What can I take with me on a long flight to eat that is vegetarian?

I have often taken my own food on flights, usually things like trail mix and nut butter sandwiches. Your upcoming flight is reeeaaallly long, so I’d take a bunch of different stuff. Some dried fruit to perk you up a bit!

Safe flight!

Granola bars. Peanut butter on cheese sandwich crackers.

You can pick up a salad before getting on the plane. And, many airports have vegetarian wraps available.

Check your departure airport for what concessions there are. Different airports have different food services inside security. Some are excellent, some are horrid. (Dulles in Washington DC only has cruddy fast food available.)

And check the TSA to verify what you can take through security. Some whole fruit is okay, some are not.

Bagels, apples, and cheese. That was my standard travel menu for many years.

Apples, oranges and bananas should be okay. Also peanut butter or a peanut butter sandwich. I would hold off on the jelly.

What I’ve taken on long flights:

—seedless red grapes, they’ll be ok for 2 or 3 days in little separate plastic bags
—string cheese, in its own wrapper
—small bread rolls or soft sandwich rolls that I can buy fresh at my supermarket, wrapped singly in plastic wrap

Basically, I think you want picnic food. Easy to eat, no cleanup.

So…a bottled smoothie or two. Greek yoghurt in a small container to go with your nuts. Cheese cubes, carrot sticks, baby tomatoes. Bread. Falafel or vegetarian “meatballs”. Mandarin oranges. Spinach quiche is a great cold veggie lunch. Cold pizza is good, too. Cold pancakes? A blueberry muffin or two for a treat, and you can pick up your favorite beverage to go with that at the airport.

Good ideas ^^^, but I would avoid anything that crunches or has a strong smell (even oranges). People on airplanes are irritable enough these days, from what I’ve been reading. For layovers, though—yeah.

@kneesox Good point about the oranges! Also, that means Gouda or similar mild cheeses, nothing blue or Swiss. And certainly no boiled eggs, which are generally a good picnic food.

Somebody sitting next to me in a circle group meeting one night peeled and ate two mandarin oranges and left the peels in a little pile on the floor between our chairs. I’m not overly sensitive to odors, but it was overwhelming to the point that I wanted to get up and leave. No such relief on a plane.

Finally I disturbed meeting protocol by speaking out of turn and asking her to remove them. She seemed really surprised that it would have bothered anyone.

I did a Web search and found this site telling how long foods can be left unrefrigerated. I was wrong about jelly. They say it will last a day or two.

Cheese and tomato sandwiches aren’t a bad idea. Nice and simple and not too dry for eating on a plane.

@Hawaii_Jake I love snacks with peanut butter, a great protein. I like PB on graham crackers Soda crackers, apple slices and of course with bananas.

A veggie wrap, an apple, some cookies…...

I just flew cross country. Had a muffin at the airport, bought a Baby Ruth and was given a snack bag with some pretzels and water. I was hungry when I got home though! If they give you drinks on the plane, it might be easier to avoid taking any with you as they are heavy.

Maybe trail mix with out peanuts. Nut Allergies make it a no-no on flights.

Several good suggestions here, so all I have to add is, I would rather sit next to someone with a good which smells some, than someone who just ate something which makes them gassy.
Sometimes people plan foods for the actual eating, and forget to consider the hours after.

I like roasted chickpeas and crackers made out of almond flour or cheese, something high in protein, along with fruit.

Clementines (Cuties are the best) which you can pre-peel and put in a plastic bag or bring the whole fruit they peel so easily. Carrots. Pita chips and hummus. You can get hummus in little individual containers in most supermarkets like 4 or 6 in a pack like mini apple sauce. Oh, mini apple sauce is good too, or some other fruit cup.

Most fruits and veggies are “No-nos” for Hawaii to the Mainland, Most liquids and gels are limited by the TSA to per item less than 3.4oz/100 ml. Whole nuts and bagels would be good.

I’d also steer clear of things that end up with messy wrappers or wet containers to dispose of that you can’t actually close, like peelable lids. And anything that you’re going to be drippy and need a napkin, like sliced tomatoes. And anything that crunches!

I think apples are NG because they’re opaque. TSA took away my apple once. Besides, they do crunch.

@kneesox The flight attendants come around frequently collecting garbage so messy packing isn’t really a problem unless you get it on yourself or a seatmate!

I apologize if this has been mentioned but, salted edamame beans are yummy.

I also like Kind Bars.

@Tropical_Willie No no to bring on the plane for consumption? Or, no no when you land in the airport? You don’t go through customs from HI do you? I vaguely remember coming in from St. Thomas we had to go through something even though it was an American territory, but HI is a state so I would not have guessed that. I’ve flown in from PR also, and I don’t remember the procedure.

Hawaii at the USDA station, confiscates all non approved fruits and veggies (including citrus or citrus-related flowers, leaves, or other plant parts, as well as jade vine).

Thanks.

Most snack bars don’t have meat in them so try a snack bar.

I’m thinking carrot sticks and grapes would be my first choices. They’re both not messy and they travel well.

^^ But for a long flight he needs more than that to eat.

Pastries and other baked goods can work well.

Chocolate or candies.

If coming over to the mainland I’m surprised they count that as a flight that doesn’t serve food even though I understand it’s domestic. It’s still over the ocean. Seems like time should matter more than domestic or international.

@janbb How long? Is he going to the east coast? I might have missed it.

I wonder if it’s a daytime or night time flight. That would make a difference to me. Right now with covid floating around I would rather not eat on a plane probably. I’ll keep my mask on. 6 or 10 hours without food isn’t that big of a deal for most people, but maybe the OP is diabetic, I don’t remember, and that would be a different situation.

@JLeslie I’m flying to the East Coast. The flight there is at night, so I need dinner and a snack.

I haven’t flown in 21 months, and I completely forgot about the agriculture inspection. I can’t take fresh fruit or vegetables even to eat on the flight. I’ll take nuts and some packaged snacks like granola bars, etc. I’ll buy food in the airport.

My flight serves meals, but they do not allow you to order special meals. I can’t order a vegetarian meal. I’m going to contact them a day ahead to see if they’ll share the menu. Perhaps one of the options will be suitable.

@Hawaii_Jake There may well be a vegetarian option on the menu. On my flight which was shorter than yours they served meals to first class but a snack bag to us. They told us we could take our masks down to eat and drink but to put it up again between bites or sips.

The airports do seem to have lots of food to buy including things like veggie wraps.

I know I was on a different airline than yours so YMMV.

East coast is a very long flight. At least it’s evening so you will likely sleep through part of it.

What about some trail mix or packaged dried fruit. That seems to be allowed when I looked over the list as long as it’s commercially produced.

This link is the hummus in individual portions I was talking about. https://sabra.com/on-the-go/hummus/classic-hummus-singles.html. Peanut butter and Nutella come like that too. I think that’s ok to bring on board.

I would eat at the airport, even if you bring the food with you. You have to get there early, and if you fill your tummy then not eating much for the evening flight won’t be a big deal. I used to do this when I lived in Tampa, they had some nice restaurants in the airport. Then there won’t be an issue with bringing the food on the flight.

You can also bring a sweet treat as dessert late evening also. Some cookies or cake or the dessert given on board.