Simple Steps To Eat Well While Travelling

Eating well when you travel doesn’t have to be a lost cause. Airports, service stations and hotel buffets might not be the easiest environments for sticking to your usual habits, but that doesn’t mean you need to write off nutrition every time you leave your postcode.

At Foundry, we work with real people who live real lives. And that means plenty of travel, for work, holidays or visiting family. Our goal is to help you stay consistent without needing to be perfect, even when you’re on the move.

Let’s break it down.

Preparation Is Everything

The best way to stay on track with your nutrition when travelling is to be prepared. If you’ve got an early morning flight, try to eat a solid breakfast before leaving the house. If that’s unrealistic, prep something simple the night before and bring it. The same goes for evening flights, eat before you head to the airport or pack a few smarter snacks to keep you going.

Before you travel, a quick look at the airport’s restaurant options can help you avoid that last-minute panic where a packet of crisps and a pastry seem the only options. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being practical.

Smart Snacks for the Journey

On shorter flights or long car/train journeys, having a few reliable snacks can make all the difference. Here are some easy-to-pack ideas that won’t spoil and will help you avoid the dreaded convenience store detour:

Cucumber sticks are refreshing and hydrating.
Hard fruits like apples or sliced pear travel well and are easily digestible.
A few squares of good-quality dark chocolate give you a small lift without the crash.
Protein bar that’s low in added sugar and sits well with your stomach.
Rolled turkey slices with hard cheese and lettuce: tasty, satisfying, and better than most inflight trays.

If you’re feeling more organised, make a quick kale salad. Kale is tough enough to last a few hours without turning soggy. Toss with olive oil, some chopped raw vegetables, seeds, and a bit of seasoning. If you’re on a short journey, add some grilled chicken or boiled eggs for a more substantial meal.

In-Flight Nutrition Tips

Flying can make digestion sluggish and leave you feeling dehydrated, so a few simple rules go a long way:

Drink water regularly. Bring an empty bottle to fill up after security. Add a sachet of electrolytes to your water during long-haul flights. Chew your food properly; it helps with digestion, especially at altitude. Avoid caffeine and alcohol if you want to feel fresh when you land. Nuts are nutritious but easy to overdo; go light on salted ones.

Skip the processed inflight meals if you can. They rarely leave you feeling good.

Social Eating While Travelling

Social situations can make it harder to stay aligned with your goals, whether it’s a client dinner, family meal, or catching up with mates. But you don’t have to avoid them. Try this approach:

Focus on protein and veg when you can. Drink water with your meal. Limit alcohol to a couple of drinks and alternate with water. Most importantly, don’t obsess. One meal won’t derail your progress. It’s what you do most of the time that counts.

A Sample Travel Day Meal Plan

Sometimes it helps to see what a day might look like:

Breakfast (at home or to-go): Boiled eggs, fruit, black coffee
Mid-morning: Protein bar, water
Lunch (packed or airport): Kale salad with grilled chicken, dark chocolate square
Dinner (restaurant or hotel): Grilled fish or chicken, roasted veg, small serving of carbs, maybe a glass of wine

Make It Sustainable

Remember, eating well on the go doesn’t mean eating perfectly. It means making slightly better choices than you might have done in the past, more often than not. You’re aiming for consistent habits that support your energy, digestion and overall wellbeing, whether at home, in the office or at 35,000 feet.

We often remind our members that how you eat on holiday or while travelling isn’t going to make or break your results. What matters is what you do most of the time. And when you treat travel as a chance to stay in rhythm, not hit pause, you’ll come home feeling better for it.

At Foundry, we support our members with nutritional guidance that works in the real world. If you’d like help building an approach that fits your lifestyle, visit one of our personal training gyms in London. We’ll help you find what works and make it stick.