Feeding oneself while working to deadline

[mizducky]

I have a work-related deadline that falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the final push towards it started this week (which is why I have not been as obsessively present on eGullet the past couple of days as has become my habit ). Because of that looming deadline, my food prep and consumption has gotten extremely makeshift in the past couple of days. Yesterday, I was basically nailed to my computer all day and most of the night, and didn't even find enough time to run out for take-out fast-food, let alone to cook anything more involved than the bowl of spaghetti with jarred sauce that wound up being dinner. Today at least I was out of the house on an errand, so was able to hit the Jack-in-the-Box drive-through on the way back--I would have preferred making a detour to the 99 Ranch for takeout, but I feared being late for a meeting.

I recall all-nighters and exam-crams in college and grad school, where we'd eat the most outrageous junk-food crap and drink pots of coffee. I also recall grinding towards deadlines at various computer companies, during which we'd give the vending machines in the nearest staff kitchen a major workout. And nowadays there's the typical marathon-rehearsal procedure of ordering a pile o' pizza to be delivered.

And when I'm grinding at the deadline by myself at home, food can sometimes get *real* primitive--howzabout harried-person's nachos? Pile bunch o' tortilla chips in microwave-safe container. Top with several slices of cheese. Nuke till cheese melts. Slop some salsa on top. Inhale. Repeat as necessary. Or even more primitive--just haul the bag of tortilla chips and several slices of cheese into the office and inhale those while hacking away on the computer?

So--what are other folks' true confessions about the food you consume when there is simply no time or extra energy to even breathe, let alone cook?

[cathrynapple]

prewashed, strung, and bagged sugar snap peas. and glace cherries out of the tub, which aren't quite so healthy. hahah.

[carswell]

A freelancer who often works to very tight deadlines, I regularly find myself in this position. My strategies are several. I almost always cook one big batch of something reheatable or recyclable on the weekend when I have a little more time: stew, chili, lentil or bean soup, a roast. I also avail myself of the frozen prepared main courses on offer at a couple of local butchers; some of them are quite good (venison stew, quail with cognac, cassoulet, etc.). A whole rotisserie chicken in the fridge is a source of comfort as well as nutrition. The roasts and chicken are usually eaten warm the first time around and as additions to a salade canaille (the salad version of a Dagwood sandwhich) in subsequent incarnations (I'm not a big sandwich person). I also have a small repertory of ultraquick-from-scratch pasta dishes, recipes for a couple of which I posted in a thread the then-kitchenless Varmint started a while back. If you cook your rice the day or three before, egg-fried rice (stir-fried egg, rice and green onion in its most basic form) takes no more than 10 minutes to prepare. Tuna and bean salad is a lifesaver: combine a rinsed and drained 19-oz can of white kidney beans, a drained can of tuna (preferably packed in olive oil) and half a red onion thinly sliced; dress with high-quality red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. Cheese, bread, sliced pear and some watercress. Salad of arugula, crispy pancetta, black olives and parmesan shavings dressed in olive oil and lemon juice. As the lady sang, "these are a few of my favourite things."

edit: Sorry. I misunderstood the intent of your post. Breakfast cereal, sometimes straight from the box sans milk, is about as low as I regularly go, though a few weeks ago I plowed through an entire container of powdered almonds (bought for a tart but absolutely the only thing in the pantry) and followed it up with half a small jar of honey (straight from the jar, no bread in the house). Alcohol is out 'cause I need every last brain cell for work, especially when pulling an all-nighter. It is welcome as a way of puching out at the end of a session, however, and is sometimes necessary to stop the mental gears from spinning at 3 or 4 a.m.

Edited November 11, 2005 by carswell (log)

[jsolomon]

I have a school deadline tomorrow, and I'm feeding myself with port and spiked hot chocolate.

[Trishiad]

Toast with butter and jam or cereal (kashi or cheerios usually)

[snowangel]

Hard cooked eggs. Cook them up and while you are waiting for the coffee maker finish dripping, peel them all and put them in a zip lock. You can chop up on those leftover salad greens that are going to go bad soon. Cut them in half, top with a dollop of mayo and pretend they are deconstructed deviled eggs. Or, just eat them whole, while sitting at the computer, salt shaker and pepper grinder at hand.

[Fat Guy]

Every time I have such a deadline I tell myself this time it's going to be different: this time I'm going to plan ahead, I'm going to prepare some good stuff and keep it on hand, I'm going to block out small but usable chunks of time for real meals . . . . And every time I fail.

