Last Updated on 18 September 2026:
Around 90% of the cyclists I work with are what I would describe as time poor. Nutrition for time poor cyclists does not need to mean relying on takeaways or microwave meals: with a little planning, healthy food can work around training, work and family life. Think of disposable time like disposable income, what is left once sleeping, eating, working, family time and training are accounted for.
Covered in this blog
- Nutrition for time poor cyclists: Preparation is key
- Meal planning
- Meal prepping
- Healthy back-up plan
- Breakfast
- Example meal
- Lunch
- Example meal
- Dinner
- Snacks
- Nutrition for time poor cyclists top tips
Nutrition for time poor cyclists: Preparation is key
Preparation is going to be repeated a lot throughout this blog post. I get that cooking every night is challenging, time consuming, and sometimes not feasible. If you’ve had a long day at work, the kids are tired and screaming, and you’re faced with cooking a meal, I get that takeout or microwave meals are a simple solution.
Meal planning
Getting your nutrition right around a busy lifestyle starts with meal planning. This can be as simple as having a rough idea in your mind about what you (or you all) will eat for the week, but could be more expansive and written down – which might be good if you’re coordinating with your partner.
Having this meal plan will also help ensure you get all the ingredients you need from the store. A quick time saver here is to use delivery services. Most delivery services – I use Instacart – are affordable and will save you hours per week. It’s also handy to add ingredients to the list as you compile your list of what meals you will eat.
You can also use meal planning as a motivational tool to eat healthy. Consider treating yourself to a reward meal once per week if you’ve eaten healthy the rest of the time.
Meal prepping
Once you have your meal plan and ingredients sorted, it’s just left to prepare and cook. Again, cooking every day, for multiple people and multiple meals is a massive pain, so cook less meals, but in more bulk.
Whether you are cooking for yourself or for four or more people, consider multiplying your meal by four – of course, you might need to go back a step and increase the ingredients! It’s very little extra work to make more food, and storing it is easy as long as you pick meals that will last well in the fridge or freezer.
If you are cooking for your family, consider involving them too. Days off work are the ideal time to get this done and it can be a fun family activity.
Healthy back-up plan
It happens. You could follow the previous steps and still forget to take your prepared meal to work! Having a healthy back-up plan is a great way to ensure you don’t eat crap as a simpler option. Locate some places to get healthier foods nearby and utilise them instead of hitting something less junky.
Breakfast
This is where most people, and families, get it completely wrong. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to start their day on a meal full of sugar and unhealthy fats. Starting your day this way means you will likely experience lethargy, bad mood, low motivation, and then the inevitable crash come 10am when your blood sugar plummets.
A nutritious breakfast will set you up for the rest of the day, increase your energy, improve your mood, improve your productivity, and help you put in those all important extra watts in training.
Example breakfast
Weirdly, it’s probably the easiest meal to get right too. While a cooked breakfast is nice, it could easily be saved for days when you have more time.
Breakfast can be overnight oats, a shake, or a smoothie. These are all easy to prepare and you can make one big pot for the entire family. Try this easy to prepare breakfast recipe (per person):
- Oats (60-100grams)
- Cup of plant based milk
- Tablespoon of healthy seed or nut butter
- Half a banana
- Handful of greens
- Handful of frozen fruit of choice
Make the shake/smoothie out of the milk, seed/nut butter, banana, greens, and fruit. Then add it to the oats. You can do this overnight and eat cold, or in the morning and heat up.
Lunch
Plants can be the key to unlocking serious cycling performance gains, and lunchtime is a big opportunity to get some plants in your system. Mass preparing salad and adding some leftovers to it will make an amazing and healthy lunch.
Mason jars are an affordable friend in this mission. Prepare the salad on your day off and seal in airtight mason jars which will easily last a week (depending on how fresh the salad is going into the jar). If you are salad prepping for your family, consider adding the greens in later, but still using one jar per day. It’s an easy opportunity to get a solid extra five portions of vegetables in your diet, and takes no time getting ready once it’s been prepped and is in your fridge.
Example lunch
I hope you’re seeing this for how simple it can be! Here’s my example lunch recipe (again, per person):
Salad made with a handful of each of the following:
- Greens (your choice)
- Tomato (cherry are best for meal prepping – leave whole)
- Radish or beet
- Cucumber or celery
- Bell pepper
Then you can top with either:
- Leftovers from your meal prepping
- Seeds or nuts
- Rice or quinoa
Flavour with:
- Green onion, cilantro, and/or other herbs
- Light dressing such as balsamic vinegar
Everything above can be made in one go and stored ready for you to simply pack to take to work. It’s family friendly, easy to adapt and individualise for your picky children (!), and is packed full of energy providing nutrients.
Dinner
This might be where you are simply reheating your leftovers, but it might also be when you’re having to meal prep or get creative again.
One of the best kitchen appliances I’ve purchased is my Ninja Foodi. It’s a combo slow cooker, pressure cooker, air fryer, and many other appliances rolled into one. It wasn’t crazy expensive either, and ultimately a worthwhile purchase to make cooking much more user-friendly, time friendly, and simple. You can have all your ingredients prepped on your day off and then set your slow cooker to get it done while you’re at work!
Dinner doesn’t have to be a fancy well thought out meal, but it doesn’t need to be rushed and unhealthy either. For sample meals which are easy to scale and modify, check out my YouTube channel. Remember that if you’re going to cook, you might as well make enough to save for another day.
Snacks
Typically, we don’t tend to snack well on healthy foods. If simply taking fresh veggies and hummus, or fresh fruit to work isn’t appealing to you, researching some healthier alternatives to your favourite unhealthy snacks might be the best solution. There are usually healthy options for most unhealthy food – just be cautious around whether it is actually healthy, the term isn’t protected so it might be marketing crap…
Of course, healthier versions of unhealthy foods tend to be far more expensive, so buying in bulk might be best here. Sourcing deals is simple and that can be an opportunity to bulk buy lots of ingredients or foods.
Nutrition for time poor cyclists top tips
A lot of the tips today will require a slight shift in your mindset. Ultimately, if you approach this as a problem, you will find it harder to resolve than if you see it as a fun activity. Yet getting this right won’t just be beneficial to your general lifestyle and health, it might be the key to unlocking serious improvements in your cycling performance. Here are my top tips for the time poor cyclist’s meal prepping:
- Preparation is key
- Cook lots of leftovers
- Plan your meals
- Involve your family
- Research healthy places to eat nearby
- Research time saving recipes
- Use a grocery delivery service
- Buy in bulk
- Utilise reusable plastic containers and mason jars
Summary
A little planning, bulk cooking and a reliable back-up option can make eating well far more realistic when life is busy. If you would like help fitting nutrition and training around your own routine, Book a Free Consultation.
