Flying long haul with a fussy eating 3 year old

[CJ14]

Has anyone done a long haul flight with a fussy eating child that you know won’t touch airplane food.

I plan to take a thermos lunchbox with lots of food in there but struggling to know what I can and can’t take on board.

I am sure sandwiches will be fine, but has anyone else prepped like a pasta meal? It would be cold to eat as I assume the airline can’t heat anything up.

She loves chicken, pasta, rice, all vegetables (which is great but cold soggy broccoli would probably not be her fave!) but she doesn’t like sauces… so things have to be ‘plainish’.

Of course nuggets, sausages and all the normal beige food is on her menu too but can’t really bring all that in a box.

Help!

Any advice would be appreciated x

Night flight? How long?

Does she like pizza? We always take some cold pizza for DS when we're flying.

@Ketchupbroc - 10 hour flight taking off at lunch time. Return flight is a night flight.

@mynameiscalypso- that’s a really good idea! She loves pizza. Thank you!

Quite frankly, for 10 years, it doesn't need to be proper food. So take some sandwiches, any fruit etc she will eat. Things like sausage rolls, popcorn chirkcn or whatever it is she will eat that is fine cold. We always took lots of snack bar and pre-bought snack things as well - popcorn, crisps, fruit roll things etc. If you want to take a flask with one portion of hot pasta,fine, go for it butmake it less liquidy as they can get snippy about that - although usually reasonable with small children.

One day of not eating a "proper" meal won't do her any harm and if she WILL eat the snacky stuff and fill up on it, great

Who are you flying with @CJ14? I’m my experience (of British and American Airlines) kids meals are usually beige food like nuggets or sausages, or at best tomato pasta. So whilst I understand you wouldn’t want to risk not bringing anything chances are it’ll be ok - you usually need to log on and specifically order a kids meal though, otherwise she will be served an adults meal. Certainly kids meals often come with bits and pieces like fruit and a chocolate bar which could add to what you bring.

@Sunat45degrees- yes you’re right! Little and often is better than nothing so will get the snacks sorted. Thank you.

they also get bored. So the snacking helps to keep them occupied frankly. "Ooh, you're whinging... here, have this bag of popcorn."

"Ooh, you're bored? How about we make a little plate of sausage rolls whiel you watch peppa pig?"

@JackShephard - flying BA. I didn’t know they did kids meals (first time flying long haul with a child). I’ll log on now and see if I can mark up that she requires a kids meal. That’s really helpful! Thank you

Fill her up at the airport and take loads of snack food, fruit, cold sausages, whatever she likes to eat.
heat be aware that you may need to bin what's left before you get off the flight if the country you're visiting has limits on the type of things you can take in.

BA will be great! They usually bring the kids meals out first so you have a chance to help her pick out the bits she does/does like before your meal arrives. It’s an option under ‘special’ meals - like a dietary requirement. We flew BA close to Easter last year and the kids meals came with a little Easter egg as well as everything else 😁

Just looked back on the flight we took last year - I took a photo of the kids meals because I’m a saddo 😅 and I can see they had tomato pasta, houmous and crudités, Jacob’s crackers with cheese, bread roll, cheesecake and the Easter egg. Just to give you an idea. On BA long haul you can also go up to the galley and ask for snacks like crisps and chocolate bars. I also brought apples, satsumas, cereal bars and malt loaf with us just incase.

Oh yes, thats also a good point - I always plan time to eat "properly" before we get on the flight but at the airport. So burgers/nuggets etc. Then there's even less desperation for a "proper" meal.

Just go for copious snacks - berries, cucumber, banana, cheerios (dry), flapjack, crackers, rice cakes, plain biscuits, baby yogurt pouches, any other toddler snacks she likes. If possible add a carton of milk or milkshake as this will be filling.
Then in the airport ensure she gets a portion of fries or something

You could get a thermos container for keeping food warm? We have a cute one from Skip Hop, not sure if they still sell them

I would get a little bento style lunch box and do lots of little picky things.
cucumber slices, raisins, popcorn, carrot sticks, granola, even cold cooked pasta shapes, cold sliced sausage, olives, rice cakes, cheese cubes,

Anything that does not contain nuts, included pesto, but also that if she drops it on you it doesn't cause a mess!

Take a McDonald’s on for her first meal.

Just take loads of picnic type snack food, fruit, packet of crisps/puffs, some biscuits, pastry for breakfast, etc. The children’s meal is usually chicken nuggets or some similar beige food (which mine won’t eat 😂).

Unless it’s like a chicken soup or something very liquid, there is really very little you can’t bring onboard. I once brought an entire takeaway from my favourite Ethiopian restaurant! Because the previous flight I’d been on the vegetarian meal was fruit salad with a side of fruit salad and I decided I was fed up not having decent food to eat. 🤣