Rock bottom for me is when I just eat cheese. It's alarming how much cheese I can eat, unaccompanied by anything else, while typing furiously at the computer. I can easily eat a pound of mozzarella without even noticing. That's probably why my keyboard is such a mess and my space bar make a weird groaning noise every time I push it with my right thumb (it sounds fine if I push it with my left thumb).

[SuzySushi]

Dried fruit (mango, apricots, raisins -- depending on what I have in the house) as a keep-up-my-energy snack. Frozen sliced bread, straight out of the freezer (I can hold it with one hand while typing with the other). Cheese. Turkey slices, eaten as I stand at the refrigerator. Cookies.

Edited November 11, 2005 by SuzySushi (log)

[Yuki]

I am currently in a midterm exam/assignment/lab cycle now(which should end on Tues, but then final exam cycle would be coming soon ) so I spend a lot of time eating in the school.

I live off of fruits(mandarin orange, banana, apples, grapes and anything that doesn't require a knife), noodles(instant noodles, shrimp roe noodles, and instant macaroni(Thai Tom Yum Goong Flavor) all cooked by the microwave ), and whole wheat crackers with canned flavored tuna. I usually have them in my locker so I don't have to buy food from the school everyday. Of course if my sister is feeling generous then she would pack lunch and dinner for me.

[PCL]

That's probably why my keyboard is such a mess and my space bar make a weird groaning noise every time I push it with my right thumb (it sounds fine if I push it with my left thumb).

←

Thumb strength differential... interesting...

anyway, i've been working late most nights this week, in the office, and it's been difficult.

at 7pm or so, I raid the kitchen for biscuits due to low blood sugar levels. no coffee, because i need steady hands ( i draw a lot)

then around 8.30/9pm I have to resist the urge to call the pizza joint. running down the street for a souvlaki has worked wonders now and then. but the pearler this week came about when a bunch of us took turns over 2 nights to bring in food from home... our wives delivered on time, at 8am, straight into the office oven and we had lasagna one night and meatloaf the next... no salad, no vegies... yeah...

[Mayhaw Man]

Good Lord, who has all that time to eat food when there's important paying work to be done? I had a deadline up last night. Turned it in two hours before I recieved that "you'll never work in this town again" email from the editor (who is a lovely woman and a kindhearted soul if there ever was one-thanks for your patience and kindness. May your house be blessed with many, many wonderful things-always).

COFFEE, dammit! That's all you need to motivate you to finish anything. EVER! IT IS THE SUSTAINING LIQUID OF LIFE! IF YOU AREN'T GETTING YOUR STUFF DONE, YOU AREN'T DRINKING ENOUGH COFFEE!

Need more calories? Put lots of SUGAR in it. Still need more? MILK. Milk has all kinds of life sustaining stuff in it. If you are really going down, that fake creamer stuff is chock full of CORN SYRUP SOLIDS which means that it's corn and it's solid, so it's FOOD.

Edited to say:

Ummm. I might have overdone it on the coffee tonight. Sorry

[spaghetttti]

Ummm. I might have overdone it on the coffee tonight. Sorry

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I've noticed that when we're trying to beat the clock, the office is filled with mugs of black coffee and bowls of instant ramen.

[PCL]

See, for some of us, coffee can't be had due to the shakes... i find tea to be better...

Yetty, bet the coffee's from the Evil Empire

[spaghetttti]

Ahem, tidak mungkin sayang. We get our kopi from here. Hmmm, green tea sounds good.

Coffee, cigarettes (not for moi), instant mie.

I also try to get some nasi goreng or siumai from the carts out in front of the office.

[*Deborah*]

Cheese! I conveniently forget about the fat and say, oh! protein! it's pretty filling, too.

Triscuits.

Peek Freans Digestive biscuits, which are somehow, in my mind, more healthy than other cookies.

In the absence of anything else, chocolate chips or other chocolate. Occasionally will fry a couple of eggs while waiting for the espresso machine to heat.

Anything that I can stuff a unit into my mouth and get on with it, chewing.

[Mayhaw Man]

See, for some of us, coffee can't be had due to the shakes... i find tea to be better...

Yetty, bet the coffee's from the Evil Empire

←

With enough coffee, the shakes will be magically cured. Insufficient amounts of caffiene can be an issue, but once you ingest enough of that black magic, you will find that the shakes just magically disappear.

