Living in a hotel- how to cope on SW??

cocktailprincess

Still rockin' it
Ok lovely ladies and gents- I need help.

I am spending practically the whole of June (and possibly July) away from home. I will get home at weekends but have to drive 300 miles to get there then have to go back the day after again.

Basically I am going to be living in a hotel and eating in pubs/service stations for a LONG TIME.

I need help in planning ahead here guys, as I don't know how I am going to manage this long term.

My thoughts so far:
Breakfast- AVOID the hotel buffet as it will lead to disaster. I will take lots of Alpen light bars and pre-weighed portions of Oatbakes which I can eat in my room with a cup of tea

Dinner (or 'lunch' if you are not from oop north)- Will be in a company canteen so I can only think of baked potatoes, salad and low-fat sandwiches

Tea (or 'dinner' down south)- ????? I usually have steak and salad or Jackets, etc- will probably be eating in pubs mainly. I guess I will be able to drive to a supermarket also in the evenings if necessary.

Don't know what I am asking here guys- help with food choices that won't sent me crazy , food that I can take with me that won't go off, hints to stave off loneliness, stress and tiredness as I will be away from home for so long

I am determined to do this and will take my scales with me so I can still WI (I do SW on-line). My main problem is not being in control as I am when at home and cooking my own food.

Really- anything you think can help me, please ket me know!

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I think you have really thought this through. If there is a minibar in the room you could get milk in, and then use that for breakfasts with cereal "grab and go cereal" like two weetabix, you could buy Mullerlight's as well to pop in the fridge. Also you should be able to get fruit in the canteen that you could save for snacks. Evenings you can stick with steak/chicken and salad, or baked potatoes in a pub (if you haven't had a potato in the day else it might be repetitive). I'll try and think of some more ideas for evenings and making sure you get your Hex's in too. Good luck :)
 
always go for the jacket option rather than chips ask for no dressing on your salad, you could have steak & salad or jacket with filling (though if your going to be having that for lunch it will get boring)
most pubs do a nice tomatoey pasta sauce just save some syns as you dont know whats in it


Subway salad bowls with no dressing or syn the dressing

also invest in a lunch box and some packs of flavoured cous cous - boil the kettle in your room pour on the cous cous and voila! tea

hope this helped a bit apart from doing what i do which is make the salad in your hotel room (there are 2 of us though so we use everything up every day and dont need to worry about a fridge) i cant think of anything else
 
I've no idea if this might be possible, but we've invested in a plug-in cool box, which plugs into a socket in the car (only use when driving - flat battery otherwise), then has an adapter to plug into the mains in your room. It's probably against "health and safety", but we're currently on 3 weeks holiday in Cornwall in a hotel room with just a kettle, and it's a LIFESAVER!

You can keep milk cold for breakfast cereal, yogurts, cottage cheese, salad items, cold drinks - anything you can think of that might help.

Do make sure that you have spare fuses for the adaptor with you, and a tea towel in the base to catch the condensation helps.

It opens up such a wide range of possibilities, especially if you can get to a Supermarket to vary the choices.

We've also brought our weigh scales - for both food and us - and 42 Mugshots!!!

Unfortunately, it's not too hot in Cornwall yet, but today should be better...

Good luck, do keep in touch to let us all know how it's going. We're currently collating a list of low syn snacks that we're finding useful to hide in a pocket when we go for a cup of tea - anything to avoid the temptation of a West Country cream tea. I know a holiday is totally different from working away, but all suggestions on this thread will be helpful to others.
 
Thanks all so much for the fantastic ideas.

Mugshots and couscous are brilliant ideas, and as for the fridge- I am going to have a look on the net now and (hopefully) get one.

All other suggestions are really helpful for what to eat out- I am also going to look on the net to find a local sushi restaurant, supermarket, swimming pool and badminton court (my colleague plays so I can hopefully still exercise)and cinema- think these will all help with boredom too!

Roz- it is in Cornwall (Truro) where I am heading- any helpful local info would be greatfully acepted

Thanks again guys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Hey :)

The breakfast buffet may not spell disaster - there are often things like boiled eggs, fruit salad, yoghurt, you can ask for brown toast - have one slice and a poached egg (or 2) grilled tomatoes and beans are often in buffets at hotels. You could have all that to get you started for the day so that if you're a bit stuck at lunch, at least you've had a good brekkie.

