Is your family getting ready for a long flight for a vacation or family reunion? As you’re planning your trip and packing, be sure to also think about what you’ll pack for your children to eat on the airplane. Whether your flight is two hours or twenty, having plenty of snacks for the kids is one of the best ways to keep them happy and calm on the flight.
Basic tips for flight snacks for children
While this list of the top eight snack options are great, you should definitely customize your on-flight snacks for your children. Also, customize your snacks for your particular flight. If you’ve used your airline credit card rewards to bump up to first class where more food is available, you may not need to pack as much. Or maybe you’ve used airline miles from your credit card for a direct flight rather than a flight with a layover. Take this into account when planning what to bring and how much to bring.
Child Eating Snack Creative Commons License*
As a parent, some of these basic tips will be no-brainers for you, but they might help you narrow down your family’s favorite snack options and decide what to take on your flight:
- Make sure it doesn’t require utensils. The TSA site notes that you can’t even bring butter knives on board a flight, so make sure you pre-spread the peanut butter on those PBJ sandwiches!
- Choose foods that aren’t too messy or sticky. It’s always a good idea to pack wet wipes, but it would be nice not to have to go through too many of them after your kids eat their on-flight snacks.
- Pick things that will hold up at room temperature for the day. You could pack a cooler, but it would just be one more thing to lug on board. Instead, plan on snacks you can pack in your purse or diaper bag.
- Choose snacks that can be packed easily. Snacks that can easily be put into small containers are a good option. That way, you can carry several small containers and pull out one snack at a time as your children want them.
Eight snacks to take on your flight
No matter how long your next flight with your children, here are eight great snacks to take with you:
- Carrots, celery, and apples. All of these options are great, and they’re all easy to eat. Pack a little container of peanut butter if your kids need something to dip their fruits and veggies in.
- Cheese. Individually wrapped wedges of cheese or cheese cubes in baggies can be good options for some protein for your little ones.
- Granola bars. A perennial favorite with the little ones, granola bars are an easy go-to snack for traveling.
- Sweet breads. Homemade sweet breads don’t tend to be as crumbly as other types of bread, and they can be packed with hidden protein in the form of nuts or with dried fruit.
- Trail mix. You can’t beat trail mix when it comes to traveling. By making your own trail mix, you can customize it to the tastes of your children so they’ll enjoy it even more.
- Pita and hummus sandwiches. For slightly more adventurous eaters, pita and hummus sandwiches give some protein and fiber on a long journey.
- Cold cut wraps. If you’re boarding a flight just before lunch time, skip the overpriced airport fare and pack some wraps made of tortillas, cold cuts, and cheese instead. As long as you can eat them within a couple of hours of taking them out of the fridge, they’ll make a good meal on the go.
- PB&J. As long as you don’t overdo the jelly, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will hold up all day, almost all kids love them, and they’re a great option for an in-flight snack.
These are certainly not the only eight options for snacks for your children on a flight. Remember to follow the basic rules of choosing snacks for a flight, and then pick from the snacks your children regularly eat at home. Having snacks that they typically eat can also bring some familiarity with the situation, which makes the whole process of flying a little bit easier.
*Image: Copyright USDA.gov
Ashyia Hill is a social media advocate with CreditDonkey.com, a credit card comparison blog that helps families get the maximum travel benefits from their credit cards.
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