When it comes to finding the best airplane snacks, we’ve all been there. You’re standing in front of the pantry at 4 a.m. and trying to figure out what last-minute goodies we can grab that will make it through the TSA, provide us with nourishment, and, let’s face it, give us a little something to do, as well.

An airplane is the perfect locale for a little boredom eating, and you know what? If you’re going to mindlessly down snacks while you zone out watching all 27 Spider-Man movies (give or take), those snacks may as well be tasty. When we set out to put together a list of the best airplane snacks, we looked for things that are filling, easy to pack in your purse or carry-on (without getting too smooshafied), aren’t super loud, don’t require refrigeration, and don’t smell weird. You’re welcome.

Tired of watching the 100 episodes of The Office you downloaded and can’t decide if you want sweet or salty? ¿Por qué no los dos? Flipz are the gold standard when it comes to chocolate-covered pretzels and the best airplane snacks. As Sporked writer Jordan Myrick wrote in their ranking of the best chocolate-covered pretzels, these succeed because their “ratio of chocolate to pretzel” gives them “a great balance of salt and sweet.” Just like Dwight. Or so I’m told…I haven’t watched The Office (don’t come for me; it’s on my list and I promise I’ll get to it).

Related: Best Chocolate Covered Pretzels: The Top 4 Will Make You Flipz

When you’re in the interminable doldrums of a six-hour flight, a sweet and chewy protein bar is the best airplane snack you can grab. It fills you up, plus (and please don’t look up the science on this) you’ll be super buff by the end of the flight, I bet. Not only that, but this particular protein bar from Aldi actually tastes great, too. Since it doesn’t have that powdery protein bar taste and consistency, this basically reads as a candy bar. The Sporked staff called it a ”gosh darn delight” due to its “toothsome meatiness and soft crunchiness.” Nice one, Aldi.

Related: Get Absolutely Yoked with the 7 Best Tasting Protein Bars

I know what you’re thinking: “Jessica, this is a Nature Valley bar. It is going to explode into a million crumbly bits and get all over me, the seat, my neighbor, the flight attendant, and heck probably even find a way to crumble out the window and dust the land under the plane in a fine layer of granola bits.” And I hear you. If this were your average Nature Valley bar, I would totally agree. But this is a Nature Valley Sweet & Salty nut bar, and these bad boys are chewy and satisfying as all get out. Like strong, independent women, they crumble before no one. Also, they taste delicious. In their ranking of the best granola bars, Jordan called them “sweet and salty, while also packing a flavor punch of oat and almond.” These bars also have a delicious frosting-like almond dip on the bottom, making them the complete package and one of the best airplane snacks, I tell ya.

Related: Best Granola Bars: These Are the 6 Best Granola Bars to Eat on the Go

When it’s one of those flights where you have to stay awake in order to acclimate to the new time zone, but you get tired of the “chug water until you have to pee, go pee, then chug more water” tactic, try turkey jerky! It won’t make you pee and you can gnaw on it for hours, plus, according to our taste testers, Derby City Bourbon Barrel smoked turkey jerky “tastes like homemade jerky that you’d get from a big plastic jar at a gas station or corner store on a road trip”—and they mean that in the best possible way. This jerky also has a “pleasantly tender and meaty texture with a sweet, slightly peppery, smoky taste,” and what more could you ask for on a flight?

Related: We Ranked the 7 Best Brands of Turkey Jerky

Our taste buds are actually dampened when we’re flying in airplanes planes due to the cabin pressure and the dryness of the air. You know what that calls for? SOCK-YOURSELF-IN-THE-FACE FLAVOR, BAYBEE! That’s right, I am a full supporter of the “eat a pickle on a plane just to feel something” philosophy, and these Dilly Bites are the perfect thing to pack yourself just for this moment. These pickles are perfect for plane snacking because they come in a little bag and aren’t sloshing around in a bunch of brine. If you’ve ever faced the indignity of being forced by TSA agents to trash the entire jar of pickles you packed (surely, this has happened to someone), this is the snack for you.

Related: Best Dill Pickles: They’re a Big Dill

Watching Aquaman on a 14-hour flight over the Pacific Ocean? Feel even more at one with the ocean by packing yourself some seaweed snacks. And not just any seaweed snacks; pack these Nicos seaweed snacks. These crispy little sheets of salty seaweed “strike a great balance of meaty and lightly fragrant,” according to our taste testers. “The green tea taste is aromatic and lovely, and there is a pronounced, savory flavor, too.” I’m tellin’ ya, these seaweed snacks are so good you’re going to make Jason Momoa jealous.

Related: Nori Glory: It’s the 9 Best Seaweed Snacks

Ready for your in-flight entertainment? Look no further than a mature, super-adult fruit roll-up. Seriously though, this Jovy fruit roll ain’t nothing to scoff at. According to Jordan, the flavor of the mango variety “is so natural and fresh and sweet” it turned them into a “diehard mango stan,” even though they were sort of “meh” about mango prior to this transcendent fruit roll-up experience. Plus, you get to make everyone around you jealous because you have a fruit roll-up. You may think adults are over that, but we are not. Ohhh, ho ho ho, we most certainly are not. 

Related: Have a ’90s Moment with the Best Fruit Roll Ups

At the risk of sounding like your dad on a road trip, this nut mix is nuts. Really. It comes with cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, and pecans, no peanuts to overpower the flavors of the other nuts, plus it is perfectly salty and crunchy, and (and this is big for a plane snack) crumb-free! There’s a reason they serve you nuts in first class (allegedly…I have never actually been one of those cool, fancy first class people), it is because they are fancy and non-messy, and if there are two ways we rarely get to feel on an airplane, it is fancy and non-messy. So next time you head to the airport, bring a pack of these along and live your best life. 

Related: Best Mixed Nuts: 6 Nut Mixes That Drove Us Nuts

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: People pooh-pooh pre-popped popcorn, but people shouldn’t—especially if that pre-popped popcorn happens to be kettle corn. And especially not if it is this exact kettle corn from Popcorn Indiana, which the Sporked team called “the perfect—and I mean perfect—balance of sweet and salty.” Plus, it is hard to completely smoosh popcorn, and though it is easy to drop, it isn’t technically crumbly. Not the perfect airplane snack but a great plane snack all the same.

Related: Best Kettle Corn: A Sweet and Salty List of Our 5 Favorites

I know. These have a non-zero smooshability factor. But let’s be honest, a smooshed Costco muffin is still a win nine times out of ten, and a smooshed blueberry Costco muffin? Well, that’s even better. These things are ginormous enough to feed you through multiple flights and layovers, but are also compact enough to travel with, cost effective, and oh so McFrickin’ tasty. This thing is a “tender, sweet, moist muffin” that is chock-full of tart blueberries. This is…cake. Lets face it: It is socially acceptable breakfast cake. Embrace it. Love it. Use it. Treat your weary, traveling self to one of these. 

Related: 11 Costco Bakery Items, Ranked!

Sometimes getting on a plane makes me feel like a kid again: getting all squirmy, bringing an iPad to entertain myself, being told when I can and cannot go pee. So why not complete the picture with one of the actually fun parts of childhood, Welch’s Fruit snacks? Yes, they still exist and yes they are just as good as you remember them being. Jordan described them as having a “pleasantly springy without being too chewy” texture, and a fruity flavor that is “authentic and mostly natural with just a tinge of the artificial flavor you desire from a packaged snack.” These are one of the best airplane snacks. Make your next flight more fun and bring on the Welch’s.

Related: 7 Best Fruit Snacks if You’re Missing Your Childhood

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