12 Worst Snacks To Bring On A Long Flight

If you've flown long haul before, you know the pain of being hungry and having to wait until the air host or hostess comes by with the food trolley. Sometimes, it takes ages after takeoff to get a meal, especially if you're in a row that they serve last. That's why it's always a good idea to pack your own food and snacks. You don't have control over the timing of service on the flight, and let's be real, sometimes it's a roll of the dice if you even like the food and snacks on offer. Plus, sometimes you have to pay extra to get something to eat. As a food and travel writer, I've been on my fair share of flights across the world, and have learned a thing or two about the perfect snacks to bring. I've also sometimes learned the hard way about the etiquette rules of eating on a plane, and what snacks not to bring.

After receiving disgruntled looks from fellow passengers for eating certain foods, and alternatively, being on the other end too, there are some unspoken rules you should follow. Foods that are too messy, too smelly, or have too much waste that you can't really get rid of, all need to be abandoned as options. Fortunately, there are still plenty of other snacks you can pack for your long flight while still keeping your fellow passengers in mind. If you're unsure about what to pack, let's eliminate the no-gos. Here are some of the worst snacks to bring on a long flight.

This one might seem counterintuitive as, for various reasons, some people think that boiled eggs are the perfect snack for a long flight. Even the fancy food people like Martha Stewart think that boiled eggs are a great idea. I understand why, considering they're pretty durable and long-lasting. They can also be eaten cold, and they're high in protein, helping you stay full and satiated. The problem with boiled eggs is largely down to the smell. You can't escape the fact that boiled eggs do not smell good. As soon as you peel them, the aroma travels, and as someone sitting next to a passenger eating boiled eggs, it can be a very unpleasant experience.

Additionally, the smell will bother you too, as the person eating them. We all know that feeling of still tasting boiled eggs in our mouths even after a couple of hours of having eaten them. That's not the kind of taste you can easily get rid of, and considering you're stuck in a tin can in the sky for a long duration, you don't need any more discomfort to make it even worse. Don't despair, there are other protein-packed snacks you can take on a flight, like protein bars, or some almonds, for example.

Another nutrient-rich food that people love to take on a flight is bananas. They're wrapped in their own natural covering and feel fresh to eat when you feel like you've only been eating dry foods. They're also nice and filling. I can see the allure. However, they also have a really strong smell and are among the fresh foods that you really shouldn't take on planes. While there are people out there who absolutely detest the smell of bananas, I'm not one of them. And still, the smell can be quite overpowering, nonetheless. It's the kind of smell that you can't easily get rid of.

What makes it worse is that bananas get more strongly smelly as they mature while sitting in someone's bag for a while. The other problem is that once you peel them, you won't find too many places to throw away the peels — the main culprit of the banana odor. Many people wrap them up in the sanitary bag provided in the seat pocket, which doesn't really help. Then, if you're lucky, they'll pass it to the cabin crew when they come to collect the trash. If you care about others on your flight, it's advisable to avoid this altogether and ditch bananas. Consider a fruit with a more neutral scent.

Sardines may not seem like a common flight snack, but I've come across them on flights more than I'd like to have. People may be thinking of getting something relatively cheap, tasty, and that can fill them up for a few hours, and sardines certainly do that. However, like most any tinned fish, they are pungent. Sardines carry a concentrated fishy smell that's practically impossible to mask. Their pungency is often why people enjoy them, but there's a time and place for them, and an airplane is not one of them.

Other than a lingering fishy smell, sardines are also a nightmare to clean up. Whether they're preserved in oil or not, they're pretty oily themselves, and once that oil gets on your hands, your meal tray, or your clothes, it's staying. No matter how many wipes you use, it's likely that this oiliness is going to follow you for the duration of your flight, and you'll bring it with you to your destination. Sorry, sardine lovers, but please enjoy them in the privacy of your own homes, and not while six miles high in the sky.

