In earlier blog posts, I have written extensively on good nutrition for shift workers.  The reality is, healthy eating for shift workers is difficult.  Sleep cycle misalignment disrupts appetite regulating hormones. Metabolism slows down at night, and fatigue can drive you towards eating high calorie comforting foods.  Furthermore, there’s always someone who brings in donuts and other goodies to bond over during a long shift.    

I Have A Solution

We can’t control our work hours and our disrupted sleep cycles, but we can mitigate the damage done by meal prepping.  Meal prepping makes good nutrition convenient and cheap.  There are many benefits of meal prepping for shift workers.  Meal prepping is a great way to make yourself eat healthy, it helps you portion out your meals so you don’t overeat, it saves money and time, and it’s so convenient.  

Why Meal Prepping is Essential for Shift Workers

People who work night shift and rotating shift have unique nutritional challenges that people who work conventional schedules don’t.  Our bodies are hard wired to be asleep  at night.  At night, our metabolism is slower because we are supposed to be asleep.  Being awake at night working throws our hunger regulating hormones into disarray.  

What Do You Have if You Don’t Have Your Health?

As if our sleep cycles and our hunger regulating hormones being in disarray isn’t enough, healthy food options are very limited during evening and overnight shifts. This puts the shift worker at a very high risk of poor eating habits at work and at home and it sets the shift worker up for a lifetime of health issues.  Because healthy meal options are so limited outside of conventional working hours, it’s common for night shift and rotating shift workers rely more on vending machines, fast food and takeout. 

We Are Our Own Best Advocate

Food from vending machines and fast food is heavily processed, loaded with preservatives and very high in calories.  Takeout is an option, I absolutely love Chipotle, but takeout is also high in calories and it can get very expensive.  Meal prepping has none of that.  When you meal prep, you are in complete control of what you eat, and how much you eat.  If the thought of having to plan out everything you eat fills you with existential dread, let me tell you that it’s really very easy and is so much better for you.    

10 Benefits of Meal Prepping for Shift Workers

1. Saves Valuable Time During Busy Workweeks

For some people, planning out and prepping their meals for the week sounds really pedantic, but meal prepping saves time. Meal prepping is usually done on an off day, and it takes an hour or more.  Once you make your meals, you batch it all into containers that can be packed up and taken into work, then you clean up and you’re done.  Once those meals are prepped, you are not cooking or cleaning up the kitchen for the week.  How easy is that?

PSSST….It’s Not Just for Shift Workers

Meal prepping is such an effective way to eat healthy and leverage your time that stay at home parents and people that work a conventional schedule meal prep.  Nothing is easier that grabbing your food for the day, putting it in your lunchbox and going to work.  

Stay at home parents love meal prepping because it reduces the amount of time spent cooking and cleaning up and it frees up time for other activities.  Stay at home parents already do so many tasks, having meals already prepared frees up a lot of time.

2. Helps You Eat Healthier Every Shift

Healthy meal prep not only saves time, it forces you to eat healthy.  Healthy habits help build healthy bodies.  An important factor in healthy weight management is portion control.  When you prep your meals, your portions are already preset so you can’t eat excessively.  Prepped meals are balanced meals when you add a protein item, a vegetable, and a carbohydrate.  Because you prepped your meals ahead of time, you’re not eating as much processed food and you’re getting better nutrition.   

3. Reduces Fast Food and Takeout

When you prep your meals for the workweek, you are not relying on convenience foods such as fast food and takeout.  Fast food offers very poor nutrition, it has gotten expensive, and it’s very high in calories.  Takeout meals can be healthy, but they can be calorie dense and expensive.  Meal prepping offer a cheap and healthy alternative and it puts you in complete control.

4. Saves Money on Food

If you are on a budget, or you just don’t like spending a lot of money on food, meal prepping is a must!  Buying your food to be batch prepped in bulk is nearly always cheaper.  It requires some organizational skills, but you will save money.  Even better, leftovers find a new purpose in meal prepping!  I have taken many nutritious meals to work that were leftovers from a few days ago.  Repurposing leftovers into meals to be taken to work is a great way to lower grocery waste and save money.   

