Plane Food Sucks!

Have you analyzed your plane food recently?

As the holiday season approaches, many of us will be preparing ourselves for our trips we take to see our families and friends. Whether you are escaping to warmer climates during the holidays or simply flying home to spend the holidays with your loved ones, then you will undoubtedly be subjected to the horror of ‘plane food’.

In 1936, United Airlines started providing food to their customers during flights and to ensure that each company was keeping up with their competition, plane food became less of a novelty and more of a standard procedure. Unfortunately, even though it is nice to have something to keep the hunger pangs away, the nutritional value of these hastily put together meals is very disappointing.

Due to the plane food and its appalling nutritional value, the FDA has had to put warnings in place to ensure airlines do not add too much salt to their food. Saturated fat, a lot of salt, and a lack of vitamins and minerals are what we have come to think of as standard plane food.

Another interesting factor that many people don’t know is the fact that background sounds of an aeroplane i.e. white noise can desensitise the taste buds. This makes food taste incredibly bland, so many airlines have been known to add more flavouring such as salt or sugar to their food to make them a tastier dish to eat. All the extra salt that might be added to your plane food can cause dehydration which is one of the main causes of deep vein thrombosis – something that is very common on long-haul flights. You can see some interesting photographs of inflight meals at AirlineMeals.net. 

What options do we have for the plane food?

If you are worried about consuming a calorific, high fat, high in salt plane food meal, there are ways you can prevent your body from having to digest such unhealthy portions. When you are ordering your meal when you book your flight, a dietary requirement box is usually provided – let them know that you want to order a meal that is low fat or has low sodium.

If you are still unsure about the content of the plane food you are given and are unwilling to eat it, another option is to take snacks with you onboard – just ensure that the flight allows it, as it would be annoying to prepare yourself a packed lunch and then have it confiscated at customs!

If you have travelled by air recently and were either pleasantly surprised or truly disappointed with the plane food, what did you do about it? Planning a trip soon and have a plan about what to eat on your flight? Please feel free to share your insights and leave tips on coping with plane food on our Facebook page, or feel free to Tweet us!