Breakfast in Your Bag

Taking breakfast with you saves time, money and ensures it meets your nutritional needs to get your day started off right.

6am report time and nothing open?

Need a few extra minutes of sleep so no time to head to the restaurant? 

Nothing around to pick up?

Not wanting to pay for a huge plate of carbs? 

There are a lot of reasons eating breakfast on the road can be challenging for flight crews.  So, for those days when you need to take something with you, here are some starter ideas for breakfasts you can bring with you or easily make in your hotel room as well as a couple tips on what not to take.

Pack it up:

• Make ahead overnight oats or Bircher muesli for a ready to go meal. Not up for meal prepping overnight oats?  There’s lots of ready options like Holo or Yumi.

• Oatmeal packets:

  • often very high in sugar if flavored,  look for unflavored and add your own toppings, or portion sprouted, large flake oats into baggies for easy packing– just needs a kettle or boiling water from a coffee/tea machine to cook.

  • To feel full longer and get more protein add in a little container or baggie of chopped nuts and seeds such as : ground flax seed, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans, unsweetened coconut, chia seeds, hemp hearts etc.  

  • You can also buy individual peanut butter packets that add protein and flavor on the go for less clean up and easier transport

• Yogurt cups :

  • go for plain to avoid a lot of added sugars or artificial flavors/colors

  • go for Greek to increase the protein content up to 19g/cup

  • perfect for adding in nuts and seeds, dried fruit, whole grain cereals, muesli, chia seeds.

  • Don’t go for 0% fat. They have to replace the missing fat with other additives and sugars that give you a similar mouth feel. Plus, you need some fat present to properly absorb vitamin D, which in turn helps you absorb calcium.

  • Looking for a more plant based option? Try coconut or almond based yogurts.

• Chia seed cups:

  • For a high fiber, omega 3 boost try chia seed cups.  Mix chia seeds with your favorite milk (almond works well), a couple drops of vanilla and your favorite toppings – berries, mango, nuts and seeds, coconut chips, oats, granola - so many options to change it up and keep it interesting

• Home made bran muffins or other types of high fiber, fruit muffins (avoid store bought to decrease unhealthy fats and sugars and get more fiber)

• Home made energy balls and bars

• Apple lentil salad

• Hummus bowls

• Natural almond or peanut butter with green apple slices

Hot logic travel food heating devices for hot meals in your hotel

• Hot options – for those who travel with a hot logic or other cooking/heating appliance, cooking eggs or making congee becomes an option.  Heating up homemade breakfast burritos/sandwiches/egg cups can be an option as well depending on the device you travel with.

Tip: fruit salads and soft fruits don’t travel as well – they can become mushy, bruised and put out more liquid than their whole fruit counter parts. 

They also take up a large space in your bag while providing less density of calories so for those who need to pack several days worth of food in a cooler bag, look to pick up fresh fruits at coffee stands, convenient marts, or nearby grocery stores

You can try to include fruit or dried fruit into a dish you are already taking – example – in oats, fruit and nut muffins, bars, or smoothies.

Health tip:

There are tons of breakfast recipes out there that use a lot of cheese, bacon, or breakfast sausages in the mix – breakfast sandwiches, wraps, egg scrambles or mini egg cups etc. 

While these items no doubt can be tasty, they can also add a lot of saturated fats, salt, nitrates and other unwanted additives that come with processed foods so why not try using less. 

For example use sharper, stronger tasting cheeses to get the flavor with less quantity, or instead of a couple of slices of bacon on a sandwich, crumble some into an entire batch of scrambled egg or tofu to get the flavor. 

Even better, save your favorites for special occasions rather than the every day.  Your blood pressure, cholesterol, brain, gut and waist line will thank you.