5. Increases Energy During Long Shifts

Meal prepping is a great way to improve energy on long shifts.  Meal prepping forces you to make better food choices and better food choices lead to stable blood sugar levels.  Earlier I mentioned portion control.  Eating a big, all you can eat sized meal is going to make you tired.  A well portioned meal rich in protein with a healthy carbohydrate and fiber from a fruit or a vegetable can keep blood sugar steady and help you power through a long shift.  

6. Reduces Decision Fatigue

Having your work meals already prepped is one less thing you need to worry about before going to work.  Instead of having to mess around the kitchen and throw something together, you literally grab it and go.  

7. Supports Weight Management

Meal prepping supports healthy weight management.  Anytime you batch prep your work meals, you are already portioning everything out.  A key element in maintaining a healthy weight is portion control.  A lot of fitness minded people monitor calorie intake and macronutrients.  When you meal prep, you can tailor your meals to meet your fitness goals.  Even better, meal prepping reduces impulse eating because what you take to work with you is what you have. You’re not eating just to eat.

8. Makes Overnight Shifts Easier

I can’t overemphasize the importance of meal prepping for night shift workers.  Night shift workers are especially vulnerable to poor eating habits because of the lack of healthy options during evening and night time.  Meal prepping puts the night shift worker back in control of their health and nutrition by making these healthy options available.  

In addition to meal prepping, packing healthy snacks to enjoy between healthy meals can help keep the blood sugar steady and keep the night shift worker alert through a long shift.  

9. Reduces Food Waste

Meal prepping is great way to reduce food waste by using leftovers that might otherwise go to waste.  Instead of shoving the leftovers to the back of the fridge to become a science experiment, portion it out and pack it up to be eaten in the coming week.  Portioning and re-using leftovers is the easiest form of meal prepping and is saves so much money in the form of food not being thrown away and a takeout meal not having to be purchased. 

10. Improves Work/Life Balance

Everybody is chasing a healthy work/life balance.  My whole blog is all about having a healthy work/life balance.  Meal prepping reduces the drudgery of having to cook and cleanup the kitchen every day.  Not having to cook and clean up the kitchen every day frees up time to enjoy life.  This could free up time to workout, more time with family, or just more “me time”.  We work hard at our jobs, lets not make it harder by making a second shift of cooking and cleaning every day.

Best Foods to Meal Prep for Shift Workers

Protein

• Chicken
• Rotisserie chicken 
• Turkey
• Lean ground beef
• Bison
• Wild game such as venison or elk
• Tofu or tempeh 
• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Fish
• Shrimp
• Beans

Healthy Carbohydrates

• Rice
• Sweet potatoes
• Potatoes
• Oatmeal (thick cut rolled oats or steel cut oats)
• Quinoa
• Beans

Healthy Fats

• Nuts
• Olives
• Avocado (those small, one serving cups of guacamole are the best!)
• Olive oil for salads
• Avocado oil or coconut oil for cooking
• Pasture butter
• Cheese (real cheese, not processed cheese)

Fruits and Vegetables

• Apples
• Banannas
• Berries (frozen berries are perfect)
• Citrus fruits
• Pineapple
• Melon
• Carrots
• Celery
• Bell peppers
• Lettuce or salad greens
• Spinach 
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower

Help yourself to this ready made grocery list: Easy Shopping List

Meal Prep Tips for Beginners

Here are my best meal prep tips to take charge of your health, nutrition and time. 

• Use quality containers.  Good containers can be purchased online and at most grocery stores.  Don’t prep your meals in containers that leak or don’t reheat well.    
• Batch cook proteins and carbs.  Protein items such as taco meat and chicken and carbohydrate items such as rice, potatoes can be easily cooked in bulk and divided into portions to pack away for work. 
• Prep snacks.  Don’t forget healthy snacks to enjoy in between meals.
• Schedule a weekly prep day.
• Prep two different protein items and two different carbohydrate items  for weekly variety.

