I’m currently at drill with my National Guard unit, and we were told we were having lunch at a local establishment. It was a fixed lunch, and basically, we will be getting served whatever they serve us. They made it sound like we won’t have the ability to pick and choose what we eat which will likely mean a very carb and grain-heavy lunch.

To prepare for meals like this, I always pack a bunch of food with me. I’ve done three annual training exercises (known as AT’s) this way as well as just about every drill weekend for the past three years. Here’s what I put in my food bag

RXBars. These are a staple. I eat them very slowly, and they are filling. They come in at around 210 calories, and for breakfast, I’ll typically eat one RXBar with some nuts or a fruit. At lunch or dinner, the RXBar will be augmented with another bar.

Grain Free Granola Bars. In this case, I’m using Autumn’s Gold, and these come in at 210 calories also. They taste good and are pretty filling in the morning coupled with a few small beef sticks.

Country Archer Beef Sticks. Each one of these little sticks has 50 calories, so I typically eat two of these with a breakfast if I don’t have nuts or fruit to eat with a bar.

Cave Man Dark Chocolate Almond Coconut bar. They are 220 calories of chocolate goodness that I put into meals when I need to sate a chocolate craving. I’ll use this as a finishing bar when I’m eating a dinner meal.

Nuts. I like almonds, but any real nuts will do. I’ll typically eat a handful (small handful), and I eat these very slowly. Nuts are dense in calories, but also very healthy, so I eat these sparingly.

Fruit. I am very careful when it comes to eating fruit because although fruit is naturally high in fiber and good for you, it’s still a lot of sugar, and I try to reduce the amount of carbs I eat. I enjoy an apple or orange with a nut bar from time to time as fruit is available.

Today, I’ll have an RXBar, a granola free bar, and a beef stick with me in my pocket just in case. I typically have two to three weeks’ worth of food with me at any time in one of my ruck sacks, and it gives me a safe way to refill the fuel tank with good, healthy foods and not be forced to eat high-carbs and non-Paleo foods.