WIS, WWA | night shift edition
What I Spent
Hello, I am a shell of my normal self at the moment and it is indeed because of night shifts.
To wit, I came home this morning, greeted Zoe, and said, "Have a good shift at school!" because my brain is too tired to tell the difference between her work shifts and her school days right now.
Mercifully, I just have to do these six nights as a required part of orientation, and then I will be mostly days. THANK GOODNESS. This is not my destiny.
I was not designed for this.
I spent:
- $45 at Amazon Fresh
- $25 at Safeway
So, $70.
What We Ate
Saturday
It was just me at home, so I made pancakes.
Who was surprised? NO ONE.
Sunday
I made Zoe's fave: baked ham and Swiss sandwiches.
Monday
Leftovers.
Tuesday
Zoe was out with a friend, and I made myself mashed potatoes, kale salad, and sauteed fish.
I made extra of the kale salad and the mashed potatoes to serve as parts of future meals; they're too much work to make just one serving!
Wednesday
Potato and chorizo tacos with cilantro and crema, plus fruit on the side.
Wednesday evening was my first night shift, so honestly, I ended up eating more than one day's worth of meals. I ate regular meals before my shift (my body will not let me sleep all day prior to a shift!), and then I also packed food for my overnight 12-hour shift at work.
MY BODY IS CONFUSED.
Thursday
Before work last night, I made myself some scrambled eggs with some of the chorizo and potatoes.
Is it breakfast? Dinner? I DON'T EVEN KNOW.
Friday
After tonight's shift, I'll be halfway through my night shifts. Yay!!
I have chicken pasta salad packed for lunch (dinner?) overnight tonight.
Night shifts... yikes. I'm too old to do stuff like that anymore! Hang in there.
Saturday: FG enchiladas (everyone in my house loves these!)
Sunday: We potlucked all day... a church potluck for lunch, then a small group potluck for dinner. I took brownies, chips, and applesauce cups to the first, then cooked carrots to the second.
Monday: Burrito bowls. All of the ingredients were made ahead of time. I just had to heat them up in the 15 minutes we were home between practices, make my bowl, then I ate it at the soccer field.
Tuesday: Fried chicken, potato salad, and green beans
Wednesday: We had last-minute visitors stop over - which was great! But I had to toss Plan A for dinner and only had time for grilled cheese, leftover mac and cheese, leftover potato salad... it was a weird dinner, but people were fed.
Thursday: Broccoli cheddar soup and corn muffins
Friday: The plan is burgers, pasta salad, and fruit, but I have to get out of work in time to pick up some groceries for that to work. Or take all 3 kids to the grocery store right after school on a Friday afternoon, which is almost a guaranteed disaster. Time will tell.
@Ruth T, My Thursday meal was kind of random for the same reason yours was. Carbs win for feeding a crowd. 🙂
Night shift work is brutal, and those who do it regularly deserve the deep appreciation of all their other-shift coworkers. They also deserve the pay differential. Hang in there, you will get through and thank goodness night work won't be a regular part of your schedule!
@Henriette, amen to all this!
Oh dear. I am so sorry about this. Given that I go to bed at 8:30 p.m. if possible, I would also be a complete wreck with this schedule. Almost there! Vaya con Dios.
Saturday: Ground beef gyro-ish meat, homemade hummus, homemade sourdough naan bread (yes, I should have made pita bread, but I used a recipe for naan bread instead--chaos abounds in my kitchen), cucumbers, tomatoes, pickled onions, pear upside down gingerbread cake with whipped cream
Sunday: Pizzas--one cheese, one pepperoni--green salad with ranch dressing, leftover pear cake or cookies
Monday: Chicken parmesan, pasta with pesto, green salad with vinaigrette, and our annual stabby cake to celebrate the feast of St. Michael. St. Michael cast the devil into Hell, traditionally with a sword, and so I make a devil's food cake and my kids all get to stab it with toothpicks after we say the St. Michael prayer.