[mizducky]

Rock bottom for me is when I just eat cheese. It's alarming how much cheese I can eat, unaccompanied by anything else, while typing furiously at the computer. I can easily eat a pound of mozzarella without even noticing. That's probably why my keyboard is such a mess and my space bar make a weird groaning noise every time I push it with my right thumb (it sounds fine if I push it with my left thumb).

←

Having inhaled mass quantities of cheese while working, I can totally identify with this. And with the funked-up keyboard too, though cheese is not the main culprit there.

COFFEE, dammit! That's all you need to motivate you to finish anything. EVER! IT IS THE SUSTAINING LIQUID OF LIFE! IF YOU AREN'T GETTING YOUR STUFF DONE, YOU AREN'T DRINKING ENOUGH COFFEE! [...]

Ummm. I might have overdone it on the coffee tonight. Sorry

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Quite alright--been there, done that, only reason I can't do it anymore is because I did it so much that it massively contributed to my first major bout with GERD. But I remember a landmark two weeks of all-nighters at the end of my freshman year of college--holed up in a study room with my coffeemaker and study-stuff, drank mass quantities o' java all night, indulged in a little "herbal relaxicant" so I could stop vibrating enough to grab a couple hours of sleep ... wash, rinse, repeat. For two whole weeks. I managed, by that effort alone, to turn what was going to be an F for one course into a C+ ... and spent the next three days or so sleeping it all off.

(Edited to fix idjit typos--maybe I do need to hit the caffeine again! )

Edited November 11, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[fou de Bassan]

Oh man,

Pots of tea, almonds, yogurt and salami and a huge bag of chips

[gingerfreak]

Cheese and crackers - cheese MUST be melted, sometimes with meat slices or salsa, etc. on top. Sometimes veggies (i.e. zucchini slices) sub for the crackers.

Handfuls of cereal - especially when I was back in school. I think it was more psychological.

If the deadline was really serious, black coffee (well I always drink coffee black - black magic indeed) - though I usually never did too well when overcaffeinated.

Apple slices dipped in yogurt.

And when all else fails, CHOCOLATE!

And regarding the keyboard, heh..I've had to replace two already due to uh, irreparable food-related damage...

[Terrasanct]

Nuts are good. Sometimes I just get too impatient to eat at all but I know I have to have something. I'm a cheese lover, too. I buy South Beach bars for when I know I have to leave in a hurry but want some protein. They're not bad.

[Gul_Dekar]

Peek Freans Digestive biscuits, which are somehow, in my mind, more healthy than other cookies.

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I have a box of them right on top of my computer monitor! My other fav is the Pecan Passion, although it tastes a bit different now that they've changed the packaging. It used to be more buttery & crumbly I remember, which was nice.

I also do bread, mini rice crackers (Pin Pin) and coconut crackers/biscuits from Chinatown.

[mizducky]

Just did the Classic Midnight Supermarket Run, to lay in provisions for the next stint of madness. Four liters of diet pop, big ol' bag of tortilla chips, big ol' jar of salsa ... and a two-pound block of Tillamook medium cheddar. With these, I will either conquer the world ... or come down with some kind of deficiency disease. Maybe both, I dunno.

Erm ... y'know, I forgot about how much caffeine Diet Coke contains.

Especially when one drinks a super-sized "cup" of the stuff. bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt...

Edited November 11, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[jackal10]

REAL Programmers don't eat quiche. They like Twinkies, Coke and delivered palate-scorching Szechwan food. Oh and lukewarm pizza in cardboard boxes

REAL Programmers don't bring brown bag lunches. If the vending machine sells it, they eat it. If the machine doesn't sell it, they don't eat it.

Real Programmers turn coffee into code

...

[mizducky]

REAL Programmers don't eat quiche. They like Twinkies, Coke and delivered palate-scorching Szechwan food.  Oh and lukewarm pizza in cardboard boxes

REAL Programmers don't bring brown bag lunches. If the vending machine sells it, they eat it. If the machine doesn't sell it, they don't eat it.

Real Programmers turn coffee into code

...

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Not only coffee, but also Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper. And beer. Mustn't forget the beer as periodic positive enforcement.

And among some circles, REAL programmers have built-in radar for any free food left over from any meeting. Thirty seconds after the conference room is vacated, the vultures descend.

Erm. Not that I have any personal experience with such behavior. Heaven forfend, and all that.

[jackal10]

Thirty seconds? You lot are sluggish.

In thirty seconds its long gone round here...