Do you eat enroute?

Pretzels for en route snacks, but I have been known to hit the deli before the flight and grab some sandwiches to be munched at fuel stops.
 
I usually just eat where I land or have a cookie at the FBO. By the way, Wisemans at Flagstaff has the best gingerbread cookies and coffee. The have real towels in the men's room instead of paper. Plus a really nice South African woman at the counter with that cool accent and a big fat cat lying around however, I don't know what he does on his day off.
 
There used to be two fat black cats at Wisemans, did something happen to one?

And yes, the real towels in the restroom is a really nice touch.
 
I've never eaten an enroute before, but I had some really good french toast at 44N yesterday.
 
AKBill said:
...Steak and beer after the last flight of the day. Funny but the steak in Canada tastes different to me.....:)
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The cattle in Canada are grass fed, instead of glacier grazing like where you are. :D
 
GRG55 said:
Clip4 said:
Really - Can't you guys go 4 hours without food!
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Yes, but unless one is sleeping, or an Ethiopian, what's the point?
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What if you had this for breakfast?
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Oddly, I usually don't eat while flying. Seems like many others do. I've had a few long XCs where I packed a quick PBJ in the flight bag or a grocery bag because I wondered if I'd be flying a long time that day (weather, going around it, never quite sure what airport you might stop at), but I think I can count the number of times I've bothered to do that lunch packing (not the XCs) on one hand.

My current CFI must have spent a lot of time buying and eating those orange cheese/peanut butter crackers out of vending machines back in the day... they're now his favorite snack/missed lunch food, and he has a slab of them always stashed on top of his filing cabinet in his airport office. He's more than willing to share, too... I just haven't taken him up on it.

What I usually DO want is something to drink, and I agree with Clark, coffee cup (or soda can) management is a pain. That book "The Skylane Companion", that's one thing the author keeps repeating is that he flew all the time with a can of Coke on the floor in his Skylane... and I don't believe it... you can fly smooth and what-not, but sooner or later you're going to knock that can over, and Coke all in the carpet and all over the aluminum is a freaking sticky mess I will not deal with if at all possible... not to mention the damage it could do if not cleaned up. So... the Coke can is usually in my hand... and not set down until it's empty...
 
I was flying from MS to North MI years ago & didn't spend much time packing. My food provisions were a few raw potatoes & water. I did actually eat one or two of them.
 
I used to fly 5 hour legs doing traffic reporting. Occasionally we would call in an order for a pizza to be delivered at an airport along our route. We would land, my reporter would run to the toilet, I'd settle up the pizza with the delivery guy and we'd be back in the air in 5 minutes or so. Usually the studio didn't even know we had landed (and officially we weren't supposed to unless it was an emergency, which we broadly interpreted to include a pee stop). And yes, he glare screen did a reasonable job of reheating a slice a hour or two later.

These days I'm generally flying to get somewhere, so a Wawa hoagie travels well. Otherwise it's snacks and such. On long direct flights, meal service after an hour or so gives me something to look forward to along the way.
 
This is a repost of rant I did on the Purple Board, but this sums up how I feel about it:

EATING AND DRIVING

So I'm on the way back from the gym right, and I'm sitting at a stoplight next to some lady that is chowing down on some French bread. I couldn't tell if it was buttered. Didn't look like it but who knows.

Lady... you're literally like, two blocks away from home. Yes you're going home or you wouldn't be travelling the direction you're travelling on that road. You can't wait TWO MINUTES to get home to chow down?

I'm sorry, but seriously, I don't understand the people that go through a drive through, or walk out with a carryout food order and eat in the car WHILE DRIVING. I can't even relate. If I don't have time to spend five minutes in the Burger King to eat my Whopper, I don't have time to EAT.

It's like this... eating for me is a task that requires my FULL ATTENTION... I need both hands. I can't be distracted by driving. If I'm eating, I'm eating. I'm not playing on the computer, I'm not playing a Milton Bradley board game, I'm not toying with my Iphone, I'm not filling out an IFR nav log, I'm not folding laundry, and I'm not cleaning the bathroom. I'm EATING.

If you're eating with me, and you say something, don't expect a response until I'm at least at a natural breaking point, such as a change in courses between the steamed veggies and the lamb chops. Then I might mumble a few words then devour my lamb chops. When I'm all done I'll conversate. When I'm waiting for food I'll conversate. In between, you might as well STFU because I'm not listening. I'm eating.

