Long flights-carry-on food suggestions please.
 

Atlanta to Rome-surely my fellow Fodorites pack only the finest dining fare to make the trip more bearable. Won't you share your tips with us?

The food offered by AA last fall on our flight to Oahu was really bad. I added insult to injury by requesting a low-fat choice---YIKES!My poor husband was salivating over the nearby passengers tray. Not this trip!!

I will be bringing some food with me for my 9 hour and 45 minute flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. I will bring a cheese sandwich with some spicy salami I love and some fresh veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber slices) and some grapes. Probably some trailmix and chocolate too.....

I don't really like to eat when flying, so bread and cheese would be the most I would have and maybe a piece of fruit.
I think the energy bars that are good, like the chocolate ones:) are good for taking with you..
Usually our flights are overnight so I don't mind not eating much and just trying to sleep, but when we get to the hotel and leave our stuff, we have a huge breakfast somewhere!

I bring the best sandwich I can find or make, preferably non-smelly. I bring whatever accompaniments don't require plastic cutlery since I can't bring that on board. I bring a piece of fruit and a sweet like a cookie. I drink the beverage the airplane provides
(plus I bring a lot of my own water) and then I try to get some sleep, or I read, while others are still fussing with drinks or dinner.

I usually order a fruit plate for the airline meal, since that is at least edible, while the hot food is often not, IMO.

I bring along picnic-type food: cheese and bread or crackers, regular and dried fruit and/or those fruit leathers. (The latter are great to have handy when your blood sugar has dropped and it's not mealtime in Europe!)

Nothing that requires refrigeration or has a smell that will bother those sitting near me: tuna, peanut butter (some people are severely allergic), garlic/onions, etc.

I find that between the food they serve and the wine, and drinking plenty of water, I'm never hungry on overnight flights. But I do carry snacks just in case - things like chocolate covered espresso beans, jelly bellies, dried fruit. I usually have them left over after the flight, and they make a good snack for the hotel. On the way home, I have usually hit the duty-free beforehand - baci perugina, etc - and although I'm probably not hungry, they call out to me so I end up eating half the package!

NUTELLA
What? No nutella??

Since flying is such a chore, I try to pack treats. For our upcoming trip on Friday, I bought the fixings for Prosciutto and Brie sandwiches on ciabatta with onion jam, Pim's Raspberry cookies, blueberries and apricots. I try to make it relatively light since my eating schedule will get thrown off with jet lag, and I usually pick at the airline food anyway.

I"m definitely traveling with the wrong person....do any of you cater??
I'm heading to the frig.......

JandaO, are you the same person who was complaining in another thread about sitting next to a woman who was painting her fingernails? Personally, I'd far rather put up with that for a few minutes than have to spend a 9 hour plus flight sitting next to someone eating a smelly salami and chomping on raw carrots and trailmix throughout the journey! You did mean that as a joke - didn't you???

You folks must not fly British Airways. They limit carryon's to one bag (coach) and it can't weigh more then 13 pounds (and yes, they sometimes weigh them). There is no way you can carry your normal stuff plus much food on one of their flights! When we fly BA I do take a few granola/energy bars and that is about all. I've ordered veg meals on their flts and the food is not bad (really).

I'm also a big fan of eating at the airport prior to leaving ... it works wonders to have a full tummy to start off with (and if the airline food is not so good you are not going to be totally starved).

Bailey, exactly what I was thinking :LOL
Maybe I would be more interested in eating while flying if one of these lovely people packed me a picnic :)

please excuse that frowny face, it just pops up on its own, I didn't do it , I swear!

Trail mix, pretzels, Genisoy power bars, nuts (cashews, almonds) and of course, chocolate...

xenos,
The salami isnt smelly, I eat without much noise and I dont eat the carrots for the whole flight. GET REAL.

The smell of the polish lingered for hours and others complained too.

Hi Scarlett,

The :L comes about if you put a colon in front of a capital L. The two keys are next to each other.

Some of the stuff you guys eat make me long for airplane food...

