What flight attendants eat on a plane

Jul 17, 2023

When Brittney became a flight attendant a dozen years ago, she was committed to eating healthy, even if that entailed preparing multiple meals in advance. However, she quickly discovered that foods deemed good for the body can be bad for your work relationships, especially when confined to a metal tube.

On one occasion, she noticed that the other flight attendants were keeping their distance. “I was like, ‘Is it me? Do I smell?’” she recalled. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, you kind of smell like farts.’”

She discovered the culprit chilling inside her cooler: broccoli, the skunk of vegetables.

“I learned my lesson to bring it cooked and not raw,” said Brittney, who spent two years with regional airlines before moving to a major airline. (For professional privacy, she requested using her first name only.)

Most worker bees can buzz over to the nearest cafe or vending machine for sustenance, or stick their lunch in the communal fridge. Not flight attendants, who literally eat on the fly. For instance, their “office” can change throughout the day and is often miles from a fresh food source. Their meal times do not follow a traditional schedule, especially if they are hopping across time zones. They can’t eat until they have completed such essential tasks as safety checks, food and beverage service, and trash pickup, which can be hours after takeoff. A red call button can interrupt their meal like a pesky robocall; weather or mechanical delays can dash their dining plans like a grease fire in a restaurant kitchen.

A baby is crying on your flight. Here’s what to do — and not do.

“Food is a huge subject for us, because we never know when we’re going to be able to get our next meal,” said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “So planning is very important.”

Depending on the airline, contract and destination, crew members may receive a free meal or light bite. Deborah VanTrece, a former flight attendant who is now a chef, caterer and restaurant owner in Atlanta, said options can range from a snack box with a can of tuna, chips and a candy bar to a more fulfilling hot meal with a protein, vegetable and starch. She said flight attendants in the pricier cabin classes would sometimes leave out unclaimed trays, but you had to be quick to claim your prize.

“Between business class and first class, you could usually scrounge up something better than the coach meal,” she said. “Not always, but quite often.”

VanTrece attended culinary school while working for American Airlines and grew suspicious of in-flight meals after she studied the subject for a food sanitation class. For the project, she visited an airline catering company and observed the multistep process involved in assembling passenger meals.

The airplane food is good. No, really.

“It’s kind of scary when you think about all the things that are going on to protect the food and the amount of preservatives that have to be in the food to keep it safe,” she said. “Most of us at some point just bring our own food and figure it out for ourselves.”

Michael Rice, a flight attendant for a budget airline, has fewer options than his colleagues who work on planes with full galleys and meal service. His carrier offers crew members a selection of free drinks plus discounts on snack foods, such as instant noodles, chips and cookies. But after 10 years on the job, Rice said the junk food has lost its appeal.

“When you first start, you’re excited and you’ll take the discount and eat the snacks,” he said. “But you get tired of the same snacks.”

Flight attendants will always have at least two opportunities to eat on the ground, at their departing and arrival airports. However, a tight layover might prevent them from grabbing food between gates. The inflated prices at airport restaurants and convenience stores can also be prohibitive, even with a flight crew’s professional discount.

“We try to limit the amount of dollars that we’re paying, but it’s also about time,” Nelson said. However, she conceded that even travel-savvy flight attendants can fall prey to the seductive scent of, say, airport barbecue ribs or cinnamon rolls.

The flight attendants we spoke with said they generally pack healthy foods to keep energy levels up and puffiness down. They favor low-sodium items to avoid swelling up like an inflatable balloon. They choose utensil-free foods, such as carrot or celery sticks, protein bars and dried fruit, that can be easily consumed while standing up or squished in tight quarters. Nuts are popular choice, with the exception of peanuts, which can trigger a passenger’s allergies. Bananas are also a good pick, as long as they are eaten before the ethylene gets ahold of the fruit.

“When you are first starting out, you may pack, like, six bananas. By the time you land, they’re all brown or black,” Rice said. “So I’ll pack two and eat them first.”

