Offshore workers nutrition: eating well on rotation

Quick answer: On a galley-served rig or platform you are usually fed very well, so portion awareness matters more than extra calories. When the job takes you away from the galley, such as a 12-hour day on the turbines, carry roughly 1,300 to 1,900 calories of no-prep food plus a flask: a packed lunch, two snacks and something for each transit.

The hours away from the galley are what this guide covers: offshore wind technicians out on the turbines all day, deck and drilling crews tied up in long operations, and vessel or survey teams on smaller boats, plus the cold, demanding transits and climbs in between. For those hours you need portable, no-prep food that survives a kit bag and works in North Sea cold, such as nuts, flapjack or high calorie bars.

About this guide

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix and the maker of Phoenix Bars. I am not an offshore medic or a dietitian, so where this gets specific I draw on published research into offshore work and on the realities of fuelling physical work in the cold. This page sits alongside our night shift nutrition and military field nutrition guides. Nothing here is guidance from any operator or employer. Updated November 2026.

Key points

• Carried food matters most in the hours away from the galley: offshore wind technicians on the turbines, deck and drilling crews in long operations, and vessel or survey crews on smaller boats.
• On the installation itself the galley feeds you well, so the focus there is portion awareness.
• North Sea cold and the demanding bursts, like vessel-to-turbine transfers and ladder climbs in heavy PPE, raise energy needs in short, sharp spikes.
• Offshore wind is the clearest case, because technicians transit out, climb and work at height for long days, and eat packed food far from any galley.
• Night shifts need their own approach, because the body handles food differently overnight.
• Carried food offshore should be portable, no-prep, and able to survive a kit bag and be eaten one-handed, even in gloves.

Contents

1. When does carried food matter offshore?
2. The real demand: cold, transits and physical bursts
3. Offshore wind: a day away from the galley
4. Oil, gas and the physical roles
5. Night shifts and the offshore body clock
6. What to keep in your bag
7. How much food to pack for a day away from the galley
8. Where Phoenix Bars fit
9. Frequently asked questions

1. When does carried food matter offshore?

Start with the truth that any offshore worker already knows: the food is good, and there is a lot of it. Rigs, platforms and accommodation vessels run a galley around the clock, with hearty meals served several times a day, free and prepared for you. The well-known consequence is weight gain: the average offshore worker's weight has risen sharply over the decades.

So on the installation, the advice is about portion awareness and not treating every break as a meal.

Carried food comes into its own in the time you spend away from the galley. Plenty of offshore roles involve long stretches where the mess is simply not reachable: out on the wind turbines, deep in a drilling operation, or on a smaller vessel without full catering. In those windows, going without fuel for hours in the cold hurts performance, and that is where portable food matters. The rest of this guide is about those situations, and about the cold and the physical bursts that make fuelling them worthwhile.

2. The real demand: cold, transits and physical bursts

Offshore work is not a steady high-burn job for most people, which is part of why the galley adds weight. Studies that strapped heart-rate monitors and accelerometers to offshore wind technicians found their days were mostly sitting and standing, punctuated by short, intense bursts rather than constant exertion.

But those bursts are demanding, and they are what carried food supports. The vessel-to-turbine transfer and the ladder and tower climbs are the spikes, often performed carrying roughly 8.8kg of lifejacket, harness and PPE, plus a sea survival suit of around 2.5kg on top. Doing that cold, at height, in a moving sea state, is hard work concentrated into a few sharp moments.

Then there is the cold itself. The North Sea is rarely warm, the wind is relentless, and keeping your core temperature up while working outdoors raises your calorie needs on its own. Cold also blunts appetite and makes fiddly food a chore, so warmth and simplicity both matter. The broader principles of fuelling physical work in the cold are covered in our military field nutrition guide, and the load-carriage side, relevant to anyone moving heavy kit and PPE, in our rucking nutrition guide.

3. Offshore wind: a day away from the galley

Offshore wind is the clearest case for carried food, and it is the fastest-growing part of the sector, so it is worth treating on its own. A technician's day is built around being away from any galley for hours at a time.

It usually starts with a transit, by crew transfer vessel or from an accommodation vessel, that can take an hour or more across open, often rough water. Then comes the transfer onto the turbine and the climb, up internal or external ladders in full PPE, to work in the confined nacelle at height. A team might spend several hours on a single turbine, or move between turbines across a long shift, with lunch taken at the base of the turbine, in the vessel, or even at the top.

That is a packed-food situation by definition. There is no mess to nip back to, the conditions are cold and exposed, and your hands are often gloved and busy. What works is compact, calorie-dense, no-prep food, such as high calorie bars, nuts or flapjack, that survives a kit bag, can be eaten quickly between tasks, and ideally can be turned into something warm. A flask and food you can heat lift a cold day on a turbine far more than the calories alone. This is a different world from yacht racing, which our offshore sailing nutrition guide covers separately, but the carried-fuel logic overlaps.

4. Oil, gas and the physical roles

On oil and gas installations the galley is always there, so carried food earns its place in the physical outdoor roles and the long operations.

Deck crew, drillers, roustabouts, riggers, crane operators and rope-access teams do hard manual labour in cold, wet, windy conditions, and during a long drilling or lifting operation they may be committed on the deck or derrick for hours without a realistic break to sit down in the mess. A dense snack in a pocket bridges that gap and keeps energy steady through the operation, the same grazing logic that helps shift workers in our emergency services nutrition guide.

The other case is travel days. Mobilisation, the early heliport start in a survival suit, the helicopter or boat out, and the wait before you are settled and fed can make for a long stretch on little food. Something dense in your bag for the transit out smooths that over, and the galley takes care of the rest once you are settled.

