Packing for a 4-day trip that might be a 1-day...

Well, tomorrow morning I sit what a new flight attendant fondly calls "airport appreciation," & by fondly, I really mean we detest "airport appreciation." Rather than your typical 12 hour on call shift that you can do comfortably from your home, you are assigned a 6 hour shift, where you must arrive at the airport dressed in uniform ready to go on anywhere from a 1-day turn flight, to a 4-day trip. To where you ask? Well, you just don't know. So packing clothes isn't easy and packing food for just the day will almost guarantee you get sent on a 4-day trip to any of our layover cities that have ZERO healthy food options. I am opting to prepare for that nightmare 4-day, and I'm fairly certain that since I will be so prepared, I won't get assigned anything & I will just sit at the airport, ALL day watching movies on my computer and sleeping. UGH. So boring. Also do to the fact I have to wake up at 5 to leave by 6 for my commute, I won't be able to get my workout in until after my shift, or until I arrive at whatever my destination may be.....siiigh, such a glamorous life.


 My shift tomorrow is from 9a-3p, not too bad. I'll pack my oatmeal to eat in the car, and I have left over Thai red curry, with tons of veggies and a little brown rice for lunch tomorrow. Some gluten free crackers to snack on (the crunchmaster multi grain ones. LOVE them!) along with some celery, and an apple. For dinner I have a italian style salad from TJs I split for dinner the night before with a chicken breast sliced on top in case I get stuck somewhere (even if I come home I'll prob have that for dinner anyway)

For the rest of the trip, that I migh,t maybe, but probably not get thrown on....I made the quinoa salad featured in toneitup.com's We Love Food Friday this past week (http://toneitup.com/blog/2011/03/we-love-food-friday-quinoa-spinach-salad/) for lunch/dinner for the next couple days. I almost always throw in a couple of the TJs instant miso soup packets, they're quick and easy to make in a hotel & during the cold weather really warm me & fill me up! I also threw it several snack size ziplocs of celery I pre-cut and sprinkled slightly with sea salt, a couple baggies of the TJs peanut butter pretzels where I count out the exact serving size per snack bag & throw in a small handful of almonds (5-6) & a few unsweetened banana chips (also about 5-6).  For the mornings I always make the same oatmeal mix: a half cup of bob's red mill rolled oats, 2 Tbsp of bob's red mill flax seed meal, one scoop of vanilla protein powder, I like MRM, sprinkle in a little cinnamon & like to add a few raisins, or a half of banana if I have one packed with me or if the hotel offers some kind of breakfast and I can get one there. As an additional snack I throw in a ziploc of fresh raw asparagus, I realize this is definitely an odd snack & most won't like it, but it gives me something to munch on if I'm bored on the plane & has amazing nutritional value.

I think that sums up this trip, I always carry with me several herbal teas. Below I will give you a link & spell out what exactly I packed a little more with info about the products I used.

Spinach Quinoa Salad
(I LOVE LOVE LOVE quinoa & decided to give this recipe a try because Katrina & Karena are AMAZING)
Go to their website @ http://toneitup.com for tons of great recipes and fitness tips. I get a lot of inspiration from these two!
Peanut Butter Pretzel Snack Mix
ONE serving of the Trader Joes PB filled pretzels, the key with these is to not put more than one serving in a baggie. (Also, if you can get away with using the unsalted ones, more power to you, if I get the unsalted ones it just doesn't do it for me & I end up wanting to eat something else.)
5-6 unsweetened banana chips (I usually buy mine bulk at a local health food store)
5-7 raw almonds
Celery
As we've all heard celery is negative calories! If you get good fresh crisp celery and pre-cut it into baggies so whenever you're craving something crunchy you can just grab a bag! I sprinkle a smallll amount of sea salt into each back just to give it that salty crunchy snack. It also gives it a little more flavor without adding the calories of dipping it into ranch, or some other deceivingly unhealthy dip.
Oatmeal
1/2 C Rolled Oats, I use Bob's Red Mill (http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-quick-rolled-oats.html)
2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal, I also use Bob's Red Mil (http://www.bobsredmill.com/flaxseed-meal.html)
1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=mrm+vanilla+whey+protein&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2811577051285201103&sa=X&ei=vrSFTa3aNYy2sAOv7rj0AQ&ved=0CGsQ8wIwBg#)
Sprinkle with Cinnamon to taste & add an unsweeted dried fruit, cranberries or raisins, or I cut a 1/2 banana into mine as often as I can.

Okay, I think that's about it, I also bring my kleen kanteen & a kombucha or two if I can find a safe place to pack them!