We all love a good fast food order while waiting at the airport. The alluring smell of fried foods can be incredibly tempting, especially when you're in holiday mode and you have limited food options at your airport terminal. You may think to grab some nuggets or fries to take with you on board, in case you get hungry, but this isn't the best idea. Fried fast foods are incredibly tasty when fresh, but even waiting for as little as half an hour can make them much less appealing. Fries get chalky and soggy, and those crispy nuggets become chewy blocks that are hard to stomach.

In addition to their taste and texture degrading, fried foods also have the problem of smelliness. Sure, they're not sardines, and the smell is often associated with a positive reaction, but an old fried food smell isn't great. And it sticks. Somehow, my clothes always pick up the smell of fried food, and it's hard to get the smell out of my hair, too. It's just not the kind of smell you want to be trapped with for hours. It's probably better to enjoy your fast food order when it's hot and fresh, before boarding your flight (or after you land), not only for your fellow travelers, but also for your own good.

You may be wondering why something like Goldfish would make a list of the worst snacks to bring on a flight. They're as dry as food can get, and don't have a smell. That's true, but have you ever dropped a Goldfish by accident? And then stepped on it? These delicious and moreish little fish can be a nightmare to try to clean up. Stepping on one on a hard floor makes a huge mess, so imagine what it's like when a crushed Goldfish cracker is at the bottom of your feet on those coarse airplane carpets. You'll never be able to clean it up. You'll keep stepping on the crumbs, and pass them throughout the plane if you walk up and down the aisles.

If you think you can eat Goldfish without dropping them, then be my guest. However, it's highly likely that you will lose a fish or two on a long flight. As good as your muscle reflexes and balance might be, you can't predict the kind of turbulence you'll experience while flying, and more often than not, you'll end up spilling some.

Most people love tuna salad. No matter how many trendy foods get our attention, many of us will return to an old faithful like tuna salad time and time again. It's a delicious classic, easily customizable to our preferences, and it's also protein-packed and filling, so people like to nibble on it for health reasons too. I've seen many a "gym bunny" whip out a tupperware container of tuna salad on a flight. Some eat it with chips or crackers, and the extremely health-conscious even bring along some lettuce leaves to wrap their tuna in. This is just not it. I doubt anyone who brings tuna on a flight doesn't know how strong it smells, and that it's bothersome to their neighbors.

Even if you're a tuna salad fiend, a couple of hours' wait while you're flying should be on the cards. Especially if you want to be considerate to others. Even a refined tuna salad sandwich, as tasty and satisfying as it may be, shouldn't be an option. If you really must have a fishy protein of some kind, then perhaps smoked salmon is a lesser offense, although it's still not ideal. If you're a meat eater, perhaps a chicken salad sandwich would be a better choice.

Now, nuts are arguably one of the best kinds of snacks to take on your flight. They're tasty, crunchy, filled with protein and healthy fats, and best of all, they're dry and don't smell. But you'll run into another kind of problem if you take whole or shell-on pistachios. While it may kill time and keep you entertained to take off the individual shells of your pistachios, they also pose a couple of risks. If you use your mouth in any way to crack them open, which a lot of us do, you could accidentally choke on them if you hit an unexpected bumpy patch of turbulence.

The other issue is that keeping your pistachio shells out of other people's way while you eat them can also be annoying in a tight space like a flight seat. You'll have to have a collection bag ready for each shell as you remove it. You can easily make a mess and drop a couple of shells around you. They're small and not easy to spot, so cleaning up isn't easy. The same can be said for whole pumpkin seeds or whole sunflower seeds, too. The good news is that you can buy shelled pistachios, and those can be the perfect snack for a flight. You can also do some preparation and take the shells off at home and discard them before taking them with you. You'll thank your past self for going through that extra effort.

Interestingly, cheese is another snack that people love to bring on a plane. While neutral tasting cheeses like string cheese or even mozzarella are forgivable, people seem to think that bringing cheeses like Cheddar, Gouda, Camembert, Brie, or even blue cheese is a good idea. I do see the appeal, because a block or slice of cheese can be a flavorful way to have something filling on a long flight. However, the smell may be a bit too strong for everyone around you, most of the time. Even for yourself, you might enjoy it in the moment, but having cheese breath the whole flight won't make you feel comfortable or good about yourself.

