Plane snacks?

The girls and I are leaving early Sunday for a full day of airplane travel. We're leaving the house at 6 for an 8:20 flight (airport is an hour away). We'll eat breakfast at the airport. The first flight is from 8:20 - 12:05. Then we have almost 1.5 hours of layover followed by an hour flight, arriving at our final destination at 2:35. (4:35 when we arrive, but it will still feel like 2:35 to us).

I'm trying to think of good snacks for the plane rides. We *should* be able to get breakfast at the first airport and lunch at the second, but I don't know if my girls will eat their typical quantity, which means they might be extra hungry on the plane. I'm already having nightmares of two whiny hungry three year olds on a four hour flight.

So far my food list is:

Cheese sticks
Goldfish crackers
Dried strawberries

And... um... well, I'm stumped. What would the rest of you bring for a long plane ride?

 

For my kids, we usually pack granola bars (we like the Fiber One bars), trail mix, dried fruit, all-fruit leathers. I try to include protein like the nuts or fiber one bars b/c mine need protein throughout the day. One thing I can tell you from our experiences is that crackers and things like cereal bars gets crunched up very easily and then not eaten. Just by way of going through the security conveyer belt, they get smashed. Also, unless mine were going to eat the cheese sticks right away, I'd probably not pack them because by the time you get on the plane and eat, they'll have been out for a few hours (no way to keep them cold unless you maybe put it in with a frozen gogurt or something).

 

Lollipops might make them happy, and keep them busy for a while. I know it would for my girls.

 

They have those little 100 calorie packs that might offer some variety. Some have pretzels and cracker mixes. They also have Gripz which are mini CheezIts but are very tiny crackers so it can drop easily unless in a small container. WalMart has a bunch of these packs.

 

How about those little boxes of animal crackers? Fruit snacks?

 

My kids LOVE pasta, so sometimes we'll bring a ziplock bag of cold, cooked pasta for them to snack on.
We also often take raisins. Fruit can be good, if you are on a domestic flight (flying internationally you sometimes can't bring fruit).
Carrots and hummus can be good, but you need little containers of hummus or security will throw them out for being too large a container of "liquid."
PB&J sandwiches are another good one (though usually my husband and I eat more of these than the kids do).
Also, we put all the crushable items into a tupperware container to keep them un-smooshed.

 

Fwootschnacks!!

 

When we're traveling or out & about, my DDs live largely on Zone bars. Yes, the chocolate makes a mess, but they love it, and I just keep lots of wipes handy. Plus, they're filling.

For your layover -- I'd try to find some ice cream. It would be a treat for them, and (I'm assuming) there's not much risk of them refusing to eat. I myself often have ice cream for meals when I'm traveling. :laughing: It's filling and not really bad for you -- just fattening, but that's OK for small children!

I wouldn't worry about the cheese sticks being at room temp for awhile. They're sort of meant for that, and they're very tightly packaged, so it's not like a lot of bacteria can get in.

Other stuff we eat:
dried mangos (Sarah's favorite food)
other dried fruit (craisins, cherries, banana chips, etc.)
trail mix (Amy has recently decided she likes nuts -- Sarah still won't eat them)
animal crackers
fruit leathers