Common Meal Prep Mistakes to Avoid

• Don’t make too much of one item.  You don’t want to lose food due to spoilage and you want variety.
• Recipes that need to be eaten right after they are made.  Sandwiches and salads can be prepped the night before, but don’t make a week’s worth of salads and sandwiches or they will be limp and soggy at the end of the week.  
• Recipes that don’t freeze well when you make too much.
• Recipes that don’t reheat well.
• Forgetting snacks.  
• Not rotating meals.  You want to enjoy your meals, not get bored with the same thing.
• Poor food storage.  Only use containers that close up tightly and don’t leak.

Conclusion

Meal prepping is a win win for saving time and money.  When you meal prep, you take charge of your health and wellness by eating healthier, reducing stress and increasing your energy.  

If you have never meal prepped, start out with something easy.  Try prepping two meals this week and work up to every work day. Start out with something simple.  Some of my favorite easy prep meals are sandwiches and salads. In less than 10 minutes, I can prep a sandwich, sweet potato chips and a pickle.  In five minutes, I can prep a green salad with veggies and leftover steak or rotisserie chicken.  

Shift workers face a battery of unique nutrition challenges that are driven by circadian rhythm disruption, irregular eating patterns and limited food access. As shift workers, we can’t control our unconventional working hours and sleep schedule, but we can control what we eat.  I can’t overemphasize the importance of healthy snacks for shift workers.  Healthy snacks are important because they stabilize blood sugar, sustain cognitive focus, and protect long term metabolic health.  In this article, I am going to cover why healthy snacks are important for shift workers and I’m going to give you a bunch of examples of healthy snacks.  

Why Healthy Snacking is Important for Shift Workers

As shift workers, we can’t control the circadian dips, the sleep debt, or the sedentary nature of some of our jobs, but we can control the blood sugar spikes and crashes that that fatigue us. This is why healthy eating for shift workers and healthy snacks for long shifts are so important.  In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that shift workers often self soothe with sugary, high fat, high sodium comfort foods because their work schedule has thrown their hunger hormones into disarray.  A consequence of these poor snack choices are blood sugar spikes and crashes that can fatigue us and compromise our ability to do our jobs. 

It’s Much More than Fatigue

Other consequences of poor snack choices are weight gain, insulin resistance, and diabetes.  Consuming healthy, nutrient dense snacks in between meals can mitigate some of the unhealthy tradeoffs of shift work.  Healthy snacks for long shifts can stabilize blood sugar, give you healthy energy, keep you alert and they are usually low in calories.  

What Makes a Healthy Snack for Shift Workers?

Healthy, balanced snacks can mean many things to many people.  Lets peel back the slick marketing and packaging.  A common thread in healthy snacks for sustained energy is the following:

• Protein for sustained fullness and fat burning properties
• Complex carbohydrates for steady energy, not blood sugar spikes and crashes
• Healthy fats for satiety
• Fiber for digestive health
• Plenty of water for hydration and electrolyte balance

Be mindful of portion sizes.  Keep in mind that this is a snack and not a full meal and make sure it is easy to transport.  Messy snacks that spill all over your lunch box aren’t going to do you any good when you need them.

27 Healthy Snacks for Shift Workers

High Protein Snacks

High protein snacks can keep you full and alert for long periods of time.

• Non-fat Greek yogurt with berries, cut up banana or a touch of granola. Six ounces of non-fat Greek yogurt packs 100 calories and 18 g of protein. 
• Low fat cottage cheese with fruit. One half of a cup of low fat cottage cheese is 80 calories and 14 g of protein. 
• Boiled eggs are super easy and they come in their own packaging. One boiled egg is 70 calories and 6 grams of protein.
• Tuna or salmon packs. I recommend buying it in the packs, so you don’t have to mess with a can opener at work. One pouch of tuna or salmon is anywhere from 70-110 calories and 13-17 g of protein.  
• Jerky or meat sticks.  One serving is usually around 50 calories and 7 g protein.
• Roasted chickpeas. One serving is 100 calories and 6 g of protein.  Even better, it is high in fiber too!
• Hummus. Olive oil and sesame tahini make this a calorie dense snack so it’s good to keep it to 1/4 of a cup. Enjoy it with celery or carrot sticks for filling fiber, 150 calories, 4 g of protein in 1/4 cup.
• Bone broth. One cup of piping hot bone broth packs 9 g of protein and around 25 calories. Even better, it’s super gentle on the guts. 
• Edamame.  Also known as baby soybeans, 1/2 cup has 112 calories and 9 g of plant protein.

