Hi everyone,
During long sessions optimizing my production lines, it quickly becomes difficult to find time to eat properly. Snacks or small meals that can be prepared in two minutes and require little washing up would be perfect for staying focused on the factory. I've tried a few freeze-dried options, which are fine in a pinch, but I'm looking for alternatives that will really last for several hours of play. If you have any routines or ideas that work, I'd be very interested to hear them.
Quick meals for long gaming sessions
Re: Quick meals for long gaming sessions
Dried fruits and nuts 
Check out my latest mod ! It's noisy !
Re: Quick meals for long gaming sessions
Corn dog! They have a handle built-in, are easily microwaved, and probably will not kill you.
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coffee-factorio
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Re: Quick meals for long gaming sessions
Well, I can't follow my own advice: take that as a sign you need to take a break.
So if I can't follow my own advice. Here's what I've learned being a factory worker who needs cheap meals in a 30 minute break:
Keep it simple silly. If it's immediate food, it's stuff for that day that's gone in a week.
The long advice I can give:
The goal is to get, sugar, protien, a small amount of minerals and vitamins (vital amino acids).
If I where a smart man, I'd cook a mass of food ahead. So bulk foods like noodles, and treat those like components. So cold pizza, cold lasagna, meat loaf are things you want to look into being good at making.
If you're from a different culture, there's something that fits the bill of "we make a lot of it, through it in something salty and/or acidic to preserve it (like tomato sauce) and then we eat it for a week". Navy's, where the fun doesn't stop in a storm, like bread, dried beans, salted meat and fruit to prevent scurvy.
Navies like alcohol. Doesn't work for me, my father left a police officer's shoeprints on the ceiling once and the only reason he didn't go to jail was because of good conduct in the Army. I'd probably drink like Jack London and pass the same. Energy drinks, similar concept: ton of sugar, no nutrition but vitamin B, usually no alcohol but often additives to make a person as high as they legally can be like ginseng. Not something I do often.
Some things just bypass moderation to such an extent I can't recommend them. Better to take a minute to make a stiff cup of tea to think about what you need to do once you clear out the biters or finish a sorting line.
In the short term:
Rice noodles, aka "Ramen", cook very fast indeed. Oatmeal is more nutritious, and performs the same while marrying better with yogurt and peanut butter for protein and sugar. Sugar is not to be avoided in this context because you're fasting, you're not getting enough. But it is to be treated with caution because you need it and it is added by technical societies to everything in portions you don't directly control, the only thing worse is salt.
Cheese works very well like this. It's basically solidified yogurt; bunch of protein and sugar. Same theory with whey, it's the bitumen of the dairy world. Bitumen is used to make coke for steel furnaces and graphite, whey is instant protein, both are "the stuff left over at the bottom of the still".
Vegetables, wash them then put them in oil and vinegar so they last a bit more.
Always have fruit, it's b vitamins and sugar. Dried gives you less, but fresh spoils.
With prep, you have three concerns: molds, salmonella, and botulism.
Molds kill you in the long term and are made by not cleaning your work space. They put out toxins in the air, and it takes years to immediately hurt you. But once it does, from experience it'll destroy your life. Before it does, you'll act like you're high and won't know why things are failing on you.
This can be used if you get yeast and can recognize yeast. Because it makes alcohol, yes, but it also makes sourdough. Cheap, very delicious bread. And also yogurt with milk. If it's other mold though, it's going to poison you, and it works like a worse version of alcohol.
Salmonella, you don't see it, it makes you sick, and it will hurt old people bad. Once it's on something, the bacteria is easy as any to kill. The toxin it makes is washed off with water if possible but a small amount makes you sick. And you need to cook something so thoroughly it has no nutrition to destroy it.
Botulism, same story as salmonella only instant death, the bane of dairy products and canning. Toxin breaks down at a relatively low temperature, which is why botulism toxin is only for Tom Clancy books and murder mysteries. Bacteria lives in airless environments, which is why you don't give infants honey. But you can use honey as an instant snack.
So, always 2 minutes to clean. If you can do nothing else, boil some hot water and pour it over dishes. Heat melts fat, kills germs... won't remove toxins, you still have to scrub off crumbs. If you have good gloves and shoes, works on surfaces too. But you have to get the water up because mold. Or work in a fast food environment where you have chemicals that will peel your skin if you misapply.