Tuesday: I chopped up the few pieces of remaining chicken parmesan and added that to the leftover pasta. We also had cucumbers with salt and vinegar, and pear sauce for dessert.
Wednesday: Scrambled eggs, baked beans, cornbread, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream
Thursday: Macaroni and cheese, leftover baked beans, carrot sticks with ranch dip, chocolate chip-peanut butter cookies
Tonight: We're due for some red meat, so I'll get some ground beef out to thaw. Final form to be determined, but I'm thinking probably Salisbury steaks with gravy, mashed potatoes, and a tomato salad.
@kristin @ going country, I remember your account of your family's Michaelmas ritual from last year, and it's delightful.
This Michaelmas, of course, was the first anniversary of the interment of my DH's ashes. Grad School BFF and I paid a visit to DH's grave when she was here a couple of weeks ago, and she agreed wholeheartedly that DH--snug in a lovely country meadow, next to one of his favorite llama friends, with a bluebird house overlooking them both--is in "a happy place."
@kristin @ going country,
I've done the King cake for Shrove Tuesday, but I've not heard of stabby cake. I love it.
@JD, I don't think it's a common thing. I forget where I saw a mention of it online many years ago, but it was something that just kind of stuck for us. St. Michael is a favorite household saint, and I had/have lots of boys who of course were thrilled to be able to stab cake. And eat it. 🙂
@A. Marie, I like the bluebird house. That seems happy indeed.
Kristen, night shifts are not for everyone. A few tricks that worked for me was: light, health snacks , minimal exposure to light after your night shift. Light exercise upon waking, limit caffeine intake.
Money spent this week: 85 at the grocery store and 40 at A&W
We ate in no particular order:
Chickpea and cauliflower curry ( so good)
Tomato pie and zuppa Toscano ( which was so good, but I ended up having a gall bladder attack from the pie crust)
Bread pudding/ sweet strata
Salad and club sandwiches
Salad and rottesserie chicken
A&W -teen burgers, fries, sweet potato fries and onion rings... We shared the sides)
I've used up a large chunk for our veggie box this week.I made apple sauce, tomato soup so far. I have more apples to.use, plus beets and zucchini. 🙂
I'll be planning out our meals.for the next 2 weeks or so. Canadian Thanksgiving is on the 13th, I'm not sure if we will have turkey or ham that day. 🙂 I do know that we will be making salsa next week...
happy Friday.
Good luck with the night shifts! I do not envy you, as I would not do well at all. Thankful that it's only temporary for you!
I am back from an unbelievable South African Safari. Being my husband's "meal service" as he loses weight, I can say I arrive back in the nick of time. 14 days of three meals of sealed and frozen entrees had just run out. He lost another 2 pounds.
For my two weeks of travel, my focus on meals was simple: Protein and whatever fruit and veggies I could find. I came home with an appreciation of the incredible variety and abundance of California's Central Valley's produce.
Breakfasts: Skipped the flour based baked goods. Lots of plain yogurt and dried fruit available. I would add a T. of jam.
Lunches: Whatever fish/ chicken was being served. Filled the plate with 3 quarters whatever the salad was, add a regional treat.
Dinners: I skipped dinners half the nights. Bare Bone Instant Chicken Broth sticks to the rescue. I added half a Knorr boullion cube. I would have two cups a night and that was dinner for a 20 grams of protein win.
I weighed this morning. I didn't gain a pound.
@Mary Ann, a hearty AMEN about the availability and abundance and quality of produce in our valley!
You managed your eating in a very admirable way on your trip. I’m still in awe of the prep you did for your husband.
When I worked night shifts, I’d end up eating evening breakfast before my shift and morning breakfast after, with lunch food in the middle of the night. I still work a lot of weekends but I’m very glad that overnights are behind me.
Kale salad with tahini dressing on Monday (one of my 9-year-old’s preferred ways to eat vegetables, oddly), lentil soup with spinach and lemon on Tuesday, tofu and rice and green beans on Wednesday, invited to a friend’s house for post-Yom Kippur bagels on Thursday, crockpot chicken legs with roasted broccoli and potatoes and challah planned for tonight.
