It’s no secret that I travel A LOT. I am a Consultant, so it is literally in my job description. Good thing I like to travel – work or pleasure! Last month I flew 17,140 miles on Delta. That doesn’t even include my return from Italia.
Being that it’s such a big part of my life, I though I’d share some tips I’ve picked up for eating right on the road.
Top 3 Tips for Eating Right On the Road
1. Bring Airplane Snacks
Often on domestic flights pretzels or peanuts aren’t going to cut it for me. I’m notorious for having to run through airports, leaving no time to eat meals.
I like plan ahead and bring carrot, zucchini, and celery sticks on airplanes for snack. They can handle not being refrigerated for a few hours and are far better than a few peanuts (or nothing at all… I was shocked to discover that United doesn’t serve anything). That PB packet was from leftover from hotel strategy #2 below.
For early flights I like to BYOB. I’m usually scrambling to get to the airport at 7am and need to bring my own breakfast to the airport. Sorry Delta, but Biscoff does not a breakfast make.
Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt
Yogurt will make it through security. I recently enjoyed my homemade Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt on a 8a flight. Also, remember to save your old yogurt containers for perfect storage when making your own. It was soooo good.
Other BYO Ideas:
- Various bars or granola – homemade or store-bought; I like to take my Banana Nut Bars
- Fruit – apples, plums, and bananas all travel well – I find oranges are too messy and pears are too easily punctured
- Trail mix – avoid the $6 airport bags and make you own with nuts and dried fruit from grocery store bulk bins
- Sandwiches – sans meat if you can’t keep it cool; veggie wraps and PBJ travel well
- Chocolate – I always have a bite of dark chocolate in my bag for “emergencies”
2. ASK Hotels for Healthy Food
Often the only healthy option on hotel breakfast menus is oatmeal. When I order mine, I ask for banana or fresh berries as toppings in lieu of brown sugar and raisins. Even though I always have nut butter with me, I ask if to hotel has any. Many keep individual packages of peanut butter (pictured below) that I take with me for future use.
Sometimes I shake it up and order eggs. If so, I request half egg/half egg whites and that they be cooked with olive oil or cooking spray instead of slathered with butter. If there are veggies listed with other menu items (tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, etc.) I check to see if they can scramble those into my eggs. This request isn’t always met, but it’s worth a shot!
Dinner can be more of an adventure. Options are so limited in hotels! Typically I order a salad with grilled chicken – easy on the salt and dressing on the side. What is it with the over dressed, salty food?! I also check to see what the seasonal veggies are and order a side of those too, preferably steamed. With a glass of wine.
As I discovered this week on the cleanse, it’s especially hard to order dinner on a vegan diet. Without the option of my go-to grilled chicken salad I had to think outside the box to get a substantial dinner.
Again, the idea is to ask for help. Before calling down I read the menu to see what veggies they keep in-house. Then I called and asked if the kitchen had brown and/or wild rice on hand. Night one wasn’t such a success but…
The import thing is to be specific: the hotel line cooks aren’t going to be creative like you are at home. Read the menu and know what veggies you want from, specify how much rice is a serving for you (sounds picky, but it’s better than being hungry), and asked that they bring the oil and salt on the side. Know that may sacrifice on flavor, and circumvent that problem by asking for a side of red pepper flakes or herbs.
On night 2 this worked like a charm – my dinner was delicious. Though maybe not worth the $40 the Ritz charged for it.
3. Bring Hotel Snacks/Condiments
It’s a great idea to hit a grocery store once you arrive at your destination. However, most of my work trips are 1-2 days and I don’t have time or transportation (I prefer to taxi vs. rent a car). This makes it difficult, but not impossible to eat well. I’m also lucky in that I can expense food on work trips. Helloooooo room service!
All this to say I bring my own accoutrements to accompany my crazy requests mentioned in #2.
Tops on the “to bring” list is protein powder. You can check with the hotel kitchen, find a coffee shop (99.9% make smoothies now), or locate a smoothie place. They will be happy to make you a smoothie with your powder just ignore the weird looks. Before you leave home, pre-mix it with your favorite spice(s) (I always add cinnamon) for added flavor.
This trip I ordered 2 at a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s shop a block from my hotel – one for immediate breakfast consumption and the second one for a post-workout protein fix (sorted in the room fridge or in a bucket of ice if you don’t have a fridge).
Custom smoothie
Other must-haves on the road:
- Fruit – good snack or breakfast in a fix
- Nut Butter – to top your hotel oats or go with your fruit
- Granola or Cereal – if the hotel has yogurt, this is a great topping; I carried my Biscoff granola all over Italy
- Chia Seeds – use your fruit to make chia pudding in your room
- Stevia – my vanilla-flavored bottle is less than 3 oz, so I carried it with my on the plan in case I had to get more creative with the protein powder… and I did…
The most creative hotel creation yet occurred yesterday morning. I knew is was going to be hectic since my boss was now on the road with me and we had an early meeting and my room service oatmeal strategy wasn’t useful since oatmeal isn’t allowed on the cleanse.
I made an overnight breakfast pudding with my cinnamon-laced protein power and a banana from home. Just be sure you remember to save a fork and glass from room service to mush up the fruit.