Grab and Go Snacks

When I need to grab something and go, these are my favorite for portability and convenience:

• Apples with peanut butter
• Bananas
• Mixed nuts (keep it to one ounce)
• Trail mix (go easy on this, it can be a real sugar bomb if you eat too much)
• Cheese sticks
• Multigrain crackers

Snacks That Don’t Need Refrigeration

• Nut butter packets
• Lara Bars 
• Roasted nuts
• Plain popcorn 
• Whole fruit
• Seeds

Energy Boosting Snacks

Foods high in complex carbohydrates provide long, sustained energy without blood sugar spikes and crashes.  

• Oats (especially steel cut oats)
• Homemade energy balls or Lara bars
• Hummus and veggies
• Wholegrain wraps
• Dark chocolate with almonds
• Refried beans with a tablespoon of Colby Jack cheese

Healthy Snacks for Night Shift Workers

Night shift workers have different nutritional needs than day shift or rotating shift workers.  Night shift workers are faced with the dilemma of needing to feed and nourish their bodies with the reality that they are working when they’re supposed to be sleeping. 

Mind Your Macronutrients

Whether it’s a snack or a full meal, the best foods to eat during night shift are foods that are light, gentle on the body, and easy to digest.  Meals and snacks that are rich in lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats will stabilize blood sugar and support alertness.  Space meal and snack times three hours apart to keep blood sugar steady.  Listen to the body’s cues, if you feel full, stop eating.  If you don’t feel hungry at all, don’t eat just to eat.  Don’t eat for the final three hours of your shift. Give your body time to digest the last meal before you go to bed.

Snacks to Avoid During Long Shifts

Whether you work day shift, night shift or rotating shift, avoid the high sugar foods that cause blood sugar spikes followed by energy crashes.  Relegate these foods to days when you’re off if you absolutely have to have a cookie or a pastry.  

• Sugary snacks
• Candy
• Doughnuts
• Chips

Big Greasy Meals

Big greasy burgers, fried chicken, Philly cheesesteaks, we all know a greasy meal when we see it.  Regardless what shift you work, treat it like a sugary snack and avoid it during workdays. Save the sugar and the grease bombs for a day off.  I’m all about treating yourself, but big greasy meals are a lot of work to digest.  They have a way of making you feel sluggish after you eat them, and you can’t feel sluggish when you’re on a long shift.

Protein Bars

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan.  Protein bars run anywhere from $3-$5 each and they’re just not very appetizing.  In addition to being expensive and not very inspiring to eat, they’re high in calories, high in carbohydrates and fats.  Why not call it a fat bar, or a carb bar? Instead of a candy bar in a track suit, have another snack.

Meal Prep Tips for Shift Workers

As shift workers, we’re all busy and we’re all stressed.  Make things easier on yourself and meal prep snacks ahead of time so yo can just throw it in your lunch box with your main meal and go.  On a off day, take the time to portion out your snacks into easy to pack containers.  

Time and Money Saving Hacks

Batch prepare everything.  Cut and portion everything into containers yourself to save a lot of money.  Buy the big tubs of fat free Greek yogurt from Costco and portion it into travel containers.  You can save a lot of money by purchasing the big bags of frozen berries instead of fresh berries and putting some in yogurt cups.  When it’s time to go to work, all you have to do is  just grab everything and go, the work is already done.

How Often Should Shift Workers Snack?

