My go-to travel snacks

During long-haul flights (which, for me, is anything over four hours) or long car journeys, I tend to get a bit bored. There are only so many times I can play Football Manager and listen to the same music (currently vibing to Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo). Sooner or later, I end up needing a change, and that change is best brought about by snacking.

Generally, I am not really a big snacker. I might have a few crisps or biscuits when I am writing essays and doing coursework, but nothing major. I usually detest sweets. I hate how they just get stuck in your teeth, and I have had enough scares with dentists telling me they are not good for you. However, when I am travelling, I find that I often turn to snacking.

This routine is perfect for me as I get to take my eyes off my phone screen and just relax a bit

On planes, the first thing I munch on is sweets. These are for practical reasons rather than enjoyment, as when taking off and landing, I find sweets help prevent my ears from popping. My go-to sweets for this situation tend to be Starbursts or Fruit-tellas. They are great value products, taking ages to chew down. And they have wonderful flavours, my favourite being Fruit-tella’s grape. On a single flight, I could easily get through a pack of those!

A new snacking hack on planes that I have just recently used and exploited is the on-flight snack and food service

Throughout the flight, I tend to snack healthier. My healthy go-to has always been carrot and cucumber sticks. I tend to prepare these at home and then store them in one of those resealable plastic bags. They are then stuffed into my backpack, ready for when I feel peckish. Not only are they healthy, but they are also very tasty. The soft, watery cucumber contrasts rather nicely with the hard, earthy carrots. It is a solid snack, and the vitamin boost is an added bonus. I will then also have a pack of crisps (you can’t go wrong with ready salted, but I prefer to be a bit more adventurous and go with prawn cocktail). This routine is perfect for me, as I get to take my eyes off my phone screen and just relax a bit. As someone who can never sleep on planes, this screen break proves a welcome escape.

A new snacking hack on planes that I have just recently used and exploited is the on-flight snack and food service. Now, when looking at the menu, these prices can seem extortionate. I was on a recent EasyJet flight and the prices were just over £10 for two cans of beer and over £9 for a meal deal. However, my cheeky hack is to wait for the last snack trolley, as sometimes on flights they must get rid of the food and snack produce, so they offer a 50% discount on all perishable items. This means you can get access to their tasty snacks for reduced prices, making them a bargain. However, this does not happen on all flights, and it is rather dependent on the airline and how many flights that particular plane has on the day, in relation to which flight you are on. So, it is not a surefire way of getting cheap snacks, but if this does happen on one of your flights, it is well worth exploiting. Just to be on the safe side, I also take my own snacks.

I treat flights like long car journeys, making sure I have enough snacks to not die of boredom

Personally, I find taking my own snacks on flights to be more beneficial. Not only is it lighter on my wallet, but it is also a tasty treat for when I get bored. Of course, I do sometimes exploit the discounted food and snack trolley, but I never just rely on this. I treat flights like long car journeys, making sure I have enough snacks to not die of boredom! How do you like to snack? Are you a make-your-own snacker like me, or are you one of those big spenders who purchase all their food from the airline?