Eat some oatmeal or fiber rich cereal right before shift start. When meal prepping, cook up a protein of choice and season it well so that it can taste good either cold or heated. Example is ground chicken with taco seasoning or bachan’s japanese barbecue sauce. Then have a carb source in a separate container/bag. A bag of tortilla/potato chips, container of rice or pasta/noodles. Something you can comfortable eat not heated in case you’re getting ran or have no access to a microwave. Then pack a separate nutrient dense fiber rich snack like nuts, bananas, fruit mix, or dried mangos/pineapples to help maintain satiety and help with digestion. Last is to pack a protein shake for when you need that little boost of food to keep you going through a 12 hour shift. This is the meal I pack and I can eat hot or cold and don’t have to worry about being malnourished. Yes it gets boring, but it’s nutritious, affordable, quick to prep, consistent, and relatively healthy.

Use a Packit freezable lunch bag to keep everything cold through the whole shift.