I’ve always been a brown-bagger when it comes to in-flight dining. I’ll be honest—my preference for homemade food over airport fare is largely due to the expense. What can I say? I’m cheap “thrifty.” However, as with most instances of eating out, meals prepared in my own kitchen are far more nutritious than anything I could find at an airport kiosk. My in-flight eats are rarely very exciting, usually consisting of some sort of sandwich and a few crunchy side items.

Notice a theme here?

All that being said, it seems that the increasingly restrictive standards for security clearance at airports is making it a little more tricky to brown bag it. When traveling these days, I live in dread that the TSA agents will confiscate my beloved almond butter sandwich or—even worse—my sack full of hummus and veggies.

Do you generally pack or purchase your meals when traveling? What are your favorite items to pack, or which airport restaurants do you recommend?

Here’s how I kept my energy up for today’s travel plans:

Before (reluctantly) heading to the airport, I enjoyed a rather fantastic parfait. I think my infatuation with raisin bran is back…

For lunch, I packed a simple hummus sandwich. Surprise, surprise.

Tonight, I finally got back to tackling the Ellie Project and made the Toasted Pita and Herb Salad.

My tweaks:

-I used regular cucumber instead of the English variety…because I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store just to get a different kind of cucumber.

-I added white beans for protein.

I was psyched to make this recipe, as it presented the first opportunity to use fresh herbs from my recently established herb garden. It was a pretty basic recipe, however, and there was nothing all that special about it. Maybe a handful of feta would make it more exciting?

Alright, I am off to mentally prepare myself for life back in the real world. Thanks to my family for a great week:)

Filed under: Meals