Here are some things I have brought on past trips
Chicken Caesar Salad
Sandwich cut into quarters for easy eating
Various crackers
Banana chips
cookies
various potato chips
Pate Trouffle Mousse with sliced baguette..yummy although a little smelly did not sit well with some of the people sitting next to me so I dont take it anymore...
Various dips/spreads with sliced baguette
Really an assortment.
I have a soft little lunch bag with cold packs to keep things cool.
I hope you have a pleasant trip to Italy!

Friends of our went on a trip laden with a Dean & DeLuca assortment of delectible goodies. From the looks of envy they got from fellow passengers, they said they could have auctioned their food off to the highest bidder! And paid for the better part of their airfare. (to protect the innocent I will not name the airline they flew on!)

If Xenos objects to the smell of a delicious, garlicky salami, he or she is flying to the wrong continent. In fact it's difficult to think of anywhere in the world - outside the North Atlantic heart disease belt - Xenos would feel comfortable.

If OTOH Xenos is expressing what the rest of us would feel sitting next to someone eating real food while we were tucking into microwaved rubber chicken - a combination of acute hunger, deep jealousy and irritation with ourselves - well, just see it as an opportunity to improve your self-restraint.

Let's have more 747's smelling like 1960's Italian railway carriages.

flanneruk,
Now you are talkin'

My favorite thing to bring on a flight is sushi, the sort that you can get in grocery stores these days. And in Atlanta you don't even have to go to the grocery store to get it, as they sell it right in the airport. Particularly convenient are these small kiosks that look like closets when closed, a wall of shelving when open. Nothing exotic, of course, basically just California or veggie rolls, but just right in terms of portability and low mess.

Flew first class to Vancouver last week, and the food, although marginally better than economy, was pretty close to disgusting. I'd foregone my usual sushi and very much regretted it.

I'd second the Sushi recommendation.

Light to carry, but perhaps a bit smelly for some, tho.

Now you guys are talking! Dean and Deluca, sushi, chicken ceasar salad...much better than a boring ol' sandwhich with a granola bar.

P.S. Koshka, if you're buying sushi that smells, you're buying the wrong kind of sushi.

Heading east, usually overnight, usually to London, we prefer to eat at the airport -- especially now that check-in time is way ahead of takeoff. The BA terminal at JFK has a casual eating place where you can get a very good club sandwich and a glass of wine (there's McD's and a deli too, of course). Then we're well fed and ready to sleep. I just take a bottle of water, and we're all set till breakfast time in the Caffe d'Italia at Heathrow terminal 4. (For some reason, BA insists on serving the most awful pseudo muffins, cold and damp, and try to call that breakfast. No thanks, I'll just have a cuppa. It's still the middle of the night on my internal clock.)

Coming home, I'm addicted to the Pret a Manger in the departure lounge -- croissant, good coffee, Greek yoghurt with fruit and granola. And actually, the BA food in that direction is not too bad. For plane food, at least.

I seldom have enough room in my carry-on to take major snackage. Too many other must-haves in case my checked luggage goes astray.

flanneruk - I have absolutely no objections whatsoever to a delicious garlicky salami, so long as I'm the one eating it. Sitting next to somoeone else eating one in the confines of a plane seat and having them breathe the fumes over me for 9 hours is another matter altogether! It's not jealousy either, since whenever I'm flying anywhere, I'm usually confident that the food I'll be eating in a few hours time will beat anything that someone prepared and packed in their carry-on several hours ago. So I'm quite content to put up with the muck that passes for airline meals for the duration of the flight.

As for me flying to the wrong continent, I'm not sure which continent you're referring to since I was born in Europe and have lived here all my life. I've always felt entirely comfortable in all the countries I've travelled to in both Europe and Asia, but I prefer not to have garlic breathed on me if I've not been eating it myself, and out of respect for my fellow passengers, I don't intend eating a raw clove or two before a long haul flight, just in case my neighbour pulls out his salami, so to speak :-)

Depending on the length of the flight, I pack:

protein bars
cheese
meat (sliced)
fruit & nut mix
Evian

I may reconsider bringing summer sausage 'cuz it can be smelly and I seriously don't want to annoy my fellow passengers.

