The Healthy Person’s Guide to Snacks for Longhaul Flights

Interesting question from reader Allie. “What snacks for long haul flights should I pack?”

Let's be honest: long haul flights are pretty fun. Free drinks (to clarify: I mean free gin, Jack Daniels and Bacardi…not OJ), free food and movies.

Initially, some people might think: “Awesome. I can't wait to get stuck into those long haul flight snacks and food.”

But after many hours spent eating the material airlines think passes for food (Emirates gets a pass in economy), and suffering for it for hours afterward, I have learnt that it's best to eschew the heart attack “gnocchi” bombs, highly acidic tomato based meals and anything with “meat” or “sausage” in it, or, ask for paleo, or vegetarian or gluten free meals.

After being consistently let down by most airlines I started taking my own food on planes (more on that later). In my experience, the food on Malaysian and Emirates (and anecdotally, other Asian/Gulf carriers) is generally excellent (rice or noodles, vegies, tofu, lean meat) and very poor on Lufthansa/American carriers.

And really, I like to take fresh and healthy stuff on the plane. “Why bother, Timbo? Just plough into the chips, snacks and croissants.”

A short detour…

A-ha! At this point, we need to take a slight detour regarding food.

My views on eating have been heavily influenced recently by two books: Douglas Graham's 80-10-10 diet (Amazon affiliate link) and The China Study, which talk about the ideal diet for humans as well as nutrition for the prevention of cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, osteoperosis and more.

(They're both available at Book Depository and on Amazon.)

I came across them after stumbling across a mad-cap, brilliant Aussie cyclist/marketer/I-don't-know-what called Harley (I'll be talking about him in a few upcoming posts dealing with cycling nutrition) aka Durianriders, who talks a lot about and promotes a vegan diet.

Now, and this is important, I am not saying this is for you, nor am I promoting this type of diet. Rather, it just gives you some background.

This diet is all about eating mainly fruit (and some vegetables) with little to no animal fat or protein (especially not dairy), to the extent the carbohydrate-protein-fat mix in your diet is 80-10-10. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with these numbers: the exact numbers aren't important and I think 60-20-20 (or some variation) is a better mix. However, the basic premise is 80-10-10, vegan and mainly raw or whole food food.

(I'll have more on this stuff, and how it relates to cycling nutrition, in an upcoming article.)

Anyway, a friend and I have been experimenting with this diet and the results have been fantastic. He's been eating raw vegan until 4PM and I've just cut meat and dairy back drastically, and dairy out altogether.

Knowing how awesome I feel after eating fresh food made me think, how could I do this on an airplane. Eating fresh food—especially a lot of fruit—requires a bit of preparation.

So what has this got to do with Allie's question?

It got me thinking about how I'd manage this type of diet on an airplane and what food I'd eat to feel great. I know Allie asked about snacks for longhaul flights but the easy way out leaves you with whatever highly processed fodder the airline is going to serve up.

“But Tim, pretzels are great.”

Yes, but not as fuel for flying halfway across the world.

You see, I enjoy a pizza or lasagne as much as the next person but I always feel shoddy afterwards. If I eat a bowl of mangos? I feel fantastic.

Healthy Snacks for Longhaul Flights

So here's a list of healthy snacks for longhaul flights. With a few exceptions (marked with *), I've tried ALL these on flights. And the benefit? No heartburn. No bloated stomach. A feeling of leanness.

• Dried bananas* (delicious on-bike snack too).
• If you must eat animal protein, some cans of tuna, add to any rice or noodles.
• Steamed rice/veggies* (eaten cold), with lentils or beans.
• Home made Kapai Puku (my recipe here). If you drink milk, the flight attendants should be able to provide some (or nab some from the provided breakfast). For vegans, this is a bit trickier as a lot of airlines don't provide soy milk (even if you say you're lacto-ovo or vegan. So in this case, forget cereal.
• Protein powder (soy, as I think dairy based protein is bad for you and unnecessary): this is mainly to get a feeling of fullness. I don't take or use protein powder.
• Bananas
• Mangos, chopped and in a small container.
• Nuts
• Pre-made slice like this coconut slice.

So, if I needed snacks for longhaul flights, for example Australia to the EU, I'd look at packing these things. Remember each leg is 8-12 hours, so that is breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'd also drink a boatload of water. There's also no need to be overly abstemious in the free liquor department.

• 2 packs of dried bananas.
• 2 serves of my kick butt seed based cereal, if I can get soy on the plane, or small containers able to be taken on international flights (under 100mL).
• 6 bananas.
• Almonds/brazil nuts/macadamias.
• A container of chopped mangos.
• 2-3 little UHT soy milks (or normal milk).
• Some coconut slice.

I'd also order vegan or vegetarian food to ensure I got meals consisting of tofu, noodles, rice. Then if the food was rubbish, I'd simply not eat it. The risk with vegetarian meals is you might find a rice/veggies/meat dish substituted for something like gnocchi and tomato paste (hi Lufthansa) which is just silly.

I'd absolutely steer clear of acidic tomato dishes, sausages, bacon, “eggs” (you tend to write “eggs” when you have your own chooks), croissants, nutrient-poor/calorie-dense muffins/cakes and so on.

Anyway, I could wax lyrical on feeling full, getting quality food in and so on, but we'd be here for hours.

The important thing is not to view this as some sort of nutritional diktat: these just give you some ideas of how to eat well and feel awesome on the plane.

Pack whatever makes you feel good eating (do Burger Rings, Twisties or Salt and Vinegar chips rrreally make you feel awesome?), and feel free to sneak a few airplane treats by all means, but try and stick to things you know make you feel good.

You'll get off the plane feeling awesome, and ready to jump on your bike.

What about you? Got any tips?

If you have some good insights on what airlines have great food, or other Snacks for Longhaul Flights tips, drop 'em in the comments!