Help with constant work travel?

[HockeyBjj]

So this really sucks. I was expecting quite a bit of travel with this engineering internship, but not this much. I'm gonna be thrown on the 10 days gone, 4 days back in milwauke shift from next week until this ends in August. Really sucks cause I was really enjoying the mma gym here in Milwaukee.

Anyway, any advice to help me out? We only get a $35 stipend a day. One engineer mentioned they go out for lunch everyday while on site, but then often make a Walmart run to buy food for in the mini-fridge and microwave back at the hotel because going out for dinner every evening gets old and expensive.

Ideas to pick up there? Main goal would be high in protein as that helps me stay full and not overeat (still need to lose some weight from having problems last semester at school) and next would be clean foods. But if I have to get some pregrilled frozen chicken strips, warm em up in the microwave, and then buy a mixed salad and cheap thing of dressing that may be what I do most nights.

Right now I'm thinking of:
Plain Greek yogurt tub and berries- snack i love
salad/spinach tub
dressing
pre-cooked (or canned?) chicken
hard boiled eggs (expensive tho)
bananas
apples
Anything else?

Thinking of packing 1 set of dishes and silverware for this. Also a shaker bottle with a baggie of whey. Hotel should at least have dumbells, machines, and treadmills to hit lightly in the morning.

I'm not looking forward to this. I was just getting settled in here and enjoying my past two weeks. Go to work, go to Roufus for kickboxing and bjj from 5-8 everyday after, lift Tues and Thurs morning. Hit the bars one day on the weekend, golf one day, and get a lift in at some point. Was working so great as a balance, and now I'm just wasting the money on not just the gyms, but also rent too. I'll be in town for a grand total of 8 days in June, July, and August on a freaking internship. On two of those 10/4 shifts I'm going to the same place in Cali so I'm just being left out there in the hotel.

 

[TenderLoving]

Subbed. I'd love to see some good advice on this as well. I'm a engineer, and have to spend the whole of June doing testing in a small town. Even tho I get 100 bucks of diet money each day I really dont want to eat out every day. Dat hotel life gets old quick..

That aside, HockeyBjj, remember that the juice is worth the squeeze!

 

[HockeyBjj]

C'mon guys. Little help?

 

[dropshot001]

when i'm travelling i will bring oats and whey protein. it allows for quick meals on the go and doesn't require refrigeration or storing things to keep them fresh. you can also go with other nonperishable foods like tuna. carbs should be pretty easy to get when you are travelling or otherwise on the run as they are everywhere, it's always the protein that is the challenge for me.

 

[Nemesis48]

One thing you're missing are cooked rotisserie chickens from supermarkets. Good way to get protein while you're traveling. Avocados. Sour cream. Nuts/seeds. etc etc

 

[bdawk]

Why does the $35/day stipend matter? Not that you would not use that but what is your stipend at home? Nothing right? So if you had to go a few dollars over for quality food occasionally, it would still be cheaper than eating when not traveling since the first $35 is on the company.

For suggestions. How about cans or pouches of tuna along with some wheat bread or crackers?

I also used to get that imitation crab meat stuff pretty cheap - mix with a little low fat mayo for a sandwich.

Regular eggs can be beaten and cooked in microwave - pretty cheap - may stink up your room though.

 

[HockeyBjj]

One thing you're missing are cooked rotisserie chickens from supermarkets. Good way to get protein while you're traveling.

Ideas like this are why I made the thread. Thanks so much. Never even thought of it til I was scrolling through my phone on the way back to the hotel from the site today. I've never bought a rotis chicken before, but I grabbed one of those, bag of spinach, bottle of ranch, Greek yogurt, and some blueberries at the grocery store today. Figure Chicken salad would be a good light dinner on days I go to the gym instead of eating out with the guys and the greek yogurt and berries would be a good snack.

I packed a ziploc of whey, along with sugar free insta otameal packets and almonds. Breakfast here isn't great by any means, but a few decent choices besides the bakery items galore and cereal. Premade omlette thingys and a good fruit salad bowl have been my mornings.

Been saying fuckit and having a burger or burrito out to lunch with the others tho. Aw well

 

[Nemesis48]

Ideas like this are why I made the thread. Thanks so much. Never even thought of it til I was scrolling through my phone on the way back to the hotel from the site today. I've never bought a rotis chicken before, but I grabbed one of those, bag of spinach, bottle of ranch, Greek yogurt, and some blueberries at the grocery store today. Figure Chicken salad would be a good light dinner on days I go to the gym instead of eating out with the guys and the greek yogurt and berries would be a good snack.

I packed a ziploc of whey, along with sugar free insta otameal packets and almonds. Breakfast here isn't great by any means, but a few decent choices besides the bakery items galore and cereal. Premade omlette thingys and a good fruit salad bowl have been my mornings.

Been saying fuckit and having a burger or burrito out to lunch with the others tho. Aw well

Also dude it's roughly 100 grams of protein per lb of chicken. The cooked rotisserie chickens are honestly an amazing value considering if you buy a frozen chicken its only like a dollar less.

 

[HockeyBjj]

^Yep. best value for precooked chicken, and probably the "cleanest" if you really wanted to go that route. Thanks again for the re-suggestion. Don't think I've eaten anything from a grocery store deli since my dad would bring home chicken tenders and jo-jos when he worked late

Cheapest and normal chicken I buy is the 2 bucks a pound stuff from walmart. Sometimes grab $3/pound brand cause it has less solution and the breasts look so much nicer if I'm cooking something decent and not just dicing it up for a dish

This was $5 for a pound and a half. I don't mind paying an extra 30 cents to a buck for it to be cooked for me

 

[48mpg]

i used to travel a lot for work, ~ 7 months per year, 3-4 different hotels a week and it sucks but eating right is doable.

When I travelled, we drove from home so I packed a cooler of food for the week. I'd grill up a bunch of meats on sunday and brought along a bunch of bagged salad, fruit, nuts, etc. It def takes planning and time to do all of this though. I grilled because it was the easiest way for me to cook a bunch of meat at once. I suppose you could cook up a turkey or something in the oven.

TS, since you are gone for 10 days at a time, maybe bring a long some food so at least you are prepped for the first few days in case you cant get to the store right away. You can always bring snacks/nuts along.

Most groceries have rotisserie chickens. it gets old, but its cheap and healthy. they might have other hot cooked meats as well. canned fish: salmon, tuna, sardines

It is possible to eat right at restaurants too. Order fajitas and dont eat the tortillas, burger with no bun or fries, just gotta be creative and ignore your work mates when they look at you funny or make comments about you not eating the hamburger bun.

for working out, hotel gyms are hit and miss. look for an actual gym that is nearby perhaps. If you are in the same place all summer, sign up for month to month. If you are only there short term, most gyms offer a 7 day trial and just lie to them and say you just moved to the area and want to join.

And you can always run, pushups, burpees, etc

just depends on how much you want to do it.

 

[Genghiz]

An option is to pick up a few cans of tuna, or a couple giant costco cans. Then buy a couple extra large precooked pasta/quinoa/brown rice/noodle containers from the deli counter. Mix the two up in whatever protein/carb proportion you want. That should give you quite a few meals. Add almonds or nuts as an option, but they can be expensive if you're concerned about $$. It's not going to be as ideal or as clean as when you eat at home, but at least you'll be getting your required food intake at a decent price.