Everybody is different, so snacking is going to be very personal.  The point of snacking for shift workers is to prevent your blood sugar from dipping too low.  Listen to your body  and pay attention to hunger cues.  Don’t eat just to eat and don’t be a stress eater.  Make sure you drink enough water and stay hydrated, that helps to prevent overeating.  

Final Thoughts

Healthy snacking doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.  For your health and happiness, make healthy choices in the foods you bring to work.  Take the time to portion out your meals and snacks on an off day so all you have to do is grab it and go.  Download the snack checklist for an easy reference.Healthy Snack printable

I can’t over emphasize how much shift work impacts the body.  The irregular work hours and the disruptions to the body’s natural sleep cycles affect hormone levels and metabolism.  The body just doesn’t metabolize a meal the same way when you work night shift.  Maintaining a balanced and healthy diet is crucial to support energy levels, focus, and overall well-being during night shift or irregular working hours. Even better, a balanced healthy diet can help avoid some of the pitfalls of shift work.  Nutritionally balanced foods that can be beneficial for shift workers are as follows.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a macronutrient that makes up our diet.  Carbs get blamed for weight gain but the truth of the matter is that we need carbohydrates, we just need to eat the right ones.  Healthy carbohydrates are high in fiber and keep you full.

Gluten Free Carbohydrates

• Brown rice. Brown rice has double the fiber of white rice and is loaded with B vitamins and minerals.  It is very inexpensive and versatile to work with.  One cup of cooked brown rice has 218 calories, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of protein and 2 grams of fat.
• Quinoa. This is a very special, nutrient dense grain.  Quinoa contains all essential amino acids, making it very popular for those on plant based diets.  Furthermore, it is very high in fiber and has an extensive array of essential minerals.  One cup of cooked quinoa has 222 calories, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 8 grams of protein and 4 grams of fat. 
• Oatmeal.  A very cheap, healthy and easy breakfast item, one cup of thick rolled oats has 300 calories, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat. A more nutty, textured cereal is steel cut oats.  Both cereals are very filling and will keep you going for hours.  
• Potatoes.  Potatoes are a very inexpensive versatile side item to add to any meal.  Loaded with vitamin C, potassium and vitamin B6, potatoes can help provide sustained energy when they are baked, boiled, or air fried.  Even better, they can be a great source of fiber when the skin is left on.
• Sweet potatoes. These are my favorites!  Sweet potatoes are loaded with antioxidants, fiber and essential minerals.  They can be baked or air fired just like ordinary potatoes.

The Best Bread Ever!

Ezekiel Bread or any sprouted grain bread is best. This is not your garden variety bread, it’s as good as it gets.  This is a flourless bread made entirely of sprouted grains and legumes.  It is full of fiber, and one slice has five grams of protein.  It is perfect for avocado toast, and will make a sandwich that is better and cheaper than anything you could buy at any deli.

Protein

Protein is an essential macronutrient that acts as a building block for muscle and connective tissue.  It also an essential component of hormones, repairs damaged tissues and builds new cells.  Protein is also is a critical component in healthy weight management.  It can increase feelings of fullness and reduce cravings and excess calorie consumption.  Lean protein options such as chicken, turkey, fish, tofu, beans, lentils, and low-fat dairy products are ideal.

Meats

• Chicken and turkey, when roasted, are healthy and low calorie protein options.  White meat is very high in protein and low in fat making it a popular mainstay for bodybuilders.  The dark meat, such as the legs and wings, are juicy, tasty and inexpensive.  In fact, chicken thighs are usually the cheapest meats and can be used in anything.  Dark meat is higher in fat than white meat, but the juiciness makes it a favorite source of protein.
• Sirloin tip, top round, eye of round and tenderloin are healthy, high quality cuts of beef that make an ordinary meal a gourmet meal.  Lean varieties of ground beef are widely available for burgers, meatballs, tacos and casseroles.
• Lean cuts of pork such as pork tenderloin, New York pork chop, sirloin chops and roasts are widely available and make for healthy meal entrees..
• Fish and seafood of your choice such as salmon, shrimp, trout and halibut are great sources of protein anytime you grow tired of your usual protein sources.  Also, canned tuna and salmon is great to keep around as an “emergency protein”.