I knew there was a reason to fly in First Class...it isn't the smell of the garlicky salami that might be bad..it's your BREATH after you've eaten it that's so hard to put up with!

I prefer anything that causes severe flatulence, makes people leave you alone and you can sleep easier with an empty seat next to you ! ;)

The little wife and I usually fly on Sunday so we don't miss our normal meal routine. We restrict portion sizes a tad since all of the items below must fit in to a 22" carry-on:

Fried chicken
Baked beans
Hush puppies
Fried cheese grits
Squash casserole
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Chicken gravy
Field peas
Fried okra
Corn bread
Watermelon
Peach pie

I pack a huge bag of chips, candy, I let them (airline) provide me with the soda. They can not mess that up. I will not bring cheese, or else I will be in the bathroom the whole flight.

Well, I_am_anonymous, I don't think it's smelly, but you *never* know what someone else might think. Tho I can put up with a few "Ewww, gross!"s to have my sushi.

DEGAS
I see your following the Weight Watchers plan...........
Would you be interested in catering our next flight??

Good Question. I like Costco's trail mix, a handful now and then has saved my from getting tired and stupid when I've been delayed and had to rush to another nonfood flight. Peanut Butter and Jelly is good with a cup of coffee.
I often stop at Danny and Clydes for Shrimp Poboys when leaving New Orleans but...last time I left New Orleans the security person made me through away my take-out from Copelands. I told her I had called Delta and they said a food package would not count as a carry-on. She said "you have three things" So I put my purse in my shoulder bag. Then she said "You can eat it here or stay here."
My point is... Don't invest too much in a gourmet carry-on(not that Copelands is Gourmet)because a cranky guard may interpret their directions very subjectively. No one wants to miss a flight by having a situation at security.
Also...in Salt Lake City there is a Starbucks on the outside of the security gate...sometimes they let you take a drink through and sometimes they don't.
Happy travels.
Emily

A comment re sushi: lots of sushi is made with cooked fish or with vegetables. "Sushi" refers to the rice, not to raw fish, and the "grocery store" sort doesn't involve much in the way of raw or smelly. Nor should more exotic sorts that involve raw fish be very smelly either.

A flight from Milan to Atlanta about a year ago was delayed, so I got a mortadella (known as bologna in the U.S.) sandwich from the airport concession stand. It was too large to finish, so I wrapped up the remainder for later. When the airplane meal turned out to be positively revolting I was the subject of many envious stares.

Coffee on a recent flight from Atlanta to Vancouver was so foul that I very nearly spit out the one sip I'd taken. I gave it back to the flight attendant, pointing out that it was "almost hysterically bad". She agreed, saying that apparently the water they'd been given was off in some way. She managed to brew me some tea using bottled water.

I take small, non perishables that will not attract attention from securty...Slim Fast snack bars, granola bars, chips, water. I also order the seafood meal which is usually much better than standard Coach fare.

I've always flown British Air and thought their food was fine and well timed for what I need. I do pack a small bottle of water, a few energy bars (that I usually don't eat until later in the trip), maybe a small bag of trail mix.

I've had much more problems on shorter flights (i.e., Seattle to Mexico) where they barely/rarely serve food at all. Then I pack a sandwich.

WOW! What wonderful and creative ideas! I've been writing all these great tips down-I'm sure Gil and I will be the envy of our flight! I think a trip to a good gourmet deli here in Atlanta is certainly in order before heading out to Hartsfield!

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to share your ideas...Debbie.

Bon appetit!!! ((b))

Nutella: I'm with you there - those little baci's (kisses) keep calling out to me too!

I really can't afford more than one baci a week, tho...

So, I eat bananas or some other fruit to fill up before flight departure.

One small bottle of water in my pack, just in case

And some small boxes of California raisins for quick energy

I try to eat as little of the airline gourmet items as possible, they tend to be much too rich for me - mashed potatoes with gravy, then bread with butter, then cheese with crackers, then a very sweet dessert...

Pass that salami sandwich, would you please?