keto diet while on the road/shelf stable ideas

[Chris Anne the Mum]

I have a lot of positive things to say about the keto diet.  I lost 90 pounds several years ago.  This is the only diet that worked for me.  I don't want to debate or sell the diet here. Tons of info online can be found for the curious.  I'd like to share tips with fellow travelers who believe being in a keto adapted state is best for your body and provides untold convenience, especially on the road.

I'm not going to travel for another 6 months but I'm planning ahead.  Here's some tips and, of course, I'm looking for tips from others.  

I'm mostly looking for shelf stable ideas and I have a few of my own, so I'll start!

1.  Freeze dried foods - you can buy in bulk, and will only need a few things in your pantry.  My short list is shredded cheese, meats (including jerky), eggs.  I've heard the cheese is great out of the can - kind of like eating Cheetos, LOL!  You can make an omelet in the AM - eggs, sausage, and cheese, all freeze dried.  Onions, mushrooms, and peppers are optional if you are OK with a few more carbs.

2.  I found canned meats at Aldi - salmon, and just yesterday I spotted cans of corned beef - all keto approved.  Haven't tried any of this yet.  Thoughts on salmon patties or what to do with corned beef besides eating straight from the can?

3.  Ghee (found a good one at Aldi-love Aldi and Trader Joes) and coconut oil.  Both of these will melt in the warmer weather.  Keep sealed tight.

4.  Nuts and seeds - low carb.  The best is macadamia nuts and what a treat they are!  Also, nut butters fit in this category.  When I get a sweet tooth, I can kill it with peanut butter on celery.  So, I imagine when I'm at Walmart, I might buy some celery for a treat that will last a couple days in the cooler or fridge.

Keto works best for me when I keep it simple.  I've tried baking with almond and coconut flours for breads and desserts.  It's a lot of effort and none of that gives me the "mouth feel" that the carby stuff gives.

I know there is much more and am looking forward to hearing new thoughts.  Cheers!

 

[Queen]

Looking forward to the replies from folks who are doing this.

The one thing I’ve thought of besides nuts is string cheese, it’s portable and seems to keep well with minimal refrigeration.

 

[mjbeam]

Ketologie shake powder. Not cheap though.

 

[Rainier70]

Baby Bell cheeses or any hard waxed cheese will keep in medium to cool temperatures without refrigeration.

I am not very familiar with what is okay or not on the diet so I will just throw some thoughts about low or no refrigeration items out there. Whey protein pwd, summer sausage, beef sticks or pepperoni, fresh vegetables, - carrots, squashes, sweet potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, heads of lettuce & cabbage- keep a damp paper towel on the root ends of things like lettuce, Cabbage, celery, and green onions. The fresh stuff aren't long term shelf stable, but all will keep in a well ventilated area with maybe a damp towel over top for quite awhile. I have kept most of those I mentioned for a week or more.

Dried legumes- blackeyed peas and lentils will cook relatively quickly especially if you soak them. You can also get dehydrated refried beans.

A couple more canned meats: Spam, roast beef, and even canned bacon. (spendy)

 

[Rainier70]

I also forgot TVP in different flavors, and tofu in no flavor. (some tofu is packaged shelf stable)

 

[Dingfelder]

Watch out for beans if on keto. They are a high-carb food. It will be hard to manage staying in keto if you're a fan of beans, from my understanding.

Regarding pre-shredded cheeses, they have cellulose added:

https://www.eater.com/2016/3/3/11153876/cheese-wood-pulp-cellulose-lawsuits

I've never seen a "real" chef recommend pre-shredded cheeses. Considering you can get a greater for a buck at the dollar store, why not just stay natural? Especially since anything with more exposed surface area spoils much more quickly.

Re nut butters, I used to think regular supermarket peanut butter was a healthy thing. It's the opposite. Full of sugar. Or maybe corn syrup, these days. I tried some the other day for the first time in a long time, and could barely choke it down. For the first time in my life, I noticed how incredibly sweet it was.

Re canned meats, keep an eye on what oil it is packed in. Soybean is extremely common. Soybean is almost entirely GMO, highly processed, full of phyto-estrogens, high-carb and generally not keto-friendly.

 

[MrNoodly]

Seems to me shelf-stable is important if you're going to be inconvenient to grocers for long periods, but not as important if moving from place to place frequently. There are usually grocers along the way.

 

[Chris Anne the Mum]

Watch out for beans if on keto.  They are a high-carb food.

Cheese...Considering you can get a greater for a buck at the dollar store, why not just stay natural?  

Re nut butters,.  Full of sugar.  

