Suggestions for travel food
 

What are some ideas for food for air travel? One rare occasions, there's not an airport restaurant or it's too late. Other times, one might not want to buy food on the plane. Suggestions on food to bring that might not require a can opener and/or can pass through security not being liquid? Let me start...

- tuna in a vacuum pouch
- canned spaghetti or ravioli in a can with a pull lid
- sardines
- frozen sandwich (might last 3 hours until it thaws)
- Spam or Vienna sausages
- snack food, like chips, cookies, granola bars, nuts
- fruit, like oranges, bananas, apple
- croissant or bagel

You open sardines or tuna on a crowded plane and your neighbors might lynch you.

ha ha
I am arriving late after the airport restaurants close. The hotel restaurant closes at 11 pm and room service ends at midnight. There's a Burger King that closes at midnight but it will be tight. I won't have a rental car. Therefore, I may have to bring food with me. Tuna or sardines can be opened in the hotel room.

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Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Fried chicken works well.

Just prepare some good ol' chicken & rice, or pasta at home before you leave or buy before you head to the airport. A salad with fish/chicken/meat would also be a good choice. Doesn't have to be more complicated than that. Otherwise, just bring some fruits if you don't feel like eating a lot.

leftover pizzas, cook them at home before leaving or the day before leaving, pack them up in tupperware. No need to reheat in your hotel room.

Your issues are, in decreasing order of importance:

- no liquids (you could do the vinaigrette in a small separate container)
- need for refrigeration
- packable in tupperware
- reliance on processed / packaged food.

My solution is almost always a salad in tupperware using beans or other vegetable-based protein and separately packaged vinaigrette, and a banana for dessert. If I need to be less healthy, some form of carbohydrate as well. The great advantage of this approach is that you leave the plane feeling ok, whereas if you use processed food, too many carbs, or too much cheese, then the opposite happens.

Now that I travel with a child, for uncatered short haul travel my meal kit is:
Chorizo slices, small baguettes, fruit. And never too much so that any is left over.
Ideally, bread should be sliced and smeared with olive oil and fresh tomato with a little salt before travelling, but if there isn’t time it doesn’t matter.
Haven’t bought food on a plane in years

Or just skip a meal, go to bed, and eat a big breakfast. I've found I don't need to eat nearly as much as I do.

Pop Tarts
Granola/Protein Bars

I usually take nuts, granola bars, and bite size candy bars. Ramen noodles might work too, using heated water from the room coffee maker.

I carry a few Epic jerky bars and RxBars with me. Little to no junk, lots of fat and protein so they're actually satiating compared to most snack bars.

How late would you probably make it to your hotel room? If it is close to midnight as it sounds like, perhaps the easiest thing to do is to call ahead to the hotel as soon as you get on the ground and ask the restaurant (or room service) to prepare something for you and leave it at the front desk charged to your room. I don't think they would have a problem with that and you can just pick it up at check in. Also alert the desk as well so they aren't confused when someone walks up with food for someone who hasn't checked in yet. Alternatively, I have had good luck ordering from UberEats/DoorDash/etc while I'm en-route to the hotel trying to time it with the time that I think I'll arrive.

Before leaving from home you can prepare some food & carry it with your like broccoli and feta pasta salad, peppery whole wheat pasta with wilted chard, carrot sticks, peeled and sectioned oranges, popcorn or caramel corn, nuts, dried fruit, cheese and crackers, prepared sandwiches (non-smelly fillings).