2 stevia, 5 calories per packet and actually tastes good!)
• Plastic cutlery, paper napkins and/or wet wipes
• A small bag for trash
• To the above, add the following for a desk drawer stash:
• Tea bags, sugar/not, creamer
• Hot chocolate packet(s)
• Small tins of fruit cocktail, canned fruit (pull tab top, no can opener needed)
• Salt/pepper, premixed to taste in a re-purposed "sprinkles" shaker

Remember, this isn't meant to be a "what to eat for lunch" plan, although it could be, and isn't all that different from what I usually eat away from home. Really, though, this is about being prepared for the howling hungries, and having the tools on hand to deal with them when they occur. 

Do you have tips and tricks I haven't though of? Share, please!

xox.

Suzi the Younger