Shelf-stable Food for Day Outings

November 9, 2023 8:16 PM

Looking for shelf-stable, non-messy, easy-to-carry healthy food for day outings.

I'm on a diet and tired of paying for mediocre, unhealthy meals when I'm out for the day downtown. I will like to carry food with me so I can eat that instead of paying for a meal.

Unfortunately, I have no car and travel by public transport so I can't carry much. Things like a heavy cooler bag is out so I need food that would survive in hot, humid weather for more than two hours. Which means that hard-boiled eggs and Babybels are out. Or should I suck it up and carry a cooler bag with a frozen pack?

I will also not have anywhere to sit down and eat(I will be standing), access to a sink or a table so it must be something easy to munch without getting my hands messy (I will carry wet wipes).

I came up with meat jerky, nuts, dried dates, cherry tomatoes and grapes packed in plastic tupperware. I would prefer to avoid things that have too many carbs or sugary like certain energy bars since they would ruin my diet. Does anyone have suggestions for foods or advice about the packaging that could make things easier? I have light portable cutlery if needed.

posted by whitelotus to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Best answer: Spring rolls are good for this-- and easy to make. The wrapper keeps all the stuff inside. String cheese, salami, low carb wraps with good stuff inside, baby carrots and dip. They make refillable pouches that you can put yogurt in, much like a Go-Gurt but healthier.

I would say getting an ice pack and cooler sounds like it's worth it. Maybe one of those bags with the integrated ice pack so you can freeze the whole thing?

Another option is to take something to jazz up the cheapest thing on the menu. Like, hot water and a paper cup are cheap at a lot of cafes-- bring your own tea or instant soup.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:31 PM on November 9, 2023

Best answer: I've taken boiled eggs, cheese sticks, packaged tuna, hummus (dehydrated or packet) and plenty more on multi-day backpacking trips without refrigeration. Ultralight backpacking has you covered!

Nut butter spread on a rice cake is a nice treat. Your list is shaping up nicely otherwise.

If you did want to keep things cool, there are light, insulated bags like these which are quite effective at keeping food hot when it's rehydrating. I've used them as an effective short-term cooler as well.
posted by spbb at 8:58 PM on November 9, 2023

you can buy pouches or cups of shelf-stable tuna fish in various flavors! if you’re going to be in the middle of nowhere you can get a brand that comes packaged with a little spork! great hiking/active/doing stuff food. I eat one for lunch most days with a roll or english muffin
posted by crime online at 9:49 PM on November 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Most Japanese bento-type foods don't really need refrigeration for the length of time before you eat it. Rice, teriyaki chicken, stir-fried veggies, etc. JustBento explains the basics, and has lots of recipes/assembly instructions.
posted by ctmf at 10:50 PM on November 9, 2023

Roasted chickpeas are filling, inexpensive, and shelf-stable. Also, I like to stock up on dried packaged tofu when I travel. It's incredibly delicious.
posted by mezzanayne at 11:39 PM on November 9, 2023

Best answer: Seconding roasted chickpeas and adding nuts - a small portion is usually filling and they're easy to eat on the go. You can also buy mini cucumbers that are easy to eat whole, those, along with sugar snap peas could add variety to the cherry tomatoes.

The thing I do for days like this is just take a protein bar (I like nugo slim bars when I want a lot of protein and relatively low calories - but jerky would work instead if you don't like the bar idea), an apple or other sturdy fruit, and then have an emergency snack like some nuts in my purse in case I get hungry later on. It's not a real meal but it's enough to tide me over and then I just have an earlier dinner than usual or a snack when I get home. It's so much easier than packing a real lunch and carrying containers around all day.
posted by snaw at 4:17 AM on November 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

An apple, a nice crusty bread roll, and a hunk of cheese. It's a sort of bare-bones ploughman's lunch idea that I used when I was on a vacation - I was unexpectedly broke for a day (I miscalculated when my paycheck would deposit into my bank) and scraped that together at a corner store as my "snacks" during a hike in Mont Royal Park. It turned out to be delicious and easy to carry, stable enough for the time constraints, and so absolutely perfect for a fall day that I still do that occasionally in the fall nearly 20 years later.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:28 AM on November 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Pemmican is kinda made for this. Shelf stable for months, zero sugar, generally neutral flavor you can season however you prefer. There's premade stuff you can buy, but it's also extremely easy to make with a dehydrator/oven and blender/food-processor.

YMMV: I generally enjoy it, my partner finds the texture off-putting.
posted by so fucking future at 4:37 AM on November 10, 2023

Best answer: I find a small thermos keeps a portion hot or cold enough, does not leak, and takes up far less space than a whole insulated bag and ice pack.

A thermos or even two plus a bag of nuts for any further hungries would cover a whole day.

Cold thermos - chill in the fridge overnight or fill with ice water before using to keep food colder longer
some combination of a few hard boiled eggs, cheese, chicken, pepperoni or sliced chicken sausage
unsweetened yogurt with some fruit
egg muffins (like individual omelets that you meal prep, here's my favorite recipe though any cheese can be subbed for the parm and fontina)
smoothie prepped that morning

Hot thermos - fill with hot water before using to keep food hotter longer, heat food before filling
Chili - meal prep once a week for beef, chicken, turkey, bean variations, or freeze individual portions
Thick soup or stew
Oatmeal with fruit or cocoa powder
posted by RoadScholar at 5:42 AM on November 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone, I have gotten many useful ideas. I'm still trying to decide what is the best solution for me, whether it is buying a cooler bag like blnkfrnk suggests or getting a thermos food jar(why didn't I think of that?) like RoadScholar suggests.

Or just stock up on jerky and survive on snacks until I can go home and have a hot meal like snaw says.

I am a little afraid that this would turn out to be a phase for me so perhaps I should try to make do with existing equipment first. I have a stainless steel insulated lunch bowl but it's not terribly good at keeping things hot or cold for long. Perhaps in conjunction with a frozen ice pack and frozen grapes in my aluminum-lined shopping bag?

I will keep experimenting.
posted by whitelotus at 12:10 AM on November 11, 2023

You might want to check out a budget type store that sells things for packing kids lunches. For example, at Walmart I got a very inexpensive insulated lunch bag for my kid, and some small flat freezer packs. This works well if I want to pack perishables in his lunch, like boiled eggs. Packing one meals worth of food is something many kids do every day, and there are lots of inexpensive things to facilitate packing them.
posted by ice-cream forever at 9:27 AM on November 11, 2023