Sometimes you have trouble sticking to your nutrition plan… usually it’s not because of a lack of knowing but a lack of time to prepare, something unexpected came up. You don’t know what’s going to come up… but you know something eventually will. Enter the Emergency Meal! Stay on your nutrition plan with your emergency meals and include them into your prep day! So what’s in an emergency meal?
Purpose of an emergency meal:
You can grab it and get out the door form any room in your house in 30s or less.
Everyone who is serious about sticking to a solid nutrition plan should have at least two emergency meals available and accessible at any time.
Example of when you need an emergency meal:
You get a call from the school nurse, while at work “your son has the flu and he threw up in his english class… come get him”. You grab your emergency meal, pick up your son, take him to the doctor which is a 45 min wait, then you have to go to the pharmacy afterwards to wait for the prescription… all they while 3 horus have passed and you’re starving. Either you’ll eat fast food, starve or stay on your nutrition plan… (if you had an emergency meal planned!).
What should your emergency meal include?
Like normal meals it should include: protein, carbohydrate and fat.
It should have a shelf life:
- The meal should be able to last a couple hours outside of the fridge.
- Protein options: hardboiled eggs, jerky, chees sticks, protein powder.
- Carbohydrate options: having pieces of fruit generally around is helpful and is an easy grab and go option. Often time bars are a reasonable because of shelf life.
- Fat options: nuts, seeds, small packets of nut butters.
My Go to “Emergency Meals”
- Home: 2 hard boiled eggs, one piece of fruit whatever is available that day and 6 almonds or cashews.
- Work/car: 3oz Beefy Jerky and whichever food bar had the least ingredients at Costco last week.
- Other: a shaker bottle with one scoop of dry protein powder ready to mix with whichever carbohydrate drink I can find. (gatorade, flavored almond milk etc.)
Where will you keep these meals?
- 1-2 at home
- 1-2 in the car. If you travel for work you’ll probably need more in the car…
Emergency meals are not your perfect meal, but they are the best available solution to a hectic situation… iff you’ve prepared for them. The world is your oyster, you can come up with a million variations. I hope this article helps you keep your nutrition in line in hectic times!
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