Long travel days doesn’t have to mean throwing healthy habits and routine out the window. With a little pre-planning and allocating some space in your carry-on, you can skip the plane meals and airport fast food and arrive at your location feeling your best.
These are the nutrition rules we live by when travelling:
1. Never travel without food
2. Keep hydrated
3. Keep regular mealtimes
4. Choose simple foods that combine protein and fiber and travel well
5. Avoid ultra processed plane meals
Never travel without food
Call it the Jewish old ladies inside of us, we never travel without our own food. Besides wanting to avoid plane food, being Kosher limits our food options when travelling and no one wants to be stuck without food.
Keep Hydrated
Cabin air is dry which rapidly dehydrates you. I once saw an Instagram reel by a vascular surgeon who recommends drinking 80z of water for every hour you are in the air.
Tip: Take an empty 500ml bottle in your bag. This gets through security and the cabin crew are happy to fill it. It avoids you having to wait for them to come around to you, using cups that spill, and allows you to keep it in your seat pocket.
We also make use of electrolyte tabs/powder sachets that can be poured into the bottle and mixed easily for an added hydration boost.
Keep Regular Meal Times
We plan our food based on the times we travel. This helps you maintain your body clock. Check out our Instagram for an example of what a full day of travel eating can look like.
Nighttime Flight Tip: Eat at home or at the airport, prep for bed and sleep on the flight. Eating dinner at midnight on board is not going to help you regulate anything.
Travel food ideas
We always choose simple foods that combine protein and fiber and travel well.
Breakfast
If you can find a 100ml yoghurt tub, that with a pre-portioned serving of granola goes down well.
For an easy ready-made option, Wazoogles protein oat pots are great – just ask the cabin crew to add boiling water on board.
Lunch
A sandwich made with good bread (Jamie Oliver’s Protein Rolls are a solid choice) and a neutral filling like cheese paired with sauteed veggies. Travel etiquette 101: Avoid anything that has a strong smell.
Tip: Hard cheese keeps better. Placing any veg in between your cheese layers protects the bread from sogginess.
Dinner
A protein, roasted veg and grain bowl travels best. You can customize it to the proteins, veg and grains you prefer. We roast all veggies with a light spritz of olive oil and sprinkling of salt and pepper. It keeps well and is spill free.
Example: grilled steak sliced thinly, roasted sweet potato and sautéed marrows.
A poke bowl, with smoked salmon rather than raw pieces also works well.
Tip: Pack it in a disposable tupperware you won’t be sad to toss.
Snacks
Nuts, rice cakes, pretzels, crackers and biltong are solid options.
Chewy sweets, mini chocolates and date balls are our solid go to treat options. Small sizing allows you to have them if a craving hits without overindulging.
Want more inspo? Check out our archives for Zissy’s 2019 30-hour of travel food diary.
