The key to any successful enterprise is preparation. I prepare my food in advance. I prepare my post it notes. I also prepare my eating schedule against my travel schedule.
1. Food Preparation: Freeze Everything.
Ok, so I prepare all of my foods the day before I leave. Yes this is a very busy day. I then freeze everything except my morning meal which I make sure I eat at home. Freezing everything is very very important. I pack each food item in a sandwich bag (not storage containers they take up too much room). So, after you eat the item you can throw away the storage bag. I pack everything a six pack cooler and this keeps it perfectly cold. No need to add ice to the cooler since everything is frozen. Note: your first meal might be kind of frozen, frankly it doesn't bother me, but when the flight attendant walks down the isle I ask for a hot cup of water, place the food still in the baggie in the cup and off I go. I also travel with an extra shaker so I can place my food in that and eat it and the six pack has a place it slips in perfectly. Check out the picture below and you will see exactly what my freezer looks like post freeze. The morning I travel it is loaded in my cooler. It takes me about 10 minutes.
* Storage: All of the foods I prep are placed in zip log bags. Never mix foods because they have different expiration. My zip lock bags are the key to easy travel because as I eat something I throw the bag away. I never carry dirty stinky storage containers home. Lastly, I never pack extra food. This will encourage me to eat the extra food.
*Refrigeration on the Road: Not everything needs refrigeration. Request a fridge from the hotel but they are not always available. If there is no fridge available request extra Ice Buckets. I only ice my meats and tilapia. Take an ice bucket, place ice in the bottom of the bucket, place the meat and tilapia on the ice, cover with ice to the top of the bucket and then I place the veggies on top.
2. Prepare my Post It Notes.
I prepare post it notes for all of my meals. It is just how I stay organized. I will be posting this in competition secret weapons later this week. When I travel I prepare my post it notes with each of my meals per day per post it note. When I compete I have a competition binder that I use with everything I need in it so I place the post it notes in the front of the binder.When I open the binder the post its are stuck to the inside of the cover of the binder. This is a gentle reminder to stay on track. I used to actually label the travel containers but that was really confusing for me.
3. Prepare my Eating Schedule.
I normally eat 6 meals per day for peak week but if it is an air travel day I make it a 7 meal plan. It is the exact same amount of food just less per meal. If I plan on eating 7 meals, every 2 hours, and I miss a meal because of travel chaos I can easily combine 2 meals. Also, I will always plan a meal while I am sitting on an airplane. There is nothing worse then having some guy with potato chips crunching next to you and you still have 2 more hours before your next meal. This is how I prepare my eating schedule. I look at my flight itinerary and make sure a meal is planned during that time, then I start backing out my meals 2 hours from that flight. I include my eating schedule on my Post Its for that day.
So this is my 3 step approach to traveling while prep'ing for a fitness competition. I hope it helps.
Most importantly...Never Ever Ever check your meals. Always carry them on. If they lose your luggage you will starve.
Hugs,
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Do you eat the same meals everyday during your prep or do you mix things up to help from the boredom of the same lunch same snack same dinner weeks on end ,this is what I find hard and it makes it hard sticking to your diet
ReplyDeleteHi Trish, this is blog is just about food prep while traveling....This is not my daily diet that posted on my athletes page. Every day at the end of my day what I eat.
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