5. Night shifts and the offshore body clock

Offshore work runs 24 hours, so night shifts are routine, often on a swinging two-week rotation of twelve-hour shifts. The galley caters through the night, which is convenient but creates its own problem: heavy, calorie-dense meals eaten in the small hours.

The body processes food less efficiently overnight, so a large galley feed at 3am tends to sit badly, add weight, and disrupt the daytime sleep that follows. Lighter, steadier fuelling through the night usually works better than one heavy meal, and that is as true offshore as it is onshore. Our night shift nutrition guide goes into the timing in detail, and it is the most relevant companion to this page for anyone working nights on rotation.

6. What to keep in your bag

For the away-from-galley situations, the food that works offshore follows simple rules. It needs to be portable, need no preparation, survive being knocked around in a kit bag, and be eatable one-handed, sometimes in gloves and cold hands.

The reliable options are the calorie-dense, durable ones: nuts, dried fruit, oatcakes, flapjack and high-calorie bars, all of which give plenty of calories for little weight and space. Expedition teams pack for the same cold and the same cramped bag, so my guide to the best energy bars for expeditions makes a sensible shortlist. On a cold day on a turbine or deck, a flask of soup or a hot drink is a welcome lift. Our calorie-dense foods guide, high calorie snacks guide and high calorie breakfast guide cover the options in more depth.

Carry one or two reliable things for the hours when the galley is not an option, then eat normally when you are back on the installation.

7. How much food should you pack for a day away from the galley?

For a 12-hour day on the turbines, pack roughly 1,300 to 1,900 calories: a proper lunch, two snacks and something for each transit, plus a flask. The sample day below shows where that comes from. The figures are rough and assume an adult doing mostly standing work with short, hard climbs; a bigger person or a colder, longer day needs more.

Eat the galley breakfast even if it is early, because it is the last hot meal you are sure of until the evening. If the weather keeps you on the turbine longer than planned, the snacks are your margin, so pack one more than you think you need.

8. Where Phoenix Bars fit

I make Phoenix Bars, so weigh this section with that in mind. Where one helps is the time away from the galley. For an offshore wind technician on the turbines all day, a deck or drilling crew committed to a long operation, or a vessel or survey crew on a smaller boat, it carries up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar, so a couple of bars can stand in for a missed meal in a kit bag that has no spare room. It needs no preparation, survives the bag, and can be eaten quickly between tasks. It can also be stirred into water as a porridge; our how to use Phoenix Bars guide and high calorie porridge guide explain the method.

It is vegan and gluten-free in every flavour, which is useful when the catering on a smaller vessel is limited, and it comes in six flavours, Apple and Cinnamon, Cherry Bakewell, Chocolate, Vanilla, Salted Caramel and Ginger, so there is some variety over a long rotation. A sensible way to try it across a trip is the starter bundle of 12 bars, or the essential (18 bars) and complete (36 bars) bundles to keep a kit bag stocked for a full rotation. You can see the range in the Phoenix Bars collection and the bundles collection.

9. Frequently asked questions

Is the food good on an offshore rig or platform?
Yes, generally very good and very plentiful. Most installations run a 24-hour galley with hearty, calorie-dense meals provided free, which is why weight gain, not under-eating, is the industry's main dietary concern. For galley-fed roles, the sensible focus is portion awareness, with carried food kept for the hours away from the galley.

What do offshore wind technicians eat during the day?
Technicians eat packed food, because they are away from any galley for long stretches, taking lunch at the base of the turbine, in the transfer vessel, or in the nacelle. Compact, no-prep food such as sandwiches, nuts, flapjack or high-calorie bars survives a kit bag and can be eaten quickly between tasks, with something warm from a flask as a lift in cold conditions.

Do offshore workers need to carry their own food?
If your role takes you away from the galley, yes: offshore wind technicians, deck and drilling crews tied up in long operations, and vessel or survey crews on smaller boats are away from full catering and benefit from carrying something dense for the gap. On most other platform roles, the galley covers you.

How do you eat on a 12-hour offshore shift?
On a galley-served installation you eat at the galley around your shift, keeping night-time meals lighter. When your role takes you away from the galley for hours, carry portable food, such as a bar or flapjack you can eat in pieces, and graze through the demanding parts of the shift rather than going without, so you are not depleted for the transit or climb back.

What should you eat for a cold offshore day?
Something warm and something dense. Cold raises your calorie needs and blunts appetite, so take a flask of soup or a hot drink, plus calorie-dense food you can eat with cold hands, such as nuts, flapjack or a high-calorie bar.

Are there vegan or gluten-free options offshore?
Larger installations usually cater for dietary needs, but smaller vessels and away-from-galley situations can be limited, so carrying a reliable vegan or gluten-free snack takes the uncertainty out of it. Nuts, dried fruit and vegan or gluten-free bars all keep well in a kit bag; check the label if you need gluten-free.

How do offshore workers avoid putting on weight?
Treat the galley as a canteen, not a buffet: one plate at main meals, a lighter meal if you eat during a night shift, and fruit or a small snack rather than a pudding at every sitting. Keep carried food for the days you are genuinely away from the galley, so it replaces a meal you would miss instead of adding to one you have already eaten.

Related guides

Closest companions: our night shift nutrition guide for working nights on rotation, our military field nutrition and emergency services nutrition guides for other demanding occupational settings, and our rucking nutrition guide for load-carrying roles. If you mean offshore yacht racing rather than energy work, that is covered in our offshore sailing nutrition guide. For getting the most energy from the least weight, see our calorie-dense foods and high calorie snacks guides. This page sits within our wider ultra-endurance and expedition nutrition guide.