Even if you think you've wrapped up your cheese or packed it really well, cheese that's been sitting in whatever container you've put it in for a couple of hours is likely going to get "sweaty" and not be the most appetizing. Its smell will also get stronger. So hold on for a couple of hours until you land before getting your cheese fix.

Yogurt is yummy. A cup is small enough to fit in your carry-on, it's filled with protein, and it can be healthy for your gut because of the probiotics. That's why it may be surprising that it's one of the worst things to bring on a flight. There are a number of reasons why. Yogurt can be quite messy to eat, unless you're licking the cup and lid completely (which is a little hard to do next to several other people). It's likely to get on something else unless you're extremely careful about disposing of the cup after eating.

It's also going to be warm after sitting in your bag for a while. Unless your commute to the airport, and stay in the airport is less than two hours (which is pretty uncommon for a long flight). That means by the time you're eating it on a flight, it's going to be warm — and it likely won't be safe for consumption after two hours unrefrigerated anyway. Lastly, the probiotics might be good for you on land, but they can cause you to bloat on a flight, where air pressure can sometimes negatively affect your digestive system. You're not going to be happy feeling bloated in an airplane seat, when getting to the toilet isn't as easy as it is at home.

You may be thinking that dried foods and/or non-perishable snacks are what you should take on a long flight. You wouldn't be wrong about that, but not all of them work as well as each other. For example, jerky is a tasty snack that doesn't need to be refrigerated, but it's still not a great idea. People choose it because it's meaty and satiating when you're hungry, but jerky doesn't have the most appealing smell, especially if it's been packed up for a few hours.

Jerky can also start to sweat if temperatures are warm. Though most flights are air conditioned, you can't always be sure if it's working well, or working at all, in all the spaces you're passing through, both in the airport and on the flight. When jerky sweats, it becomes a soggy, oily mess. And its smell becomes even worse. This makes it less desirable, and you might want to quit it after a bite or two. Sadly, by then, the smell will have already done its damage, and your hands will probably be pretty oily. There may be better meaty options to take on a flight, and maybe a really dry, lean biltong is a better option than beef jerky.

Hummus is many people's favorite snack food. Eaten with carrot sticks, it's a top-tier snack at home or at parties, because it's zingy and flavorful, fresh, creamy, and filling. It's another great protein choice, and even better because it's naturally vegan, so almost anyone can eat it. On a flight, though, hummus isn't the star it is on land. It will get warm and even dry as it sits in its container for a while, and it's a perishable food, too. This means that it's not safe to eat after two hours of being unrefrigerated. There's nothing quite as disappointing as accidentally eating a spoon of hummus that's gone off. That sour taste will stay in your mouth for ages, and it can also make you sick.

Even if your hummus hasn't gone bad and still tastes fine, there's another problem. Even people with the strongest digestive tracts can become bloated when eating hummus. Chickpeas, like many other legumes, can cause gas and bloating. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, but it's not the best thing to be trapped on a plane and be gassy or have a stomachache. You may need to go to the toilet more often than is comfortable, not to mention that you're either controlling yourself to not pass wind for the sake of others, or you don't care, and everyone around you will suffer. Stay away from it altogether for a much more agreeable and trouble-free flight.

Fruit, in general, is usually touted as a healthy and fresh snack that you should pack for a flight. However, not all fruit is made equal for a long plane journey. Although juicy peaches or a ripe mango can be some of the best fruit to eat at home, don't bring them on a flight. No matter how careful you are, the juice can easily trickle from your mouth, onto your hands, and just cause a bit of a mess. The juice gets sticky, becomes hard to clean up, and becomes a pain to you and the person sitting next to you.

Paper towels are not going to cut it to get rid of that stickiness. These fruits also tend to have a strong scent, especially when ripe. While they taste great, they may not always smell so good to others. If you must bring fruit, then some grapes or possibly blueberries, in a container, would work really well. This way you'll get your vitamins without causing too much mess or upset for yourself and others.