I had to do night shift for one week while we were missing a key employee and I have decided it is not for me. I felt like a werewolf when the week was over! There is always the possibility that I will have to do a random overnight shift here or there - such is the nature of being the call tech. This week:
M - made a mini beef Shepherd's Pie that fed me two meals
T - Beef Fajita Salad
W - had a salad because I ate a huge lunch at Luby's of liver and onions, okra, sweet potatoes
Th - ate the leftover Shepherd's Pie which was even better than the first night, as leftovers often are (:
F - I am taking dinner to work: a skillet chicken thigh with TJ's mac and cheese, seasoned peas
S&S - kitchen is closed but I have meals all ready to take to work
Happy Crocktober! Time to haul mine out and put it to work!
How did you manage to get mostly days when you're the newbie? I would have expected you'd be stuck on nights for a while until you gained some seniority? I'm glad this is just temporary for you though! 🙂
Well, I am lucky that a lot of ppl on my floor actually prefer nights!
And I say….they can have ‘em. Lol
@Kristen, back in the day, I preferred night shift, esp in the MICU. Day shift had to take the pts to scans/OR/procedures. Those beds with ventilators, 5-8 different IV’s, arterial lines & the like- it was always such a production. That rarely happened on night shift & I was appreciative of that. Plus, I was single, in my early 20’s & could easily sleep all day. Ahh- youth
Oh yes, I can imagine! We are not a critical care area, but our patients still sometimes have a lot of paraphernalia (particularly if they are a fresh ICU downgrade) and yes, any type of mobility is tough under those circumstances.
@Kristen, My friend is like that! She says they're less busy. She doesn't love them, of course.
So glad your string of night shifts is over and may it never happen again.
Haha, well, I am almost through this string of three. Then I have two nights off, and am back again for three nights.
But after THAT I have four days off, and then I'm on day shifts.
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $54 ($29 at Target and $25 at Aldi).
- Fried egg on toast
- Indian naan sandwich
- Salad
- Roasted cauliflower, potatoes, peppers and onions (x2)
- Sweet 'n' sour cabbage and potatoes
- Homemade tomato bisque
WIS: $19.50 at the Regional Market, $8 at the grocery outlet, and $39 at Price Chopper.
WIA: My two best efforts were angel hair pasta with a homemade sauce (to use up the last of my tomatoes and peppers), and a beef stew (to use up some leftover red wine from Grad School BFF's visit and some aging mushrooms). I'm in "clean out the fridge and pantry" mode before I leave for the JASNA Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.
@A. Marie, safe travels. enjoy your trip.
I tried working night shift and never adjusted. It just did not work. I'm so thankful some people thrive on nights though. Hang in there - you will soon be through this.
Friday: Leftover Arancini Casserole
Saturday: My husband and I went to a local burger place for an easy dinner after my second ever round of golf.
Sunday: Cajun Chicken Pasta
Monday: Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers (these were good but I would tweak the recipe a bit if I make it again), French bread
Tuesday: Shredded Spicy Beef Sandwiches, fresh veggies with ranch dip
Wednesday: Leek and Potato Soup, French bread
Thursday: Use What We Have Casserole – I picked up the wrong kind of condensed soup for a recipe so I mixed it with ground beef, cabbage, the last of some frozen hash browns, onion, green pepper, celery, and the last of some cream cheese. My husband and son gobbled it up.
CSA veggies used: cabbage, potatoes, peppers, onion, apple, celery, mushrooms, leeks
Being up for night shifts wouldn't bother me, but sleeping during the day would kill me. By night 3, I would be a mess. My body does not sleep or nap during the day no matter what I do.
I spent: $56.25
We ate:
Sat: We ate lunch out at a new place. I had carbonara that was excellent.