Re canned meats, keep an eye on what oil it is packed in. Soybean is extremely common.  Soybean is almost entirely GMO, highly processed, full of phyto-estrogens, high-carb and generally not keto-friendly.

Well said, Dingfelder.  It all comes down to reading labels.  This is huge on keto.  

Beans are shelf stable, but they are not allowed on keto for the reason you stated.  In fact, tons of cheap and easy shelf stable foods are full of carbs.  That's why I started this thread.  The keto diet is quite specific.

Cheese - I specified freeze dried.  I will go back and check the labels on those.  

Lots of pure nut butters abound, and I've had to read a lot of labels to find the right ones.

Canned meats - agree on ills of soybean oil.  It's in a lot of food and is a really bad fat for us.  Again, reading the labels on the canned meat is imperative if one is going to make good choices on this diet.

Cheers!

 

[Dingfelder]

Can anyone recommend a brand of stevia?

 

[darkknight]

Tried Keto for a week only. I can't stay away from complex carbs.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

Tried Keto for a week only. I can't stay away from complex carbs.

You only had to hold out for about five to seven more days.


From Mrs G:
Zucchini and spaghetti squash keep for a long time.
Eggs from a farmer without being rinsed at all will keep for weeks without a refrigerator. Rinse them and they need a refrigerator right away.
Tuna, canned chicken and ham can be your friends too. Same with sardines canned shrimp, salmon and mackerel.
Cheeses from a deli are often aged and room temperature. They do well in dry climates for long periods.
No sugar added sauces and classic Alfredo, as long as you lookout for the labels.
Almond flour and golden flax also last a long time as does coconut flour.
Pickles last till opened, but once opened they turn in three to five days depending on temp.
Pickled things can be good also. There is a keto hard boiled pickled egg recipe that is very good.

 

[Dingfelder]

From Mrs G:
Zucchini and spaghetti squash keep for a long time.

Pickled things can be good also. There is a keto hard boiled pickled egg recipe that is very good.

Re zucchini, I find they last well once they have dressing on them.

Pickled eggs are great and make for the easiest high-quality snack there is, IMO.  Plus there are all kinds of different ways you can flavor the brine. I just made a couple dozen.  Only "problem" is that the longer they soak in the brine, the more flavor they have ... so if you start eating right away, they'll still taste mostly like just an egg ... not quite as fun.

Also, pickles generally have plenty of salt, which is good on a keto diet.

 

[Dingfelder]

Tried Keto for a week only. I can't stay away from complex carbs.

I'm a natural carb addict - I love bread especially.  I used to make my own, and it was hard not to eat a half a loaf at a time, even just by itself.  Same with pasta.  It's very hard to wean myself off them, once I get into them.  I'm not good with things like chocolate, either.  I almost never want it, but if I have a candy bar tonight, I will crave one tomorrow.  And then I'll really feel like having another ... The longer I stay away from sugar and carbs, the easier it gets.  So I just try to keep it reasonable in the first place, best I can.

I find a good shortcut, and one that helps me get into keto more easily, is intermittent fasting.  18/6 fasting/eating.  Since I spend something like 7 or 8 hours of that fasting asleep anyway, it is not as bad as it sounds.  I got used to it fairly quickly, and I've been used to eating big meals pretty much my whole life.

 

[Chris Anne the Mum]

is intermittent fasting.  18/6 fasting/eating.  Since I spend something like 7 or 8 hours of that fasting asleep anyway, it is not as bad as it sounds.  I got used to it fairly quickly, and I've been used to eating big meals pretty much my whole life.

I think IF is a great strategy.  I believe I read where true fat burning kicks in around the 14th hour of a fast.  I just started back on serious keto this week and I'm trying to do a 10 hour eating window with a 14 hour fast.  As my body gets over the keto flu, I'll close that window a lot more.  It's amazing how easy it gets once one is fairly keto adapted.  I imagine that traveling the county and seeing its beauty while in ketosis will be a double high for me!  

 

[Dingfelder]

Good luck Chris Anne!

You know, I was watching some videos by Eric Berg, D.C., and he repeated what Dr. Jason Fung says -- that salt is important on keto. I've seen that a bunch elsewhere, but some of the guys on youtube and random websites really are randoms, and don't have scientific method in mind, but seem to be riding a fad, so I push some of their stuff aside. Still, extra salt is recommended frequently.

