I'm going to try and keep this short and simple.

For those of you who work in a busy office environment how do you prepare your food? How do you make sure you get x meals in the day when your pulling your hair out?

On a side note I hate tuna.

OK. good question. I am in Finance so also work long hours so it is all in the planning. here are a few tips I have picked up:

1. Oatmeal is V easy to do at work, just need a microwave
2. I usually cook in bulk so I always have meat (chicken etc), a salad and grain pasta or brown rice in the fridge. Therefore in the morning I just put the food in seperate comportments and head off
3. Fruit is a great snack
4. Rice cakes (or millet cakes). Use Hommus etc as a spread as this helps give you enough sustainance
5. Have a big water jug on your desk

Overall I can do about 5 (2 of which are at home)meals a day, I just do not have the time for 6 and even some of my 5 are fruits etc.

Just make sure you get in the habit of giving yourself 5 mins or so every few hours to eat, prepare and wash-up. Everyine else takes coffee and smoking breaks so you are entitled to do the same.

I hope this helps, it takes a few weeks to get in the swing completely then after that it is OK. The next trick is working out what to eat when you have a business lunch. I find most places will do a salad etc and just grilled meat so it is not too bad

Good luck with it

3 of my meals come at work in a busy office environment as well. This is what I've been able to make work so far. I know it could use some changes:

* One is oatmeal with a small banana chopped into it. IAWTC above - oatmeal is awesome. Total prep & consumption time: 10 mins.
* Another, during the lunch hour, is a Smart Ones or Amy's Organic vegetarian frozen dinner or maybe a can of veggie chili. Total prep & consumption time: 15 mins.
* The third, about an hour before I leave and work out, is usually one of these (http://www.buyatkins.com/nutritional_info.asp?edpN=51601) (I know there's a stigma against bars here, but if you look at the info for that brand it's really not all that bad, sugar-wise and otherwise) and some fruit or veggies. Total prep & consumption time: 5 mins.

I snack on almonds all day at work, but try not to go over 30 total.

These are my favourite "busy time" meals

Combo 1: Protein shake, fish oil caps, fruit (most often an apple)
Combo 2: Cottage cheese, nuts, fruit

Easy to prepare, easy to bring and very quick to eat.

some of my options :)

cottage cheese + piece of fruit (usually grapefruit or apple)
almonds
beef jerky
protein shake and peanut butter
fromage frais + protein powder
tuna and cucumber and olive oil in a tupperware
and when I am endurance training peeanut butter with homemade bread :drool:

I'm going to try and keep this short and simple.

For those of you who work in a busy office environment how do you prepare your food? How do you make sure you get x meals in the day when your pulling your hair out?

On a side note I hate tuna.

It's all in the pre-planning. I have a cooler bag sat next to me right now. I cook my protein source (meat) up ~2-3 times a week. When I get home from work I prep the next days food, it only takes half an hour. I take food in tupperware type plastic tubs. That way during the day all I have to do is open the lid and start eating, I haven't got time to be preparing food whilst at the office. Besides this lot think my eating is weird enough already ;-)

My staples are things like:

chicken + rice + brocoli in homemade tomato+basil sauce
chicken salad + flax/almonds/olive oil
protein shake + flax
chicken + brocoli + cheese
oatmeal + protein powder (choc)
tuna + mayo salad (if you don't like tuna you can use tinned salmon)

Kind of a weird place to make my first post, but here it goes.

Being new to the whole healthy eating and eating 6 times a day, I will just forget to eat those snack meals. I setup my Microsoft Outlook to remind me of every meal through the day. I  know it doesn't help with WHAT to eat, but maybe it will help with the WHEN.

The big meals like lunch and supper I do pre-prepared and nuke them. Sometimes a Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones, salad is good too, put some protein on top (tuna, lowfat cottage cheese, egg, sliced turkey).

My snacks: Veggies and "dip" (lowfat cottage cheese, toasted onion flavor), nuts, fruit and cottage cheese (NOT onion flavor). Sometimes a South Beach diet bar, I can't quite make myself eat the Atkins ones.

I work at an office with no kitchen so I prepare all at home...fortunately it's only two meals and they're very simple.
Sliced 6Oz Chicken, Spinach + Red Onion on Granary.
6Oz Chicken Breast, 50g Walnuts.

I'm going to try and keep this short and simple.

For those of you who work in a busy office environment how do you prepare your food? How do you make sure you get x meals in the day when your pulling your hair out?

On a side note I hate tuna.

Invest in a soft cooler that's large enough to hold 3-4 meals.

Cook extra chicken, rice, etc... for the following day or days.

Set an extra 10 minutes aside each morning to prepare some easy meals. You'd be surprised how quick you can make two sandwiches, fill two containers with almonds, toss in a banana and apple and two things of yogurt. That's two+ meals right there and it takes maybe five minutes?

One of my favorite easy to make meals is taking a 2 cup tupperware and putting in a cup of oats, a scoop of vanilla whey, a handful of raisins, a little splenda and a little cinnamon. When you are ready to eat it, just take the oat mix out of the cooler, pour in a little water and microwave.

Microsoft Outlook is a super simple way to remind yourself to eat, I use it daily. I just set it for the same time Monday for the whole week, really easy.

Some of my favorites:
Celery with Peanut Butter (Natural)
Carrots
Banana
Salad (pile on the veggies)
Chicken Breasts (You can literally cook as many in advance as you want, I like them on the grill, gives them a nice taste, can eat them without any sauce or condiment)
Oatmeal is great in the morning (If you don't have a microwave, let the oats soak overnight, they're very soft in the morning)

Hope this helps. Sometimes you have to be creative since the work day can get a little hectic. :confused:

I'm very lucky to work at a place that has a fridge and a microwave. I cook up ground turkey breast patties and brown rice on the weekends, enough for a whole week. I wrap the turkey in foil and put the rice in a plastic jug and keep them in the fridge at work. I also have some wheat bread, natural peanut butter, apples, and sugar free grape jelly for an additional meal right before I leave work. This is what I have every day
breakfast - protein shake blended with oatmeal ice and water
lunch - turkey breast with brown rice and carrots
snack - peanut butter and jelly sandiwch on sugar free wheat bread and a small apple.

Keeps me going all day and costs a hell of a lot less than eating out for every meal.

Keeps me going all day and costs a hell of a lot less than eating out for every meal.

Ain't that the truth! :lol:

At my old place of employment, two of our managers would order take out almost every single day. One day our payroll manager figured out that each month she was spending almost $300 just for lunch at work. She also did the same for dinner and couldn't figure out why she was gaining weight despite "15 minutes every night on the treadmill!" Probably didn't help that she sat at a desk for 8 hours a day either.

For lunch I head to subway and order a footlong chicken breast, no cheese on wheat.

For the first 6 inches: (eat now)
a bit of honey mustard, veggies

For the second 6 inches: (eat in 3 hours) just honey mustard - but have them go light, some people there are mustard-happy.