Sun: Fried chicken sandwich and salad
Mon: ham & potato soup and salad
Tues: pulled pork bbq, potato salad, green beans
Wed: smoked sausage and potato casserole and fresh veggies
Thu: fried rice with beef and veggies
Fri: burgers, tots, and salad
My father was the only person I knew personally who could switch shifts and barely notice. He could sleep any time of day and even sleep "ahead" some for the start of a new night shift. I could never do that. Bless your heart, Kristen.
WIS: I didn't go shopping, although I picked up some trash bags the other day - but that's not food, so I don't really count it.
WIA: I had trouble tracking my meals this week, for some reason. Let's see what I came up with:
I thawed cooked turkey from the freezer and had it over cauliflower rice with sides of sautéed zucchini and mushrooms and homemade cranberry sauce. I think I had this twice.
I had ground pork, cabbage, onion, carrot, bell pepper and mushroom "curry", although it was more like a stir-fry. I know I had this twice.
I made picadillo and had it over some of the cauliflower rice. Cucumbers on the side. Leftover picadillo stuffed into a baked sweet potato made an easy lunch, too.
I know I finished off the Thai-type soup.
I think that's correct... maybe. Tonight is possibly fish. Time will tell.
@JD, my son works shift work (switches every 2 weeks). He has hypersomnia, so he sleeps any time at all. He takes medication when he is working to help stay awake. Because of the hypersomnia, shift work doesn't bother him much at all. The level of tired he feels is the same day or night and sleeping or shifting schedules is no biggie for him...he just goes to bed and sleeps. Could never happen for me.
@Marlena, my kind of person. Does he sleep sitting up in a chair also? That is how I nap on the weekends (and "zen" for 30 minutes of my lunch hour).
I feel your pain.I absolutely could not work nights.I had to do some too,for nursing orientation.. but all my jobs after that HAD TO BE day shift.I get really sick when I have to switch time zones or shift work..I can’t sleep in the day, my migraines will come back,evidently my body is really attached to its circadian rhythm!
Sooo.. sending hugs as you get through the rest of these sifts then back to your morning and life routines!!
This is basically me on international work trips. All of the jet lag & my body just falls apart. The first couple of days I'm back are also disasters. I'm appreciating my life so much this weekend, because its' the first weekend in a long time i'm neither traveling, nor jet lagged. And I'm so incredibly grateful to feel well rested & have the whole day in front of me! (I took today off, in exchange for my travel snafus last weekend.)
Saturday - skipped dinner, jet lagged. Sat by the pool with DH & had a glass of wine & chatted.
Sunday - DH grilled burgers
Monday - I defrosted taco meat from the freezer, and some had salads, others had tacos.
Tuesday - leftover burgers
Wednesday - leftover tacos for some. Others had samosas. DS19's GF stopped by, and she joined us for samosas as well.
Thursday - I made this super delicious ravioli from Trader Joes - goat cheese & carmelized onion. Very delicious. We had that with chicken.
Friday - I think I will make chicken noodle soup, as DS19 isn't feeling great. He can have that when he gets back from work.
We have been dealing with a sick older dog. ( much loved). I phoned it in this week …
Vegetable soup
Sam’s chicken salad on salad and on sourdough
Grilled chicken on a Sam’s salad from the bag
Frozen pizza
Subs and air fryer Aldi fries
Did not get take out but did use convenience items! Life is like that sometimes.
Night shift. WAH. Stay strong!
May you be surrounded by happy memories. Your husband’s resting place sounds beautiful.
The medical community, which definitely knows better, to require all types of medical personnel to work shifts that find these individuals groggy, exhausted, and basically not functioning to a needed capacity.
Doctors operate starting at 5 or 6 am (and go for hours afterwards). How much sleep have they had?
Nurses working 12 hour shifts? Is your nurse being a bit off, grumpy? Well, you'd be too with working 12 hours straight. I get that individuals like that so they have multiple days off. That's all well and good but if you can't be totally present and truly functioning for 12 hours, please change the length of your shifts.