Hotel Overnight Breakfast Pudding
- 1 banana
- 1 T chia seeds
- 1 scoop protein powder (pre-mixed with cinnamon)
- 5-7 drops Stevia
- Water, to taste
In a glass saved from room service, mush up banana with similarly obtained fork. Stir in remaining ingredients, adding water until fairly liquid (the chia will soak up the excess overnight).
Place in mini-fridge or in ice bucket overnight.
In the morning, stir and enjoy whilst patting yourself on the back for being so creative. 🙂
***
One more idea… if you’re taking a train in Italy, pack up some Prosciutto di San Daniele and bread sticks for the trip.
Do you bring snacks on the road?
How do you navigate not-so-healthy hotel menus and special dietary needs?
Wow…this email reminds me of my consulting days on the road! 🙂 I didn’t know yogurt makes it thru security? SCORE! 🙂 That’s one tip I was not aware of…thanks!
I know it’s a bit salty, but I’m a HUGE fan of the turkey jerky whole foods sells…its filling, super high in protein and the bag is flat and doesn’t take up much room!
xoxo from Trinidad
Hey girl – love this post! Eating healthy on the road is tough. My favorite early-morning airport-trick like you mentioned is bringing a granola bar, but instead of coffee I buy a bottle of skim milk at the airport. Extra protein fills you up, and the lack of caffeine is great for those of us that like to catch a little more shut-eye on the early AM flights 🙂 Unfortunately my main food goal on the road is to maintain overall daily calorie intake, not always the quality of the food. But your trick about asking for “dry” eggs and dressing on the side are tips that save calories anywhere, even hotel room service 🙂
See you soon for some football I hope! xo
Miss you! Let’s plan a football date ASAP!
Thank god I don’t have to travel for work. I prefer to eat at home!
I think the key is bringing your own food. It’s easy to find a Clif bar at the gas station or airport, but I prefer to eat REAL food like fruits and veggies. I do not want that packaged shit.
These are all great ideas!! Thanks for sharing them with us!
I was wondering why I couldn’t vote! Thought I was missing something!! Ha! I used to love traveling for work and really miss it now :/ Great tips though! I never think to ask them to ‘clean’ up meals when eating in hotels, will definitely be trying that in the future! So, thanks! 🙂
What a great post….love all your tips and tricks. I am off to figure out the biscoff challenge b/c I LOVE Them and reacently made something with Biscoffs too.
Enjoy your weekend!
*giggles* I always take snacks for long-haul flights, but my snacks are high-quality chocolate not vegetables 😛
Love the tips Laura! I grew up in a family that would always take own snacks places and Mum even insisted on cooking while we were on holidays. Hot chips (i.e. fries) were very rarely on the menu, even when staying away from home.
Thanks! My mom did the same – she would even pack a massive cooler for road trips.
Oh, really loved this 🙂 I am so going to make your banana crackers! And I agree, dining out while being on a “special” diet can be pretty tough.
Have a lovely day
xoxo Mel
Thank you! Let me know how you like them. 🙂
Wow.. That’s so awesome that your work allows for travel all the time! I love to travel, too 😀 These are really great tips, and you put a lot more thought into them than some travel posts!
These are terrific suggestions. I don’t travel for work, but my husband I travel off and on and I like to keep my food choices healthy. I’ll remember what you’ve suggested here next time we’re on the road.
I bring so much food when traveling. It’s way too expensive to buy stuff at the airport when there are better options you can bring from home (even if they are super loud carrots.)
I love that you make it a priority to stay healthy despite your mobile job – it can become so defeating eating boardroom/hotel/airline food but with a little organization and inspiration, you can keep it real (literally!). Thanks Laura.
I don’t travel for work, but because my husband is a pilot, have great standby benefits and travel pretty often. I love all your tips! We try to stay with friends who eat healthy and cook at home with them, but airline snacks are something I always try to prepare ahead. I love making a trail mix and packing individual portion sized bags of it.
Awesome tips, Laura! I am such a bad traveler in that I know I should pre-plan but oftentimes don’t. This leaves me starving as I’m running through the airport to catch my flight. I think carrying something with you is always a good idea – a bar or piece of fruit at the very least.
Oh and one other thing…my sister was traveling back to school about a month ago and TSA took her peanut butter AND her yogurt. I think it just depends on who’s there that day but she was pretty bummed. She asked them why they wouldn’t let it through and it was something about residual liquids (???). Weird!
What airport was she in?! That sucks. Maybe it’s just ATL (they are fairly lenient), or the fact that I had a thicker Greek yogurt? I would have been pissed!
well I thought I was just slightly less intelligent then most when I was unable to vote…BUT I will go back on the 23rd. I was on the Biscoff site the other day and saw your dough balls on there. I saw the picture and was like “Hey that looks like Laura’s…sure enough it was.” So very cool!
Thanks for all of the travel tips, I love to pick up individual packets because you never know when you might need them. I have never messed much with room service, but I will have to give it a go next go round and see if I can’t get some more tailored items.
Awwww… thank you! I’ll beg for votes again on the 23rd. 🙂
Hahahahaha “Do I bring snacks on the road?” hahahahahahaha….
If the two of us were to travel together (and not just meet at a very exciting location in about two weeks!!!) I’m pretty sure we’d be able to go the whole trip without ever having to purchase food.
[Love the tips. ;)]
We would be nabbed at security for bringing too much food! LOL! I should have tried to book my flight through Texas. 😉