Travel Snacks

What kind of snacks do you bring for your plane ride? Even if your ticket says a meal or snack is available, they don't give it to you until at least 30 minutes after take-off. What if you're stuck on the tarmac for 30 minutes or more?

There are several things to take into account when deciding what to bring. Will it make you even more dehydrated than the airplane will? Will it be smelly to the other people on the plane? Will it make it through security?

Once on the airplane, your access to water is limited, so don't bring anything that will make you thirsty. Bars and pubs generally put out bowls of snacks that will make you thirsty so you will order more drinks. Think of the snacks you have seen at the bars and don't bring those. You don't need to make yourself any more thirsty that you already are.

Fruit is a good choice, but be careful not to bring fruit with smells that will annoy the other passengers. There's no need to get your neighbors upset while trapped together in a giant metal container at 30,000 feet. Good choices are apples, grapes and cherries. Avoid bananas and oranges. Not only do they put out odors that some might consider offensive, they leave your fingers sticky and wishing you could rinse them off.

Baby carrots are a good choice. They are bite size, moist and have some fiber. Brocolli would be a bad choice. Too much fiber. The fart sponge you'll be sitting on can only absorb so much.

Forget the applesauce, pudding and Jell-O. The snack size containers you buy in the store exceed the limitations for national security and they will likely be confiscated. Ironically, they will let you bring a frozen ice pack - the kind you leave in your freezer and put in a cooler. Just make sure it's frozen when you take it through security. If it melts, it becomes a liquid that is in a container over 3 ounces and you know what happens to those...

When selecting your snacks at the store, be sure to check the ingredients on the labels. If you're trying to limit your carbohydrate intake, forget about bringing breakfast bars or granola bars. Even the "low-sugar" ones have too many carbs. Mini muffins are a better choice.

If you're travelling with someone, why not make a snack pack for them too? They will probably appreciate the hospitality and have fun opening up their snack pack gift.

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