I would bet money that a huge percentage of medical errors are the result of human fatigue. I have seen residents who look as if they are going to drop. And I'm supposed to believe they know what they are doing and saying in every moment and treating me? I can't tell you how many times, thankfully, nurses have caught the relatively minor (but still life threatening) mistakes/errors/omissions from PAs, NPs, MDs and the like.
It is of course, at its heart about saving money by reducing staff load (As a company who may provide staff health insurance, you pay less employing 10 people instead of 20, even though you are paying for hours needed anyway.)
I am glad you will not be doing night shift. And if they ask down the line, I urge you to say NO. Out of true respect for your patients.
Same applies to day shift. I could easily work a night shift, but ask me to show by 7 am, meaning I'd be up at least one to two hours before that, and I'd say: No way, can't do it.
If someone working the night shift either can't or won't bring food, are there facilities on the premises where they can get food?
@Irena, In our area, the 12 hour shifts has nothing to do with saving a penny, but has everything to do with having ENOUGH people to work.
I am still trying to figure out how longer shifts could save a hospital money, given that it's a 24-hour operation, and that people still work around 40 hours a week. No matter how you slice up those 40 hours, you'd still need the same amount of staff to cover a hospital for 168 hours a week.
Yes! The cafeteria opens up for several hours in the middle of the night for night shift workers. 🙂
@Kristen, and haven't they changed it where residents aren't working copious amounts of hours thus running on fumes?
I racked (wracked?) my brain to remember and put down what I had this week. And then lost it but I'm sure this my fault as, my laptop is at the techspital and I'm doing this on the phone.
I do want to chime in on working nights. I do it because 1) usually the heavy work is not going on which is necessary for my age. 2) Treatment modalities are not there which means my list of work is straight forward and not sabotaged by requests of other departments. 3) Less ancillary population (think administration) in the house. I do not do well with chaos.
Disadvantages: hard on body/circadian rythym, neighborhood activities are during the day. I would still rather work nights.
I'm so glad there are people like you out there who prefer nights!
I remember the extreme backlash my body went thru on night shift. I am not a high functioning night shift person.
Too many years of waking up at 4:30 to do chores.
WIS - $0
Sunday - spaghetti dinner for 15, roasted veggies, corn and apple pie.
M - Cobb salads
T - chorizo zucchini frittata, Waldorf salad
W - grilled moose burgers and green salad
Th - tacos
Fri - fresh salmon, cucumber, sweet onion, tomato salad, coleslaw
Sat, Sun & Mon work
If you see something brighter than the sun, it's just me playing, er I mean working on my new tractor!
Kristin, I eat more when I miss sleep. The body is trying to find missing energy.
I spent $50-ish on people food. Made a salad and ham sandwiches, as DH was sick and only wanted sandwiches and fruit. I had some homemade single-serve stuff from the freezer: potato-ham soup and spicy rice with chicken and black beans.
Hang in there!
I've been doing night shifts every night for the last 3 months. Along with day shifts. By which I mean, I'm caring for my infant daughter. She's a very demanding boss. ;-) Anyway, it's a hard stage. Glad that won't be your typical schedule!
Haha yes, in that sense I did nights for many years too! But you do have a cuter patient when it's your own baby. 😉
I can't begin to imagine what it's like to work nights on a regular basis. I've always had office jobs that I worked during the day. When I was in the military for many years sometimes I had to work nights or beyond 24-hour duty, but not very often. My body clock would be all messed up, too. I guess once you get used to it you'd be all right, but I imagine it's always a shock in the beginning. I just don't think our bodies are designed to be awake at night.
WIS, WWA
I spent $ 72 at Kroger and $199 at Sam's (the largest portion was for strip steaks for Sunday steak days @ $14.98 a lb! – But it's still cheaper than eating a steak dinner out.)
– Sunday – grilled strip steaks, baked sweet potatoes, sauteed ratatouille made with squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green pepper, onions and garlic.
– Monday – bagged meal of chickpea curry, served with jasmine rice, egg rolls.
– Tuesday – chicken teriyaki made in the microwave with onions, pineapple chunks, green pepper, served with egg rolls and ramen noodles.