Plant Based Protein

Vegetarians and vegans also need to be mindful of their nutrition when they work night shift or rotating shift.  Luckily, there are many quality sources of plant based protein.

• Soy base protein is the most popular of plant based proteins.  Tofu is the most popular, one half cup has 10-20 grams of protein. It is available is multiple textures and can be used in recipes ranging from main courses to deserts.  Edamame are baby soybeans, they make a great addition to soups, salads and stir frys.  One cup of cooked edamame has 17 grams of protein.  Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans, I have seen it used a vegan bacon.  A three ounce serving of tempeh has 15 grams of protein.
• Lentils are a major source of protein for much of the world.  Popular during Lent and often looked at as a staple for poor people throughout the world, lentils are very cheap and versatile.  One cup of lentils has 18 grams of protein.
• Beans are another major source of protein throughout much of the world.  Like lentils, they are packed with protein and fiber and they are very cheap.

Eggs

Where do I even begin with eggs?  Eggs are one of the most nutrient dense foods.  One egg packs 77 calories, 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fat.  Eggs are rich in healthy fats and high in fat soluble vitamins like Vitamins D, K, E and A.  The high choline levels are great for optimal nerve and brain function.  They are high in micronutrients such as selenium, zinc, Vitamin B12, and folate.  The high protein and healthy fats make eggs a great breakfast scrambled or whipped in an omelette; they also make a great snack hardboiled or deviled.

Healthy Fats

Fats are another heavily maligned macronutrient.  Fats are very important in satiety and making you feel full and satisfied.  Healthy fats are also very useful in reducing inflammation and there are critical nutrients that can’t be absorbed without fats.  Great sources of healthy fats include avocados, nuts, nut butters, seeds, and olive oil. These fats can help improve cognitive function and provide long-lasting energy.

Caution

Foods that have an abundance of healthy fats often fall into a category I like to call “Domino Foods”.  These are foods that are so satisfying to eat, that it is too easy to eat too much.  You know what I’m saying: a few nuts become a handful; a few dips of hummus or guacamole becomes an entire bowl.  I like to package these foods into little condiment cups so I don’t eat too much.

Fruits and Vegetables

Always load up on a variety of colorful fruits, vegetables and leafy greens to ensure you get a wide range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.  I like leafy salad greens, roasted cruciferous vegetables, roasted carrots, squash and celery.  For fruit, apples travel very well and have a long shelf life.  They’re great to pack with lunch.  Berries, mango, and rock fruits such as cherries, plums and peaches are like candy that’s actually good for you.

Snacks

Healthy snacks such as Greek yogurt, trail mix, raw veggies with hummus, or fruit can help you stay energized between meals and prevent unhealthy cravings.  These are my favorite snacks:

• Greek Yogurt with berries and a sprinkle of granola.
• Celery with peanut butter.
• Carrot sticks and celery dipped in hummus or guacamole

Meal Prep

Whether you are a shift worker or you work a conventional 9-5 job, there is no substitute for meal prepping. Preparing balanced meals at home and bringing them to work is such a convenience.  You spend a little time on a day off to meal prep and it’s ready for when you have to go to work.  No muss, no fuss, you just grab it and go. This allows you to have control over the ingredients and portion sizes.  This is my favorite way to get any leftovers eaten up before they spoil.

Hydration

Drink plenty of water or tea throughout your shift to stay hydrated. You can jazz up your water with lemon, lime or flavor drops.  Avoid excessive caffeine and sugary drinks, they can lead to energy crashes and irritability later on.

Avoid Heavy Meals

Whatever you do, do not eat a heavy or greasy meal close to bedtime.  It can cause digestive upset and disrupt your sleep.

Remember that individual nutritional needs vary, so it’s essential to listen to your body and make adjustments as needed. If you have specific dietary requirements or health concerns, it’s a always a good idea to consult a registered dietitian or healthcare professional for personalized advice.