5 ways to hack airport food
If you travel a lot -- and you're attempting to dial in your nutrition -- it can often feel stressful when you consider the general options you'll find at the likes of O'Hare or Midway. But... let us attempt to help lower those stress levels with these 5 ways to hack airport food.
It IS possible to eat well on the road. Never again will you be caught wandering and wishing there was something besides bread sandwiches and Gatorade.
- Bring Your Own!
Perhaps the biggest and simplest hack of travel food. This is great for travelling with family or alone. Cook up some burgers or pack some lunch meat along with a piece of fruit. You will be "that person" eating the weird food on the plane but you'll also be that person that fits in one seat, has sustained energy and a great, stress-free attitude. - Salad with Meat vs Fast Food
This is a no-brainer. Surrounded by fast food, almost all airports will have an option for salad. Midway definitely has some decent options. Find one with a decent protein source and pick a dressing with an olive oil base if possible. You'll feel better and you can thank us later. - Plain Nuts vs Trail Mix
This is one the great bait-and-switches of our generation. Rather than give you a little bag full of great taste and good healthy fat...the nuts. They throw in a box of sugar raisins and a bag of sugar mm's. Think about that for a second...would you buy the raisins and candy on their own? So why are you buying it because it has a few peanuts mixed in? - Jerky vs Pretzels / Chips / Crackers
This is another easy one that may just take a little searching. If you can take the extra minute to find the jerky and skip over the 50 different bags of processed, empty carbs, you'll be rewarded with sustained energy and less hunger. - Water vs Gatorade / Soda
This may be the easiest move to pull off but one that I see screwed up more than any other. Grab that bottle of water in the terminal. Not the little bottle, the BIG one. Make it your goal to finish it by the end of the day. Flying dehydrates you and simply cutting the sugar that comes with juice or pop will do wonders for your energy. Plus when you've got your trusty bottle of water, you can pass up on the sugarbomb Ginger Ale cranberry thing you love so much. - Bonus Hack
Get your kids drinking water. If they are anything like mine they are already out of sorts with travel...and sugar will be like lighting the fuse on the bomb. Water blocks that sugar high and gives them a chance of sitting still, laying low, and making you look like a great parent.
There it is. Please steal a hack or two. Try them and give us feedback; or better yet, let us know how you beat the system. Travel is rough enough without the abysmal food choices you're left with so we'd love any new ideas.
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Egg photo by Caroline Attwood