7 Foods You Should Never Eat on a Plane

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Bringing your own food on the plane makes perfect sense, both for your taste buds and your wallet. But whether you’re packing your own snacks or buying a gate-side meal to-go, you should avoid these seven foods—for your sake and those around you.

Food You Can’t Finish

If you decide that a long flight is the time to enjoy a special treat, more power to you. Just make sure you have time to finish it—or that you’re okay with throwing it away before you land if you’re on an international flight. In most countries, you’ll have to declare any food (even packaged items) before entering, and something that you’ve opened up might not make it in.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat usually won’t be allowed in, due to agricultural concerns. (The U.S. Customs and Border Control Agency offers this helpful guide, but other countries will have different rules.) Know that this rule applies even to food that you were given on the plane—if you toss the banana from your in-flight breakfast into your backpack, you’ll need to declare it upon arrival in another country.

Instant Soups

Some people will tell you to bring a cup of noodles or other instant soup aboard a flight for a filling meal. Once in the air, you can ask the flight attendant for boiling water during meal service. Although a mug of hot soup may sound enticing, it’s a bad idea to keep a cup of scalding liquid near your lap when turbulence could strike at any second.

Plus, many prepackaged ramen cups have close to half of your daily recommendation of sodium, which certainly won’t help you fight jet bloat.

I actually tried out this trick on a flight once, and the flight attendant told me that she did not recommend consuming the hot water offered on planes, as it comes from water tanks that are not cleaned regularly. (Keep this in mind next time you order coffee or tea as well.)

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Noisy Foods

Crunch… crunch… crunch. Put down the chips or raw vegetables—your seatmate does not want to listen to you chew. Crunchy foods can sound louder than a jet engine when you’re basically chewing right in your seatmate’s ear. Remember that the person next to you has nowhere to go, so save the noisy foods for when you land.

Messy Foods

If you’d struggle to tackle what you’re eating on a full-sized table with actual metal utensils, don’t attempt it on a tiny tray table with flimsy plastic forks and minimal elbow room. Airplanes aren’t given a deep cleaning between most flights, so you might be leaving crumbs or other leftovers behind for the next occupant of your seat.

Smelly

If you’re tempted to bring hardboiled eggs, tuna fish, or other strong-smelling food aboard, stop and think about whether everyone trapped in the small cabin with you wants to smell what you’re eating. (The airlines are big offenders on this one, too—often offering a fish option at dinnertime.)

Greasy Foods

Grabbing a fast food meal can be the cheapest and easiest airport option, but it’s really not the best choice for flying. A greasy meal ticks both the “smelly” and “messy” options, and the often-high sodium content of fast food options can make you swollen and bloated, making you uncomfortable for the rest of the flight.

Peanuts

Tiny packets of complimentary peanuts have mostly disappeared from planes due to the growing number of peanut allergies worldwide. If the only snack you’ve packed is a peanut butter sandwich or bag of nuts, you might not be able to eat it if the flight crew announces that there is a serious peanut allergy onboard.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current information.

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