Do you still have energy to cook after a 12 hour shift?

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Sep 20, 2016

I tend to cook most days regardless if I work or not. It may not always be anything FANCY, just mac n' cheese is suffice some days. I do try to cook on my days off, and have leftovers so we can reheat and eat. The days I have work and school.. It's take out for my family. I just don't have the strength and neither does the hubby because our kids have ran him into the ground.

I will say, I LOVE my crockpot, and use it often, especially in the fall/winter.

caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2016

When I worked 12 hour night shifts, I would eat cereal or a bagel w/cream cheese or just reheat whatever my family made for dinner the night before. I was usually pretty famished from working through my lunch (and driving home - long commute with no fast food options close by) so I would eat, take some melatonin and pass out. Sometimes if it was a rough night, I would stop and get a bagel or giant muffin from the bagel shop in the hospital, but I tried not to do that since it was ridiculously overpriced.

KarenMS · Sep 20, 2016

No way. I always have big plans of grocery shopping or going to the gym, just to get it out of the way....but no. Never happens. I come home, microwave some leftovers, and go to bed.

CardiacDork, MSN, RN · Sep 20, 2016

Hellz to the no. That's why I'm gonna find a stay at home husband. While I make that CRNA salary.

chunkalunk, ADN, RN · Sep 20, 2016

No way. I always have big plans of grocery shopping or going to the gym, just to get it out of the way....but no. Never happens. I come home, microwave some leftovers, and go to bed.

I make big plans like that too. Instead, I get home, change, lay down, and play fetch with my cat. She should learn how to cook and I'd be set. :laugh:

joanna73, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2016

That's why I go straight from work to the gym. Otherwise, I am done if I go home.

AtLeastMyDogLovesMe · Sep 20, 2016

As others have said, cooking in bulk is the way to go. Especially if you are fitness/weight/health minded and don't want to rely on fast food. I finally broke down and bought a rice cooker with steamer this year to add to my crock pot chicken, brown rice, and steamed broccoli in a heartbeat! I set it on before work and tell my finance what time to turn the crock pot off. The rice cooker actually has a timer that you can set ahead 15 hours so that's usually done when by the time he gets home.There is no way I am cooking after work.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Sep 20, 2016

If you're on lunch break, aren't you breaking the law if you work while you're on your lunch break? I've heard a lot of nurses go on lunch for half hour or hour or however long they're given but because they're short staffed, it doesn't last long I guess. I thought within an 8 hour period you HAVE to have a half hour break. Regardless of salary type(hourly or salary). Some kind of labor law.

VegGal, RN · Sep 20, 2016

I generally cook several main dishes on my days off work and freeze those. Before I leave for work, I remove one dish from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator so that when I get home all I have to do is warm up the food.

I always keep a 1 pound bag of organic baby spinach in the fridge, as well as some other stuff like tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and canned stuff that I like in salads such as chickpeas, black beans and black olives. This way I'll have a main dish warming in the oven, microwave or stove top, and I can throw a salad together in 5 minutes, and eat a short while later.

whisperingsage · Sep 20, 2016

The crockpot is your friend.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 20, 2016

I'm planning to buy a crock pot so I can come home to hot meals but I keep pushing it back. My schedule is pretty full with working, school, and studying. By the end of the day, all I want is me time or sleep time. I try to cook on the days I have 8 hour days of work or when I just have school. So far it hasn't worked out. I have meals that I can cook in big portions for leftovers but getting myself to do it is the hard part. I do keep quick frozen and canned foods so I at least don't buy take out all the time.

A crock pot is relatively cheap and the cooking is pretty easy. I make roasts and stews in mine, primarily. A cheap cut of meat cooking all day winds up nice and tender and tasty, and you can throw it together pretty quickly. When I work nights, I'll throw a roast in the crock pot before I go to bed, and wake up and throw in the veggies. I have a nice, nutritious meal to take to work and plenty of leftovers for the next few days.

I also cook extra on my days off and have leftovers in the fridge to take to work.

whisperingsage · Sep 20, 2016

I have been working 12 hours shifts for 10 years but only found out in 2014 that all that time I was supposed to get two half hours split (like that's any help or rest!) and I only found out because the DON made me (and I assume others) sign a paper giving up one of my half hours. For all practical purposes, I have eaten on the go and even punched out for lunch and gone back to work because of the heavy paperwork load, and threats to have it all done so there would be no overtime. I even hid in the medroom finishing paperwork after punching out so the DON wouldn't scream at me. (A man, unusual as most male RN's are pretty cool and kind. ) This may not be legal but it's common. I have not yet had a SNF job where I could take a proper lunch break.