When we flew to New York, I made sure to pack LOTS of food for the plane ride. Not necessarily because it was a long flight (5 hours from LA to NY), but because we had 9 days of travel ahead of us and WHO KNOWS what we’d be eating during that time (read: poutine, pizza, and a fair share of bloody mary’s).
In addition to a hefty plane meal, I also stuffed my carry-on with healthy snacks so we could nibble on things during the trip. I don’t know about you but one of my biggest fears in life is being hungry in between meals #firstworldproblems. Here’s what I packed:
Mixed Nuts: I love the individually wrapped packets of trail mix from Trader Joe’s.
Granola: I had plans to make homemade granola but brought this delish TJ’s variety instead. And bonus: it’s packed with fiber and is gluten free.
Apples & almond butter: This is my absolute favorite snack combo. Also, I have a weird relationship with apples. I can’t live without them? So I brought a whole bag of mini-sized gala apples (like 7 apples) in my carry-on. And YEAH, I’m sure New York had apples I could buy but I COULDN’T RISK IT.
Bean dip w/ veggies: I got this whole idea to pack a healthy travel meal from this amazing blog post. I used her recipe for white bean dip, which was beyond delicious and full of protein. The carrots and cucumber sticks were great to snack on throughout the flight.
Farro salad w/ beets, sweet potatoes, and arugula: Now here’s where I REALLY packed in the health. This was our main meal for the flight to New York (FYI i packed 2 full ziploc bags of this salad – the mason jar was just my midnight snack). I roasted sweet potatoes and mixed it with cooked farro, beets, arugula, and chopped raw walnuts. For the dressing, I made a simple apple cider vinaigrette (the same one I used in this recipe). It keeps great at room temperature for a few hours.
Everything worked out pretty smoothly in the end aside from the fact that I made WAY TOO MUCH food for the plane ride. Next time, I will make half as much and maybe not bring a pound of apples?