– Wednesday – soup & sandwiches, chips. (I ate lunch out with friends so we ate light)
– Thursday – shrimp stir fry with broccoli, onions, carrots, water chestnuts over brown rice.
– Friday – out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant with friends visiting from out of town.
My DH is the only person I know that worked nights and still had a life. I say that our relationship imroved when he started telling guy friends to stop asking their wives what they did during the day. He already knew what we did and they didn't want to know. And if they judged they could find a new friend. I had 2 small kids at home with a seasonal more that full time job getting things done around that was hard. He stopped working night but always remembered that you can pick up the whole house and in 5 minutes they can completely trash it.
I feel you on the wonky schedule. I’m all thrown off being on sick leave too. It’s driving me nuts.
WIS: I think my husband and son spent about 180 @ Aldi. I could look it up, but I’m too lazy.
WWA:
Fri: salad and focaccia but made with mustard, chicken deli meat and slices of Swiss cheese inside the dough. It was a tasty change of pace.
Sat: lots of leftovers including pasta carbonara, watermelon, roasted Parmesan radish stems, chips and homemade salsa, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt and avocados.
Sun: watermelon, salad and stuffed shells using blended cottage cheese and pumpkin chipotle pasta sauce from Aldi. This was delicious-no leftovers.
Mon: I lied. There was leftover salad and watermelon. We polished it off along with homemade ramen bowls which included soy eggs, salmon burger patties, teriyaki seaweed and vegan kimchi.
Tue: peaches and plums as our salad, rice and beans using cannellini beans and acorn squash. This was very good topped with Asiago cheese and chipotle cholula.
Wed: herb crusted salmon (from Aldi), mashed sweet potatoes, jasmine rice and sweet and spicy kale.
Thu: breakfast for dinner: cranberry sage chicken sausage (seasonal Aldi item), scrambled eggs with Monterey Jack cheese and topped with diced tomatoes , broiled fruit (grapefruit, apple slices, nectarine slices and plum halves) topped with a little bit of sugar and tajin, and twisted soft pretzels from Aldi’s freezer section.
Tonight: focaccia and maybe some frozen veg in lieu of salad. I’m astonishingly out of fresh greens, but I’m picking up a farm share tomorrow, so the salad equilibrium will soon be restored.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
PS For anyone who is interested, I am in the process of being cleared to go back to work soon. My chemo will start in November, but I still need to have my port placed. I am being stubborn and insisting on an arm placement which has all the radiologists up in arms. (Pun intended.) My doctors support me though, so hopefully it’ll just take a bit of cheerleading to make it happen. “You can do it, if you try! An arm placement won’t make me cry!”
Yay for you being close to getting back to work. I bet that will feel great to you!
I am not on anyone's normal sleep schedule--I have taken to calling my meals meal 1, meal 2, and meal 3.
I am very much a diurnal being, so I sympathize completely! My sister (recently retired RN) worked the night shift at a major Boston hospital for decades. This also meant she was on a different schedule from almost all her friends and family, so she had to flip her sleep/wake times on days off and vacation in order to socialize with other humans. I don't know how she did it. She switched to days a few years ago, and that was so much nicer (and being retired is even better yet!)
Here's hoping you are eventually able to get on a consistent day schedule. I guess there are some people who prefer nights due to the pay differential or sometimes it works better for childcare scenarios.
Sounds brutal. Overnight shifts. Good job eating healthy meals. They sound delicious! ?
Ohhh night shifts. Wow! It is a different world. Please be extra kind to yourself. Get plenty of sleep. It is good to hear you will be on days soon.. Take very very good care of you.
I've been working nights for over 5 years. Messes with your sleep schedule, and most people who work days think nothing of calling/texting you when you're sleeping!!
I did myself proud on most dinners this week. To use up a couple of poached chicken thighs, I chopped them and sautéed with onions and Turkish spices (urfa peppers, sumac, salt and pepper), rolled them into crepes, and covered all with homemade béchamel sauce. Delicious. Served with steamed broccoli and sourdough bread. DH loves crepes and this effort gave us three meals!
