What Do Flight Attendants Eat?

New hire flight attendants usually gain several pounds during their first year in the job. Reason? Tempting on board snacks and airport fast foods. How often did I hear from a fellow colleague and even myself "I deserve this bag of chips, it's such a long day today!". And digits on the scale quickly fly high above the cruising altitude.

Eating out or cooking?

Most airlines don't provide flight attendants with crew meals, unless the duty day exceeds several hours, or it's an international flight. That means that we can eat either rare leftovers, or buy food in restaurants at the airports and our layover cities. And there comes another problem, money. On an average 3 day trip, you'll need at least 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 2 dinners. That will easily cost you $75+. Flight attendants receive per diem, extra money to cover the food expenses. It's around $2 per hour in duty and this income isn't taxed, if the trip goes over night. On a typical 3 day trip you'll make around $100 extra for meal expenses.

Being a new hire flight attendant isn't easy and many financially struggle, especially when living in expensive bases. Every dollar counts and sooner or later, most of us realize that eating out is a luxury that has to be cut. There are many coolers and lunch boxes in the market, that can fit food even for a 4 day trip. I use the Crew Cooler II from eBags. Regular price is $50, but you can often get it cheaper in promotions. You can also use this link to get $10 off.

I also got a plastic insert bin. It helps keep the bag clean (spill happens) and it can be easily removed and put in the refrigerator.

Then I pack my meals in small containers. I use aluminum pans from Amazon. I can easily warm up my meals in the airplane oven. However, they can't be used in the microwave. Another issue is, I dispose them after each use and I feel like I should be more considerate with the environment. So I'm considering buying silicone collapsible bowls that are lightweight and can be used in oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher.

How to keep your food fresh?

Keeping meals cold and fresh can be difficult, but there are several ways:

When possible, place your meals on ice, or in the chiller cart in the plane.
Place ice packs in the lunch bag.
Use dry ice. Just be careful, it's really cold and your food can quickly freeze. It helps to wrap the dry ice in a plastic trash bag.
I carry a fabric hot bottle that I fill with ice. And when I'm cold during the flight, I fill it with hot water.
If there isn't a refrigerator available in the hotel room, fill the lunch bag with ice and close. That's another case when the plastic insert comes handy.

Saving space in the lunch bag

My lunch bag is very spacious, but packing food for 4 days can be challenging. These tips help me use the space as efficiently as possible.

Use rectangular meal boxes that fit in the lunch bag just right. The aluminum pans mentioned above fit in my bag sideways and don't make any gaps.
Pack salads in zip lock bags. Carry the dressing separately for longer lasting freshness. I mix my dressing with spices and pour it into mini jars from honey or marmalade. You can get those at breakfast in better hotels.
Use containers of different sizes to fill in gaps.
Apples take less space when cut, grapes are more space efficient when you detach each ball and place in zip lock. Fruit doesn't stay fresh for long time then, make sure you eat it the first, or second day at most.
I freeze some of my meals and use them instead of ice.
Items that don't need to be refrigerated, can be placed in the suitcase or another bag.
Look up the area of the layover hotel. There might be a grocery store, where you can restock.