Many times, people have every intention of eating healthy food on the go, but they just aren’t sure what to turn to, or they get bored of eating the same on-the-go healthy snacks like fruit, trail mix, Greek yogurt, or protein bars.
Eating healthy on the go poses logistical challenges, both in terms of how to get healthy snacks or meals on the go if you haven’t planned or prepped ahead, as well as practically eating healthy food on the go without possibly being able to sit and use your hands.
In this diet guide, we will provide tips for eating healthy on the go as well as some of the best ideas for on-the-go health snacks or the best healthy snacks and meals that you can try out the next time you are pressed for time.
Let’s jump in!
5 Low-Fuss Tips For Eating Healthy On The Go
Here are some tips for eating healthy on the go:
#1: Plan Ahead
The single best thing you can do to stick with your diet and weight loss goals when you are going to be traveling or have to eat on the go is to plan ahead.
Meal prepping for the week by batch cooking over the weekend and putting together healthy meals in pre-portioned containers that you can simply grab on your way out the door is a great way to have healthy food during the week.
You can also keep your pantry and fridge stocked with healthy snacks that you can grab and go for when something comes up and throws a kink in your schedule.
You should also keep a few healthy non-perishable snacks in your car, bag, or office drawer for any instance where you need to have a healthy snack or your schedule changes and you won’t be able to have your normal sit-down meals at home.
#2: Think Through the Logistics
While the weekends might work well for some people to meal plan, grocery shop, and meal prep for the week, your own personal schedule and logistics may make it so that weekend meal prepping is not ideal.
That’s OK; be realistic but deliberate about your own schedule.
Perhaps it works best to set aside one early morning or night during the week to do most of your cooking and/or meal prepping.Alternatively, maybe you truly don’t have the time, energy, or interest to prepare meals.
In these cases, you might consider grocery delivery every week (such as Instacart or Peapod) so that you don’t have to do food shopping or try a meal kit delivery service that sends ready-to-heat or ready-to-eat meals rather than ingredients that you have to cook.
Try not to let any societal “norms“ or expectations make you feel like it’s impossible to eat healthy on the go; you might just need to be creative and think outside the box in terms of your scheduling, structuring, and healthy meal prep routine.
#3: Take Advantage of Cooking Equipment
One of the best tips for putting together healthy meals quickly for on-the-go eating is to make use of some of the convenience cooking appliances available these days.
You can batch-cook large meals and then portion them into smaller containers that you can put in your freezer or refrigerator.
Then, use your microwave oven to warm up the single-serve portion on your way out the door.
#4: Consider Getting a Meal Kit Box
The meal delivery kit market has exploded over the last decade (projected to reach nearly 8.8 billion dollars in the United States and 17.8 billion dollars worldwide by the end of 2023).
There are now so many meal subscription boxes that you can really get lost in the weeds when choosing the best meal delivery kit.
If you do not know how to cook or don’t want to have to buy individual portions if you are cooking for one or the only person in your household following your particular diet, a meal kit delivery subscription box can be a great training tool to teach you cooking skills while giving you pre-portioned ingredients so that there is no food waste.
However, most of the meal kit subscription boxes do involve cooking, so if you want to have healthy meal ideas on the go, or travel-friendly meals that don’t take time to prepare, you have to do all of your cooking ahead of time and then grab your healthy meals from containers that you’ve prepared beforehand.
However, there are some great ways to work around this if you like the benefits of meal subscription boxes.
For example, if you live by yourself, you can order a “family plan“ or four servings of each meal and then cook recipes that arrive as your weekly lunches and dinners in advance or order multiple of the same meals each week and then cook them all at the same time.
This can streamline healthy meal prepping for easy weekly meals because you can choose meals that match your particular dietary needs with a rotating menu of recipes, and then take care of all of the cooking at the same time.
Basically, the benefit of the meal kit delivery boxes is that most of the meal prepping is already done for you and that the vegetables are chopped and things are pre-portioned out; all you have to do is cook.
Therefore, if you want to do easy meal prepping for a weight loss diet for the week, you can order a bunch of the same meals or multiple servings and then cook all of the ingredients together as if it was “one portion.“
Then portion out servings into individual containers that you will just heat and eat during the week.
There are also a growing number of meal delivery options that have pre-prepared flash-frozen meals and only require reheating in the oven, toaster oven, microwave, or even just thawed and eaten without any meal prep.
My pick for the best healthy meal delivery service that doesn’t require any cooking or very minimal meal prep for healthy meals is Daily Harvest or Factor.
Meal kit delivery services or pre-prepared ready-to-eat meals that you heat up are great for easy weight loss meals because you can see how many calories are in each meal, and choose meal delivery for various dietary goals and needs.
Moreover, with pre-portioned sizes, you won’t overeat.
However, the per-meal cost can be high and there is a fair amount of excess packaging.
Therefore, if you’re on a tight budget or prioritize environmental sustainability (although Daily Harvest is actually quite committed to sustainable farming and practices), these prepared meal box options may not be the best.
#5: Use Convenience Foods
One of the challenges of eating healthy on the go is not just that you may not have a lot of time to cook and eat meals at home, but you may have to eat while literally driving, walking, or multitasking rather than sitting at a table and being present for your meal.
Of course, while numerous studies suggest that sitting for your meals and eating mindfully is much better for your health, and potentially even better for weight loss, it’s just not practical for some people to always have the luxury of time to have a sit-down meal.
In these scenarios, it is helpful to have healthy foods for your health snacks on the go that you can easily eat while walking, driving, commuting, or sitting at your desk trying to grab a few bites in between calls with a client at work or sending off emails.
In other words, we sometimes need easy foods to eat on the go that don’t require using two hands, a fork, knife, chopsticks, or actually using your eyes and attention to look while you are eating.
Some of the easiest foods to eat on the go are things you can drink. Think smoothies, protein shakes, and drinkable soups.
You can make a smoothie, protein shake, or healthy soup at home and pack it in an insulated thermos or water bottle and then sip as you walk, drive, or work.
Another workable category for healthy on-the-go foods are things you can eat with your hands that stay together and aren’t messy.
Examples include protein bars, homemade or premade energy balls or bites, or other one-bite foods like homemade falafel balls, a container with pieces of cheese and snap peas or cherry tomatoes, jerky, or pre-peeled hard-boiled eggs.
You might also be able to have something like overnight oats in a to-go container that you make the night before and then eat on your commute to work, or you can use a convenience food like a GoodWheat Instant Quikcake.
These are super convenient, high-protein, high-fiber instant pancakes you can make in the microwave like a mug muffin.
They are delicious, nutritious, and perfectly portioned, which helps you stick to your weight loss diet plan; plus, you can just take the little cup with you for healthy breakfasts or health snacks on the go.
All you have to do is mix in a little bit of water, pop it in the microwave for a minute or two, and then take it with you as you head out the door.
For some more ideas on healthy convenience snacks for weight loss, check out our guide here.
