Meals in the sky (Airlines meals)

NancyKhuu

So I will be flying overseas and will be on the plane for 24 hours total. My longest flight is 16hours. I know they will keep serving me food during the flight and I will be too bored out of my mind if I don't munch on something. Does anyone knows how many calories are in each in-flight meal on average (the serving size looks tiny but I'm afraid looks can be deceiving). Any tips of how not to overheat, anything I should avoid, should I skip a meal? Etc

Francl27

Try to guesstimate. For meals, avoid sauces (scrape it off if you have to, lol), bread, butter, dessert. For snacks typically you don't have much choice, so eat it only if you're hungry or pack your own.

In my experience it's not THAT bad if you do that, but obviously you won't be burning many calories that day either.

Yagisama

My wife and I travel to Tokyo 2-3 times a year but that's only a 10-12 hour trip from LA.

You can request special dietary (or religious) meals before your flight but I don't bother. The actual choices depend on the airline, but my favorites have been Singapore airlines and ANA.

Most food ends up being not very good at 40k feet due to the altitude/pressure/humidity so I don't end up eating much in an airplane. I once took a lot of pizza with me which ended up being way too soggy. McDonald's cheeseburgers became dry evil burgers after a couple hours. This is probably why they sometimes serve you right away after the plane takes off.

That said, we pack snacks (cashews, almonds, chocolate, etc). But again, I don't eat much since we usually go to our favorite restaurant once we land in Tokyo.

bcattoes

Take a book, tablet, or something else to occupy your time. Or board the plane sleepy and sleep on the plane. Whatever is most likely to keep you from getting bored.

And, as noted above, take your own food.

lucyloutoo

I read an article somewhere, that said for the size of the meals they are ridiculously high in calories, pumped full of heaven knows what, to keep passengers full and happy.
Who knows how true this is.
I go with the theory, don't stress it, is one day, but if you're really worried, pack some raw veggies and fruit to nibble on.

dopeysmelly

I'm flying on Sunday, and will be taking my own sandwiches and fruit, but not eating much of either. I prefer to eat a decent meal beforehand and then not eat much in the plane. Airplane food is pretty revolting (except if I'm lucky enough to be in Business, and then the salad and starters are OK). It really is just a waste of calories, and flying does weird things to my stomach in general. On the way home, I'll make sure I only have enough on me to get me through the flight since you can't bring most food back into the US. I refuse all that junky convenience food they throw at you.

I also take a STACK of books to read on my kindle, load up my phone with music and take along an external battery pack for phone/kindle. I can easily read a book and a half in one trans-Atlantic flight, two trans-Pacific.

Yagisama

I used to stay up all night and then fall dead asleep before the plane even took up, completely sleep through the takeoff, and wake up with only a few hours until we reached Tokyo.

paperpudding

I agree with guestimating..

Log it to your best guestimate and dont worry about it too much - unless you go on very frequent overseas trips, it won't really matter if this isn't too accurate.