That aside, I make a horrible mess when I eat. I'd rather clean all the burger slop, grease, and tomato spatterings off a hard Formica table surface than have it permanently embedded in my cloth interior. I don't want bread crumbs wedged in my upholstery. I don't want strings of spaghetti hanging from my rearview mirror.

There have been a handful of times, meaning I can count them all on one hand, in my life when I've eaten in my car. Once, I got some Whoppers at a Burger King and the Battalion S3 (my boss, a Major) was inside eating. Theoretically I was supposed to be back at the shop helping the S2 sort out a new load of Comsec material, so I just chowed down inside my car in the parking lot. Another time I got a couple of these awesome Chorizo breakfast burritos from the LMTS (Local Mexican Taco Stand) with the intention of eating them when I got to my remote office destination 80 miles away. Hunger got the better of me so I pulled off the freeway and chowed down, taking care not to get greasy hands in the process. But truth be told, I really don't like eating in the car at all, even if it's stopped, or if someone else is driving.

What is it with eating while driving? Is it the ultimate form of laziness? Are people in that much of a hurry? Do they really need food that badly? I just don't get it.

// rant off
 
I rarely fly legs longer than 1.5 hours. I can, I just prefer to get out and stretch my legs a bit. I do the same thing while driving. Sitting for long periods isn't healthy, period. I do, however, carry snacks. I always have 2 peanut-butter granola bars and water with me. If I get hungry, I'll eat, but usually, I end up eating them on the ground. The water I try not to drink until I'm no more than 30 minutes from landing, for obvious reasons.

Incidentally, "something goes in then something comes out" isn't true. Some foods produce far more stool than others. I spare you all the details and leave it at that.
 
Mistake Not... said:
I eat whatever. Or did. My last flight instructor pointed out the "what if you choke" scenario, and now I'm not so sure if I should.
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The odds of having a fatal accident in any given hour of GA flying is about 1 in 100,000. The odds of choking to death are about 1 in 90,000. If choking to death is the worry, but flying is not, there is a problem.

Answer to your question - depends on how long the flight is. I tend not to fly really long legs, so there's no reason to eat and I drink in the second half of "longer" legs. For me, eating while flying would be empty calories, I will wait until I land.
 
Sac,

I don't think eating while driving is a good analogy to munching pretzels. Not so much traffic to worry about up there as there is on the freeways. The guy I have flown many cross country miles with is a snacker as am I. Salty treats are welcomed and help us make it to the next fuel/potty stop. When we and there are two priorities, fuel and bladder relief. Nuff said. BTW, pretzels don't make the same mess potato chips do. I once had a bag of the latter pop at 15,000. It made a mess that pretzels wouldn't have. Crumby to say the least.
 
I was given two apples last time I was in Texas. I stashed them in my baggage compartment and forgot about them.

Months later, the plane smelled kind of bad. Took me a while to figure it out.

Next time I won't accept any gifts of food on a cc trip.
 
Salty snacks to control the balance between thirst and hunger.,
Been through that process before.
 
When I was flying long legs, up to four hours, I'd take a Cliff bar and a couple waters, one frozen. Drink the first water. If/if I got hungry, eat the bar, then drink the second water in the last hour. This was in summer, around the Chesapeake Bay - hot, humid, etc.
 
Sac Arrow said:
What is it with eating while driving? Is it the ultimate form of laziness? Are people in that much of a hurry? Do they really need food that badly? I just don't get it.
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I can't tell you why I did it, but long ago in a galaxy far far away...

A friend of mine likes to recount that I'm the only person he's ever seen who simultaneously drove my old Ford pickup truck with my knees, stick shift, in traffic, shifting, while eating a burger and fries, drinking a drink, talking on the ham radio, and finishing it all off with a smoke while sipping the last of the large Diet Coke. LOL.

I don't do stupid chit like that anymore. But I must have scared and/or impressed him with the multitasking that day. LOL. Funny thing is, I don't even remember doing it. I suspect I was picking him up from home to give him a ride to the office during lunch break.

It was the days when we were both at the startup and I'm surprised a cell phone call (in the days before Bluetooth or anything hands-free) didn't come in also, since that was a common battery-busting occurrence back then, too. Maybe one did. Hahaha.

For a "modern" sorry, the other night I felt like a burger and Karen was out of town, so I stopped ata McDs and went for drive thru since I had the doggies with me in the truck. I parked in the strip mall parking lot and tuned on something dumb, don't remember if it was talk radio or a podcast, and proceeded to eat. Poked some posts into PoA with my phone. Answered a call from a friend on the hands free when it came in. And sent a couple of work Slack messages to answer a couple of questions that dinged.