These are all things that need to be noted with snacks because, every idea has a shelf life even the ones canned. If you see a bloated can of beans, botulism. Get rid of it.
So if I can't follow my own advice. Here's what I've learned being a factory worker who needs cheap meals in a 30 minute break:
Keep it simple silly. If it's immediate food, it's stuff for that day that's gone in a week.
The long advice I can give:
The goal is to get, sugar, protien, a small amount of minerals and vitamins (vital amino acids).
If I where a smart man, I'd cook a mass of food ahead. So bulk foods like noodles, and treat those like components. So cold pizza, cold lasagna, meat loaf are things you want to look into being good at making.
If you're from a different culture, there's something that fits the bill of "we make a lot of it, through it in something salty and/or acidic to preserve it (like tomato sauce) and then we eat it for a week". Navy's, where the fun doesn't stop in a storm, like bread, dried beans, salted meat and fruit to prevent scurvy.
Navies like alcohol. Doesn't work for me, my father left a police officer's shoeprints on the ceiling once and the only reason he didn't go to jail was because of good conduct in the Army. I'd probably drink like Jack London and pass the same. Energy drinks, similar concept: ton of sugar, no nutrition but vitamin B, usually no alcohol but often additives to make a person as high as they legally can be like ginseng. Not something I do often.
Some things just bypass moderation to such an extent I can't recommend them. Better to take a minute to make a stiff cup of tea to think about what you need to do once you clear out the biters or finish a sorting line.
In the short term:
Rice noodles, aka "Ramen", cook very fast indeed. Oatmeal is more nutritious, and performs the same while marrying better with yogurt and peanut butter for protein and sugar. Sugar is not to be avoided in this context because you're fasting, you're not getting enough. But it is to be treated with caution because you need it and it is added by technical societies to everything in portions you don't directly control, the only thing worse is salt.
Cheese works very well like this. It's basically solidified yogurt; bunch of protein and sugar. Same theory with whey, it's the bitumen of the dairy world. Bitumen is used to make coke for steel furnaces and graphite, whey is instant protein, both are "the stuff left over at the bottom of the still".
Vegetables, wash them then put them in oil and vinegar so they last a bit more.
Always have fruit, it's b vitamins and sugar. Dried gives you less, but fresh spoils.
With prep, you have three concerns: molds, salmonella, and botulism.
Molds kill you in the long term and are made by not cleaning your work space. They put out toxins in the air, and it takes years to immediately hurt you. But once it does, from experience it'll destroy your life. Before it does, you'll act like you're high and won't know why things are failing on you.
This can be used if you get yeast and can recognize yeast. Because it makes alcohol, yes, but it also makes sourdough. Cheap, very delicious bread. And also yogurt with milk. If it's other mold though, it's going to poison you, and it works like a worse version of alcohol.
Salmonella, you don't see it, it makes you sick, and it will hurt old people bad. Once it's on something, the bacteria is easy as any to kill. The toxin it makes is washed off with water if possible but a small amount makes you sick. And you need to cook something so thoroughly it has no nutrition to destroy it.
Botulism, same story as salmonella only instant death, the bane of dairy products and canning. Toxin breaks down at a relatively low temperature, which is why botulism toxin is only for Tom Clancy books and murder mysteries. Bacteria lives in airless environments, which is why you don't give infants honey. But you can use honey as an instant snack.
So, always 2 minutes to clean. If you can do nothing else, boil some hot water and pour it over dishes. Heat melts fat, kills germs... won't remove toxins, you still have to scrub off crumbs. If you have good gloves and shoes, works on surfaces too. But you have to get the water up because mold. Or work in a fast food environment where you have chemicals that will peel your skin if you misapply.
These are all things that need to be noted with snacks because, every idea has a shelf life even the ones canned. If you see a bloated can of beans, botulism. Get rid of it.
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computeraddict
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Re: Quick meals for long gaming sessions
Bean burritos. Buy flour tortillas, canned refried beans, shredded cheese (or buy loaves and pre-shred them yourself). Some kind of sauce recommended but not required. Microwaves in 1-2 minutes. Usually averages in the ~400 cal ballpark. If you're not as hungry or in a bigger rush leave out the beans and make a quesadilla.