Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’re all set to travel! You reach the airport, you go through customs, and you’re waiting for your flight. Then it happens – you get hungry, and there is nothing healthy nearby. Or, if it is “healthy”, you’re wondering how is this so expensive?!

Samesies.

If you follow me on Instagram: jessicainthekitchen, then you probably know that I love to travel! The Mr. and I realised that the part of travel that gets the least amount of attention is always the actual airport travel part. I feel like this always gets naturally pushed until the last minute to sort out, so we end up eating either overpriced airport snacks, or fattening foods that just make us feel sick for the entire trip. The best way to avoid this? Bringing healthy travel snacks for the plane and the airport. This post helps me to pre-prep for trip, so I hope it helps you too!

These are my Top Healthy Travel Snacks for the Plane - they are guaranteed to fill you up and keep you healthy while travelling!

First, preparing all of these snacks takes about an hour. That means, you could actually do this the morning that you’re leaving! Of course, you could definitely prepare them the night before you travel if you’re anything like me, and just know leaving it until the actual day will guarantee that it just doesn’t happen. Without further ado:

Quinoa Salad

First, a real meal! It’s best to bring a meal that’s allowed on the plane so that your snacks serve the purpose of being snacks and not 15 raw bites as a dish instead.This quinoa salad is simple: cooked quinoa, then your favourite toppings. This is my Mediterranean Quinoa Salad which takes about 20 minutes, including cooking time, to come together. Read: Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Breakfast Cookies

Breakfast Cookies are the perfect travel snacks because they are essentially oats, sweetener and your favourite additions all baked into a healthy delicious dessert-tasting cookie. Does it get better than that?! They are a one-bowl dish and provide lots of protein and fibre sustenance for you on your trip. My favourite breakfast cookies are my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (pictured above) and my Everything Breakfast Cookies.

Almonds

Almonds are a great quick snack and loaded with fibre, protein and calcium. I love roasted sea salt almonds and a handful is great for staving off hunger. This is also a super easy snack to pack and so convenient for the plane.

Raw (Brownie) Bites

Raw Bites are one of my favourite energy-boosting snacks. Firstly, these taste look brownies but are so healthy. I love these because they help to fight any cravings for unhealthy treats while in the airport (hello endless bakeries) while keeping my energy levels up. I love that you don’t have to bake these! Read: Raw Brownie Bites

Apple Chips

I love fruit and veggie chips because they are crunchy and either sweet or slightly salty (based on your personal preference). I bake up these apple chips and they make a GREAT travel treat! This is also really great for kids and are so easy to make. Read: Warm Cinnamon Apple Chips

Bananas

Bananas are easy, quick, healthy, delicious and a perfectly portable plane snack. You basically can’t go wrong with bringing a banana with you.

Green/Ginger Tea

Tea! I am obsessed with tea. I love having several cups a day – I would like to say for the energy, which does help with, but mainly because I just love the clean taste and how balanced I feel after drinking it. You can carry a tea packet on the plane and just ask your stewardess to bring you a mug of hot water and sweetener (I don’t put sugar in my tea but this is up to you) and you can just steep your tea. So easy. Green tea will help with energy, or if you get sick in the air, ginger tea is great for calming your nerves and your stomach.

Pre-packaged Energy Bars

While I completely believe in making most things from scratch, I know very well how the night before/morning of a flight goes, plus the scenic chaos of the airport. Pre-packaged bars such as KIND Bars or LARABARS are perfect travel snacks for the plane because they are filled with only natural, healthy ingredients, are energy-packed, delicious and very convenient.

These snacks can stay out of the fridge for your entire trip and all fit in a lunch kit that you can carry in your carry-on or in ziplock bags in your handbag/shoulder bag, whichever you prefer. I personally like to keep them in my Wolfgang Puck Insulated Rice Cooker Carrying Bag which perfectly doubles as a lunch kit to keep everything fresh and cold or my Fit & Fresh lunch kit with my cold ice pack. Since we’re on the topic of staying healthy while on a plane…

5 Tips For Staying Healthy on a Plane

1. Drink lots of water. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate is my personal motto on a plane and I genuinely feel the difference when I don’t drink water. Water will help to combat the negative effects of recycled air that you’re breathing in, leaving you less likely to feel sick after flying and will help to keep you feeling refreshed.
2. Skip the booze. It seems like a great idea (vacation! Or, fun work trip!) but the elevated heights and the recycled air will only leave you feeling sluggish, woozy and in the worst mood to finish your next 5+ hours of flying.
3. Sleep! If you can sleep on the plane, I would highly recommend it, especially if it’s an overnight flight. Jet lag can be an absolute nightmare as I learned the hard way flying to Russia with no sleep (and literally shaking in my boots until I finally got some sleep). While plane sleep may not feel the most energising, a power nap will help you through the rest of your travels and allow you to feel refreshed when you reach your destination.
4. Stretch. I know, counterintuitive to sleeping, but if you’re on a long flight, you should try to get up and walk around every now and then. Stretching your muscles can also help to prevent swollen ankles.
5. Pack snacks. So we have come full circle, essentially! These snacks will help to keep you energised and healthy throughout your flight and are also great for the airport and your trip! If you end up with leftover bites or breakfast cookies, be sure to refrigerate them when you reach to your hotel room/destination so you can keep them, and any other snacks, throughout your trip.

This post was originally published on Jessica In The Kitchen. Check out more awesome posts like this here.

Food hacks