Nutritional conundrum

[Drummond]

I'm in a bit of a bind at work, and I was thinking maybe some other corpsmen could give me a little advice.

I'm stationed at the Camp Geiger branch medical clinic in Camp Lejeune. We fall under Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune's command. Working at Geiger happens to entail spending a great deal of time in the field with half the USMC training commands in Lejeune, mainly the school of infantry, but sometimes scout snipers, EOD, etc. and some kind of Navy riverine training that I haven't seen just yet. The hospital CO seems to have very little appreciation for this, and so as an E-2 I am denied both BAH and BAS by an inspired new unilateral policy. The hospital doesn't have any MREs, and the Marines can't give us theirs.

This means that I've got to cover food on my own, which isn't such a monetary problem that I can't suck it up. The real problem is finding food that is cheap, healthy, balanced, lasts up to a week (the most time I'll spend in the field or on the range) once prepared and is easy to store and clean up. It doesn't have to be tasty or vary from day to day. It just has to provide about four thousand balanced calories each day. Right about now it's looking like dry pasta, shots of olive oil, cans of tuna, peanut butter sandwiches and some powdered dietary supplements.

I can't be the first corpsman to get stuck in this sort of position, and I'm certainly not the most knowledgable about nutrition. Would any of you guys happen to have some helpful experience or better ideas to share?

[Small Town]

I'm not in yet, but I know your situation. I live in KY, so if your not eating fried chicken, you're smoking, sad but it's the truth. I'm heavy on exercise and nutrition and have to find means of staying at a healthy balance on a limited budget (Nearly minimum wage bagger at a grocery store). I run to work, p.t. often and try to find means besides my car to get around. Most times I eat canned tuna or chicken with the pry top. Keeps for a long time and you can drain easy with just a simple pry back and tip. High in protein, most contain anywhere from 20-40 grams of protein a can.(Have a spoon on hand)For your carbs, I'd recommend some type of oatmeal bar, a slow digestible, and if you can find any with peanut butter do so.Thesingle serve plastic wrapperswould probabley do fine inany weather. Nuts can be your best friend. A hand full of almonds contains nearly 200 calories; 7 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrate, I beleive 2 grams of sugar and 160 calories from fat (which would serve you best being as it contains much more energy than carbs), ontop of supplying you with the proper amount of vitamins and minerals. Honestly, the best thing you can do is research and educate yourself on the foods that could help you out. Use this time to better yourself, good luck.

[Da-Chief]

Hmmm.

Let me pass this to our resident PMT and other CPO's out there.. I feel for ya brother..

CrazyCajun, you got anything to help this guy out?

Da-Chief