All of a sudden there's an old beater Toyota 4Runner pulling up next to me and a heavily tatted and pierced young dude walking toward my window motioning me to open it. Hmm. Okay. I partially open the window and he starts without prompting... meanwhile I know where the um, protection device is and know it can be drawn if needed, but not particularly worried about this kid. Just aware he's kinda agitated. Fidgety.

"Do you know the owner of that car!?" He points forward of my truck in the general direction of a POS white Geo Tracker that's seen better days parked on the edge of the parking lot.

"Nope! Why? Is it abandoned or something, or do you need it moved?"

"No man." He pauses seemingly lost for words but he keeps his distance to my truck... "See, you've been sitting here for an hour and well, I saw you here when I drove by an hour ago and... well that's my girlfriends car and ... well... you've been sitting here for an hour."

"Yeah, well... sorry, don't know her." I've been admiring his all bright green studs and ear hole things. The kid knows how to color coordinate with his hair highlights. Even has a green belt buckle to match all his hardware. He looks like a modern leprechaun and I'm suppressing the urge to laugh at that a little bit.

"Yeah but I drove by an hour ago and you're still sitting here!"

"Don't know what to tell ya son, I ate a burger and gave a bite to my dogs and was doing some work here on my phone when you drove up."

He's kinda stunned. Unsure what to say now, he's stuck on a loop.

"Okay well I drove by about an hour ago going that way, and that's my girlfriend's car and you're still here..."

I shrugged and smiled, "Yeah, going to head home soon. My wife is out of town so just grabbing some dinner." At this point the rescue doggy girl who is loud and obnoxious about defending her space but a complete chicken about actually doing it has started growling and barking at leprechaun boy. Normally I'd tell her to knock it off but a) She doesn't really listen when she's in "my truck" mode anyway, and b) Letting her growl and bark at him at this point is fine by me.

He runs out of words and I can see he's relaxing and thinking about leaving. I help him mentally along...

"Hey it's nice of you to check. I'm sure she would appreciate it. Have a nice evening!" And I hit the window up button while pretending to turn my attention back to my phone. I'm really just watching him with my peripheral vision to make sure he doesn't decide to go all "I'm the boyfriend" on me or the truck. Haha.

He walks to his 4Runner and drives across the parking lot. Probably thought I would think he was leaving. He parks and then probably calls the girlfriend inside the storefronts somewhere there in the strip mall. I'm chuckling now. I think for a minute about moving my truck to park somewhere right behind him and see if he notices. LOL. But I'm not that much of a dick. Haha.

Anyway, I stuff all the wrappers from the dash into the fast food bag and head on home. Green Stud, gets the "Real American Paranoid Boyfriend Hero" Bud Light award for the evening. Hahaha.

So... that shows a typical fast food stop for me. I probably should have just gone home and made a sandwich. Hahahhahah. But he was more entertaining than TV.
 
Only if it's scheduled and I like what the flight attendant brings up, but the deserts are always good.
 
denverpilot said:
...so I stopped ata McDs and went for drive thru since I had the doggies with me in the truck. I parked in the strip mall parking lot and tuned on something dumb, don't remember if it was talk radio or a podcast, and proceeded to eat. Poked some posts into PoA with my phone. Answered a call from a friend on the hands free when it came in. And sent a couple of work Slack messages to answer a couple of questions that dinged.
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Whoa, you do all that multitasking while writing War&Peace-sized POA posts? :hairraise:
 
Maybe I am more anal than most folks. Nobody eats in my vehicles or airplanes. Maybe that is why my stuff still looks new.
 
Potatoes, carrots, onion, parsnips, beets....oh, wait. Enroute.
 
If we're well planned, Margy packs sandwiches. If not, we just have little bags of snacks.

It always seems that ATC calls as soon as I've taken a bite into my sandwich.

It takes two hands to handle a Whopper (as the slogan goes), so I'd not get one while driving. However, it takes only one hand to eat one of Margy's roast beef standwiches and with a decently trimmed aircraft (or an autopilot), cruise flight doesn't require any hands.
 
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I will occasionally take a granola bar to trail mix if I am hungry before we leave. On really long flights, I usually plan to stop for fuel and food at the same place. If it's a long non-stop flight a sandwich from Subway or similar is good. I always have bottled water.
 
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