Also lentil soup in the Instant Pot. Hearty, but the recipe is a little heavy. Improved it by adding chopped bratwurst.
Cooked extra oatmeal for breakfast to use up the big box; not all of it fit into my canister. It was nice to have oatmeal to simply microwave but I don't think it tasted as good as when eaten on the same day.
The good thing about cooking is that another day comes around to do something better.
@Kristen - if I could, I'd send you a genetic influx so nights wouldn't be so bad. Truth be told, if I could work 3rd again I would (full disclosure - I am on-call and mostly have been on-call every day since June 1). Work on getting in a nap - might be against your grain at first but even if you don't fully fall asleep (babysitter sleep), your mind and body are resting/relaxing. Put a golf match on your TV, great program to which to sleep - C-Span might work too. After sitting up for a bit after lunch, might be the best time (it is for me). A few times a year I have a 10 pm to 6 am shift on the weekend.
Back when I worked 3rd shift, I'd go back to "first shift schedule". I'd get up Monday morning and not go to bed until Tuesday morning. I could probably still do it now providing I worked from home.
Keep in mind that there could come a day when a health crisis/major accident requires nights/long hours.
Stay strong - you can do this!! Glad you're already to the halfway point of these night shifts - feels good to mark off the progress. And please do know that you are making an amazing difference in the lives of your patients!
We were on vacation so I can’t attest to what we ate or spent (kind of brain dead at this point, sitting at the airport), but, as a night shift nurse, my advice to all “new to night shifters” is, try to nap a couple of hours before work. If you can’t nap, at least lay down and rest.
My routine is, day of, I spend the morning meal prepping for my 3 shifts, getting clothes ready, running errands. I eat a light meal mid morning (cottage cheese and fruit or something like it). Then nap, and get ready. I usually drink a Fairlife protein shake with a bit of creatine, some cold brew concentrate (so it tases like a mocha), and maybe some extra protein powder. I do have to take a big gulp of it prior to adding those! I drink that on my way to work, or shortly after arrival. I sometimes eat a small snack around 9:30 or 10, then dinner between 1 and 2. I usually don’t have time after that to eat until I leave work. So, if I’m prepared, I eat something small in the car on the way home, or, have yogurt or cottage cheese when I get home, then sleep. I tend to eat healthier, and less on my work shifts. I try to listen to my body as far as when to eat, and how much during the shift, although sometimes babies don’t cooperate with my schedule hah!
I have friends who don’t eat at all during the shift, others stop at midnight. My brain, and stomach need food to function (at least that’s what I tell my self!) If nothing else, I’m not hangry. 🙂 Best of luck if you have to do it again!
I would be a complete husk if I had to work nights!
I cannot remember the order of these meals but I know I ate a veggie stir-fry with beans, chilli mac and cheese and burritos with mixed vegetables, rice and beans. Yesterday I went out for pizza at lunchtime with some friends, so I just had a sweet baked potato with some beans and vegetables when I got back.
I started a new job this week. They’re supposed to accommodate my vegetarian eating but it’s been patchy at best. I had go macro bars & vegan protein shakes for 3 dinner, root veggies & cottage cheese for another, and I think I forgot to eat dinner my first day at work cause I came home and showered and went to bed.
I’m adjusting to 10 hour shifts, I think 12 hrs and switching to nights would be too much for me!
sorry you are confuzzled right now. but it will pass. fyi inmho your stomach doesn't know what time it is. at least mine doesn't. sending you lots of love. be kind to yourself, you deserve it.
I worked nine years as a cardiac nurse on nights. For the first year, my body would not tolerate a full meal during my shift, so I ate popcorn, veggies & hummus with a lemonade. Every. Night. Shift. for a year! There are a few people who thrive on nights, and there are the rest of us who endure it for other reasons. I was Team Endurance for sure! Best of luck to you as you push through those last few nights.
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