How to Meal Prep + Healthy Snacks for Traveling with Kids

Our family recently re-located to Lithuania from Phoenix, Arizona for my husband's job.  If you've been following me you probably know we are no strangers to traveling and moving.  We move 2x a year (and just moved home to Phoenix from Israel in June).

Normally when we travel I pack a bunch of snacks for me and for the kiddos - some healthy and some not so healthy.  But I usually do not pack meals.  I resort to airplane and airport food and try to do the best I can to make healthier choices.  But this time was different.

This time, our travel was right in the first month of my 80 Day Obsession Test Group.  I didn't want to get totally thrown off and have to resort to eating junk.  So for the first time ever, I meal prepped for travel.

I won't lie.  It was daunting to think about before I actually did it. I was nervous that I wouldn't have time to make the food beforehand with the craziness of packing our lives away or that I wouldn't have anywhere to store it... but now that I did it it actually was super simple!

Yes, you can bring food with you while you travel.  You can not bring liquids but food is a-okay.

Here's what I did.  In the few days before we traveled we had to eat (just like any normal day right)? So, I made some extra food right along with our normal meals that I could save for travel day.  This made it super simple and convenient for me to meal prep even with a hectic schedule.

I made:

Grilled chicken breasts
Baked Sweet potatoes
Roasted Califlower
Grilled veggie and pineapple skewers

With all the extras I had 3 meals to bring with me on the plane.  I simply portioned them out into small tupperware containers and stuck them in my daughter's lunchbox with an ice pack and VOILA - healthy plane food!

The other thing I was worried about was where I would store this lunchbox of food.  You can only have 2 carryons and I didn't have any extra space.  It worked out well because I just threw it underneath our stroller while we were traveling and I guess it was technically my daughter's carryon :)

Even with 20 hours of travel I managed to stay healthy and full while traveling.  During our layover we even had time to stop at a delicious restaurant where I made the healthy choice to have salmon + veggies for an extra meal.   Go me!

I also brought along a baggie of almonds, mini carrots, apples, a couple packets of Shakeology and string cheese as extra snacks.  Nora ate lots of these snacks as well, so it was double purposed for my toddler! I also brought along some pretzels, Lara Bars, cheerios, multigrain crackers just for Nora to have options she would like.  She loved the fact that mommy was using her lunch box and that she had lots of snacks to choose from.

My meals were actually super delicious and I felt SO good after traveling so far.  I normally feel sick to my stomach after traveling and just plain gross after eating so much junk but this time I didn't feel that way at all.  I was able to stick to my goals and actually it really wasn't that hard at all!

Now that I know its not as difficult as I thought it would be I will absolutely be doing it again!

My best tips for meal prepping for travel....

1. Keep it simple - stick with an easy protein, veggies and a carb for your meals. Don't make anything overly complicated.  You may be eating your food cold so make sure its something that still tastes good cold.

2. Don't overthink it.

Like I said, it sounded so overwhelming to me at first but once I actually did it, it was super easy.  I think we tend to get in our own heads when we're trying something new.

3. Find a cooler or lunchbox that is small for travel but large enough to store a few meals (depending on how long you're traveling).  I have seen people travel with large cooler bags (you can find them on amazon), which I think is great and probably more organized BUT it takes up a lot more space that I personally didn't have.  This is a good option if you don't already have a 2nd carry on.  But if you need to save space figure out which size cooler bag would be most ideal for you.  For me, a larger kids lunchbox worked perfectly fine!

I hope this helps you stay on track the next time you travel!  If I can do it with 20+ hours of travel and two kids, you can too!

xoxo

Jackie