WIAW: Inside My Cooler

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Okay, this isn’t what I’ve got on the menu today Winking smile  I took this picture and have been dying to share.  I got these for a friend’s birthday (my mom took some too).  My favorite this time was the PBJ cupcake.  It was creepy since it tasted so much like a regular PBJ sandwich.  Weird.

So anyway!  Wednesday is my long day at school.  I leave the house at about 6:30 in the morning and don’t get home until at the earliest after 10PM.  Sometimes it is as late as after midnight.

This presents quite the challenge since I have to decide to either pack all my food and bring it with me or depend on buying food all day.  If I pack my food, it is hard to keep it cold since I am on the move all day and don’t always return to the same spot.  There is a tiny fridge but who knows if I’ll be back to retrieve anything I put in there.  This means lots of ice packs, making my lunch cooler even heavier.  In the end though, it is best to pack my food over buying because it saves money and is generally healthier.  Here is what I came up with for tomorrow.

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I tracked everything I had originally planned and came up with only 1000 calories.  Obviously that would not be enough, even with my normal Wednesday post-class Starbucks stop.  I added a bit more and here is how it came out:

  • Salad with dressing (108 calories)
  • Brookstone 2% Cottage Cheese (90 calories)
  • Strawberries (46 calories)
  • 2 Celery Stalks (17 calories)
  • 2 tablespoons Smooth Operator Peanut Butter (180 calories)
  • 2 extra large Eggs (170 calories)
  • 1/2 Blueberry Bagel (150 calories)
  • 2 tablespoons Cream Cheese (70 calories)
  • Wawa Chicken Salad Snack Box – leftovers (180 calories) (includes chicken salad, carrots, apples, grapes)
  • Thanksgiving Leftovers (418 calories)
  • Coffee (I’ll add cream and sugar for about 50 calories)
  • Club Soda (0 calories)

Snacks for Emergencies:

  • Fig Bar – Apple Cinnamon (110 calories)
  • Pear (81 calories)
  • Pistachios (35 calories per 10 nuts)
  • Krave Black Cherry Barbecue Pork Jerky (90 calories per serving)

1478 calories from planned food + 316 calories from possible snacks = 1794 calories total (assuming only 1 serving each of pistachios and jerky)

That isn’t exactly the Body Beast recommended intake of 2100 calories per day.  While I won’t be doing any exercise today, I will be running around campus which requires energy too.  I can stop for a small meal at a number of places around campus, I just have to make sure to choose wisely.  Too often though, healthy means expensive, the battle I face constantly as a student.

So that’s the plan!  If only every day could be so easy.

Do you plan your meals ahead of time?  On busy days, do you pack your food or eat out?

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