Hey guys,

Age: 30
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 155lbs

I've just started training and need to up my daily calorie intake and start eating more often during the day as I am trying to add muscle and bulk up a bit.

My main problem has always been time! Whether it be the time to prepare decent meals to take with me to work or the time taken out to eat more often.

I work as a sales rep and so am on the road visiting customer/clients etc all day every day. So I need to be able to take food with me for the whole day.
Up to now this has just consisted of my making myself a sandwich in the morning and taking an apple, banana and a bottle of water.

Now I am not much of an inventive cook and can just about manage pasta and chicken and real basic stuff. I've been racking my brain to think of anything else I can take and have only come up with tuna and pasta or chicken and pasta!

So what I'm really looking for as any tips or advice from anyone about what is easy to cook or prepare for me to take with me. But bare in mind it will sit in a cool bag in my car most of the day.

What would also be handy is tips of foods I can make in a large batch and store in my fridge so I don't have to be doing this every day.

And I don't really wanna be spending a fortune on weird and wonderful ingredients if necessary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

The main things that help me get my calories while staying clean are: Whole grain pasta, Brown Rice, Natural Peanut butter. They all pack a big caloric punch

milk, protein shakes, protein bars, almonds, home made beef jerky, cottage cheese and hard boiled eggs.

Nuts. Avocado. Peanut Butter. Hummus. Whole wheat/grain crackers or even pretzels to go with those.

You can make your own 'trail mix' out of nuts and dried fruits too.

You can make your own 'cereal mix' out of healthy cereals/granolas (e.g., Go Lean or another high protein cereal).

Suggestion on the preparation - on the weekends grill some chicken breasts and lean beef for the week and keep in your fridge. Also boil enough eggs to last you a few days.

Meal replacement powders (MRP) are also a good choice to keep your calories up. You can prepare these ahead of time by putting the powder in a shaker bottle to take with you and just add water later.