Food you are allowed to board with
 

I suffer from diabetes and am obliged to follow a very strict diet. Airline food is vary bad for me. So I was wondering if I would be allowed to pass through the scanning machines with a couple of cans of sardines. Nuts. Hard boiled eggs. Cheese. Perhaps a metal spoon.

Advice and information is sincerely needed. Thank you.

Can't you usually specify a diabetic food option and you can always carry plastic cutlery (most of the knives will cut through chain mail).

Bardos. There shouldn't be a problem with the nuts, boiled eggs and spoon but the canned sardines will be a problem if listed over 100 ml. Be sure not to bring metal knife and fork as they will be taken off you. The other thing is be prepared to not be allowed to eat the nuts you bring with you as sometimes crew are asked to make announcements for people to not eat nuts on board due to a passenger having severe reactions to them leading to anaphylactic shock - not a pretty sight believe me.

That said - as in the above post - you can order diabetic meals from your airline by ringing them 48 hours in advance normally. DBML is the usual code for such a request.

If you were a diabetic, you would laugh (well not actually, maybe cry is the correct term) at what an airline considers a diabetic meal. Definitely not for real diabetics as airlines do NOT understand diabetic requirements.

So a metal spoon seems ok, correct?

But a problem with canned sardines? They are not liquid, they are a solid, aren't they?

Wondering if anyone has any experiential data or a link which shows they are prohibited.

Do you really need that metal spoon? Is it a deal breaker?

no, the spoon is optional. My main interest is the canned sardines. And the other foodstuffs. Can eat with hands if necessary

Metal cutlery is a no-no. Even then spoon. Plastic is the way to go. The sardines in a tin won't be allowed, due to the liquid in the tin. You could take the sardines out of the tin and put them in a plastic tub without the liquid. Solids are fine. Just make sure you've actually got solids. Pate and Brie, for example, are seen as a paste.

If security take any cutlery off you, ask the crew if they have a spare set.

Sardines
 

with a ring pull opener?

I don't think Sardine tins would be allowed; when opened they have very sharp edges so, could be used as a weapon.

If you must take sardines; then I agree with the earlier comment, put the contents in a plastic container with not too much liquid sauce.

Well just joking but let us know what flight you are on because sitting next to someone peeling boiled eggs and eating canned sardines would be my idea of hell!!!

Joking aside, I don't know what airport you are flying from but at LHR Terminal 5 there are a number of great outlets like Izzu, Eat and Pret-a-Manger that sell fantastic salads, that would be really suitable for a diabetic and you would already be through security, so would not have to worry about liquids.

I will try and be as discrete as possible with my food-ing.


"with a ring pull opener?"

yes.

Salads provide a suitable meal for 'some' diabetics but far from all. We're a disparate bunch really where a meal sans carbohydrate may lead pretty quickly to a 'is there a Doctor on the aircraft?' call ;)

Contact the carrier you are booked with. It is true that they may not believe you and insist that their options are OK. In that case - a letter from your doctor.

Contact all the airports that you are passing through and ask them what is permissible. The option of buying from airport eatieries can be one of Russian Roulette for the diabetic. I know enough people who are to understand.

Rather than tins, perhaps you can take Tupperware (or similar)? That allows the container to be opened. I am thinking that some mothers who have taken expressed milk with them had to drink some in front of security to prove that it was harmless. Not fun - but that's how it is. If you can open and taste the food, then that is something. I suggest that you DO NOT offer it to them to taste themselves, as that could be construed as aggressive and they may think that you are trying to incapacitate them with something in the container.

Above all - do not turn up unannounced!!!! Contact them all in advance. Good luck!

If security confiscate your metal cutlery go into any of the airside restaurants right after security and pinch theirs. They always have loads just laying in front of you on the tables.

A lot of crew bring their own food in every day and we go through just as stringent security.

As long as whatever you bring is not too runny, IE not a lot of liquid content, you could pre-make your own salad at home and as suggested above put it in a tupperware container. Many cabin crew and pilots do this every day.

and what are you intending to do with all your "gear" Needles, Insulin etc.

You must be a newly diagnosed diabetic if you do not understand all the parameters of what you can eat

O course I understand the parameters, that's why I need to carry on my own choice in foods.

BTW, I am type II diabetic,with no meds at all, which is why my intake of food is of paramount importance.

If you are Type 2 Diabetic on NO medication then just take a few biscuits. The essential thing is to eat small amounts quite often.

No idea what biscuits are, but they sound like carbs. In a nutshell I am allergic to carbs and sugar.

as can a small can of soft drink if torn open, and they will give you that free once on board.

Another security restricted item farce!