The best restaurants in America’s busiest airports

Hard-boiled eggs are another staple, though, like cruciferous veggies, they can throw a pungent punch. Rice will warn colleagues in advance. “I’ll tell them, ‘Hey, guys, don’t be alarmed if you smell it,’” he said. Brittney will duck into a private place to tap the eggshell.

“I usually try to crack them in the bathroom and then I’ll bring them out and eat them in the galley,” she said. “Normally, it’s just the initial cracking them open that smells.”

Brittney is also mindful of odor when choosing her proteins and planning the order of consumption. She will eat the fish — usually salmon or tilapia, which don’t smell like canned cat food — on the first day. Chicken is next in line, followed by beef on the third day of her trip.

Brittney’s elevated meals attracted the attention of her co-workers, who were not just curious about how to make the dishes but also how to pack, freeze and reheat them. In response, she self-published a cookbook called “Galley Delights: A Flight Attendant’s Guide to On-the-Go Meals.” She also created a website that features her recipes, such as spinach and chickpea fritters, cabbage pot stickers and spicy Thai chicken noodle soup. For the soup, she advises against freezing the noodles, which she warns will turn mushy.

Because of the uncertainty of air travel, flight attendants will fly with a small mobile kitchen, including refrigeration. Coolers are a must-have accessory, especially for trips lasting several days.

“A lot of times we will negotiate with the companies to either provide these coolers or make sure that this is acceptable for our uniform requirement, because we count on these things to be able to eat,” Nelson said.

You have a medical emergency on a flight. Here’s what the crew can do.

To extend the life of their dishes, flight attendants will freeze perishable items and store them in an insulated tote with ice packs. Brittney’s hack is to fill headache bags with ice, which is plentiful in airports and hotels. Though many airline contracts require hotels to provide flight attendants with fridge access, in a pinch Brittney will turn her sink into a giant ice bucket. She will stuff a garbage bag with ice and poke a hole in the bottom for drainage.

To reheat their food, they will use the plane’s oven or the hotel microwave, assuming these pieces of equipment are available. Some crew members take self-sufficiency to the next level and carry a Hot Logic. Brittney brings a miniature Crock-Pot, which she says heats up food faster than the portable food warmer.

“The Hot Logic is nice if you have a long layover. You can go work out, take a shower, come back and then it’s hot,” she said. By comparison, the Crock-Pot takes 10 to 15 minutes.

For years, VanTrece stashed a small electric skillet in her luggage. Her colleagues benefited from her culinary prowess — and her frying pan.

“I was known for having food parties where the whole crew packed into my room,” she said. “In the morning, I’d cook everybody breakfast.”

In defense of airplane food

To replenish their larders or add new flavors to their repertoire, flight attendants will often hit up grocery stores, especially during their international layovers.

Brittney, for instance, will pick up cold cuts and sandwiches in Amsterdam. “It’s just a ham and cheese sandwich, but it tastes better, because their stuff is just so much better,” she said. She will also stockpile a Dutch specialty of fried balls filled with vegetables, mushrooms and herbs, which are sold fresh or frozen.

“The misconception is that you can’t bring it with you — but you can eat it on the plane,” she said. “You just can’t take it through customs when you get into the States.” (For a list of prohibited items, check with Customs and Border Protection.)

Whenever VanTrece flew to England, she’d load up on British potato chips, which she claims are the “world’s best.” In France, she’d hit up Picard, a chain that specializes in frozen food. She’d gaze with delight at freezers stocked with fancy dishes, such as duck a l’orange and baked Alaska, and mise-en-place components, including diced peppers and sliced potatoes.

After her food shopping sprees, she would store her goods in the hotel fridge but wait for the flight to whip up a meal.

“I actually roasted a duck on the plane with bok choy and some type of jasmine rice,” she said of one of her most memorable shift meals.