I'd stock up on loads of fruit so that you always have that quick option.

Lunch - Jacket potatoes, salad without any dressing. If you bought your own mugshots or low fat supernoodle pots, I'm sure they could give you some boiling water? Or buy some cottage cheese to add to their jacket spuds.

Service station - Packet of cooked chicken or the mugshots. Loads of garages have the mini supermarkets attached now, so you should be able to grab a salad box and little pack of chicken from there.

Dinner - Steak, grilled chicken, fish (hopefully) if they don't do boiled/baked potatoes you could just ask for salad/veg with no butter/sauce added.

It's so hard when it feels like things are out of your control but well done you for forward planning so well! I read in SW mag a couple of editions ago about a man that lost loads of weight and was always touring in his car for work, he carried a case with loads of things he could easily eat, tinned fish (you could stock up on that tuna that doesn't have water added, so won't be too messy!) meat, ham etc and made little salads while he was away.

Good luck, let us know how it goes xx
 
I used to hotel alot for work , many years ago.

Usually, the buffet in the morn can include continental and you can fill up on fruit, yogurt and cereal.

Get to know the canteen staff at lunch time, say you have a medical condition or something and you HAVE to have a fat free diet, I found this works a treat!

Stock up on loads of fruit for your room, lo cal hot choc and go to a supermarket for eve meal and buy cold meats, ready made salad, cous cous etc

Try to get into an away routine, I found that helpful.

Also if you have free time in the eve, take suimsuit to go swimming etc or gym stuff and go to the local liesure centre.
 
Try and get to an M&S in the services because they do the really nice salads, like the santini tomato saland or the egg and new potato salad. Yes they have dressings with them but they are in a sachet so you can throw it away or just use half and use up a few syns. These are great for lunch time because you have a nice pre prepared salad and you could buy some roast chicken in a pack or some ham etc to have with it.

I work away sometimes and being on the road is a nightmare so i usually take loads of fruit with me and buy as much as i can from the services whilst im out.

The other thing that fills me up is a caffe latte from the coffee shops, you can use the milk from your HEA and have 2 medium size ones if you have skimmed.
 
Sorry Cocktail Princess, don't know Truro at all, but there must be some local members about - might it be worth starting a thread such as "SW help wanted in Truro area" as local knowledge could be very helpful, even for those of us who are just on holiday.

We've found the Morrisons in Cornwall very useful. Their cafe will serve jacket potato with no filling and a good plain side salad for about £2! Smuggle in a pot of cottage cheese and some Marmite, or whatever's your favourite...

Also, if you catch them just before closing, like most supermarkets they dramatically reduce goods for that day's sell-by date. We've got lots of fruit, prepared fruit salads, lettuce and tomatoes, carrot battons, cottage cheese, yogurts etc at ridiculous prices, though NOT all at the same time! (We won't mention the other goodies that got into our basket somehow...!!!) ((but we ARE on holiday))

Don't know either of these stores, but hubby looked it up on the store finder on Morrisons website and your nearest two would be Redruth at TR15 3NH and Newquay at TR7 2JQ. Might be worth having the Postcodes with you for ALL the local supermarkets.

Have to just add that if you don't know it already, you MUST visit Newquay where we've just spent all day - it is such a spectacular setting!
 
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Could you possibly go to a local class? That would fill an evening up every week and give you the support to keep going, and the locals would be clued up on where the best places to shop are.
 
Still loving these ideas, guys. I am starting to feel better about the whole thing.
Gymclasshero- Great idea about M&S. I will pass tons of services on the way and a few of them have Marks'- will fill up on those sundried tomato and pasta salads, no fat yoghurts and strawberries!
Roz- I will find out the postcodes of local supermarkets and have my satnav. I don't really mind if they aren't local as I will have very little to do in the evenings anyway!
Judimac- I do SW online so am not a class member BUT I do intend to be on minimims a lot as I class this as my support group!

Thanks again guys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx you are excellent
 
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