By my understanding, having high carbs in your diet (like pretty much everybody these days) means you store more water than you would otherwise. When you go on keto, or start getting into it, the body starts dumping that water. That could be ten pounds or more of water. In the process, you also dump a lot of electrolytes. Berg, specifically, said that's the direct reason for keto flu. (You "hit the wall" much like marathoners and other athletes can, through loss of electrolytes among other things.) He and others recommend increased salt intake, as well as, usually, magnesium supplements and sometimes some other minerals, to counter that effect. That's how Gatorade became a celebrated product despite its downsides -- the electrolyte thing.

I was feeling the keto flu pretty profoundly at one point, and took a half teaspoon of ordinary table salt. I felt MUCH better within 15 minutes. I was honestly amazed.

Getting deeper into ketosis, shedding water will slow down and eventually stop. After all, there's only so much water to shed. Coincident with that point ... I bet that's where keto flu tends to stop.

Anyway, that's a long way of saying try some salt, maybe some magnesium. Just a little might start you off toward feeling better. Keto flu really bites, but ... I think maybe I solved the problem for myself.

A big problem with this diet is that it is pretty complicated in some ways, and a lot of its proponents have more enthusiasm than practical, specific advice of the kind we really need.

 

[MrNoodly]

Single-serving pouches of tuna or salmon. You can even get them pre-seasoned in different ways, if you like.

Farm-fresh eggs that haven't been washed will last unrefrigerated for weeks.

Lots and lots of dark chocolate.

 

[Chris Anne the Mum]

Chris Anne here responding in red.

Good luck Chris Anne!  Thank you!!!!!

Eric Berg, D.C., and ...Dr. Jason Fung  EXCELLENT resources!  Love them both and have listened to countless hours of them!  Fung consistently practices one meal a day, or a 24 hour fast.  On the road, well, this would make life very easy; however, it has to be a big meal of about 2000 calories.  I am digressing a little bit here because one can lose weight using this strategy without keto.

salt is important on keto.  Yes it is!  I used to take a small container of salt to work so I could put it on my tongue occasionally throughout the day.

He and others recommend increased salt intake, as well as, usually, magnesium supplements I used magnesium salts in the bathtub and loved soaking for a half hour in hot water.  The best way for me to take magnesium was through the skin as there is less bothering of the bowels that way.  On the road, foot soaks would be just as valuable.

Thanks for more great info.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Ding, loved your post to Dark Knight.

You described my problem perfectly also. One candy bar one day, the next day you think you can 'handle' a treat and eat another and then you want more and more and more. Real fast the carb addiction kicks. I so understand this.

It is extremely hard mentally to change to a very low carb type menu. Many can't do it cause they simply want to keep bread, pasta, dessert treats in their lives. I mean I get it What human doesn't get this HAHA But also to make this type of eating lifestyle change stick long term, one must want it. That is the reason I made my changes and they stuck. I wanted the carbs out of my life, and since I really did want to go down this path, I have been VLC and Zero carb eater for close to 5 years now. So folks, if you truly want to delve into this great lifestyle, you really have to want to change.

 

[Chris Anne the Mum]

It's true you have to "want it" and I mean really want it, to do the diet.  It requires a high level of detail, but the rewards are many.  (I can't do slow diets where you can have anything you want within the guidelines.)  

When I first started doing the diet in 2014, I was excited about my results.  Weight was melting off.  Every day I had my head in the game:  I was reading online, in books, and listening to podcasts and youtube videos.  

I believe a big part of my success was spending time every day "in the knowledge" portion of the diet.  Knowledge is power!   The more I learned, the more it made sense, and the more it motivated me.

Even 5 years ago, it wasn't that well known.  People would look at me like I had two heads when I talked about the need for most calories to be fat calories, or burning ketones instead of glucose, or losing all cravings for sugar over time.

Glad to see it's more well known.  Even my mom told me today she was really considering doing it.  I'd been away for 2 years...not reading, watching, or staying in touch.  When I started putting my head in it this spring, I was shocked at the growth of info now available.

I hope to get on the road for a couple months early next year.  I'm never been one to eat or munch while driving, so it occurred to me that driving and being away from the local Walmart would offer a perfect scenario for success.  You can't eat it if you don't have it.  You won't eat it if it's too inconvenient.

I like the idea of planning, stocking up, and enjoying the rewards of my labor!  LOL

Do you cook hard boiled eggs while on the road?  How do you do it?

 

[StarEcho]

Pepperoni Slices 

Cheese slices

These are my go tos for driving.  Those and pork rinds. If you haven't had pork rinds yet you are missing out.  Lots of fat, zero carbs.  Balances out the protein of the meat and cheese and totally satisfies the desire for crunch. I even use the crumbs in lieu of bread crumbs in dishes.