The British Airways “Low Calorie” Meal is a win
The British Airways “snack before landing” on a flight from London Heathrow to New York Kennedy.
The difficulty of eating healthy while on the road is always a challenge, never more so than when on an airplane.
As hard as I try to eat healthy while traveling, options are limited when trapped on an airplane for an extended period of time. BA’s “low calorie meal” has never disappointed.
If you have the luxury of selecting a flight for your international flight (within 30 days prior to 24 hours of your flight), check out what special options they offer. Because I always feel bloated and gross after eating the meals on airplanes, I’ve been opting for the lighter “low calorie” meal whenever possible.
The only catch is that you have no idea what they will be serving you, and your meal can’t be changed once you are within 24 hours of your flight. So if you get on board and see something on the main menu that you want instead - no can do. Although I’m sure if you ask nicely and there’s extra, it’s a possibility.
The best part of ordering any sort of special meal is that it comes out first. This is true no matter what cabin of service you are in. I’m also a big fan of the express meal where they bring your appetizer and main at the same time, and in this case it also comes out much earlier than everyone else’s meals. You can ask for your meal to be an express meal when you make your selection on board. One time they brought the ice cream out at the same time and it was pretty melted by the time I got to it, and the other time they brought it out immediately after.
The starter served as part of the low calorie meal.
The first time that I ordered the low calorie meal, I honestly thought that the starter was the entire meal. I was definitely embarrassed when I put my napkin on the plate and the FA confusedly asked me if I would be eating the main. Oops. The starter was two small pieces of poached salmon with asparagus, served with a small chickpea salad. It came with a tomato and bean salad and a low calorie roll.
The main course served as part of the low calorie meal.
The main course was a whitefish with a light tomato based sauce on top of a bed of glass noodles with some vegetables. I would call this an Asian inspired dish and I enjoyed it as much, if not more than, as any of the offerings on the main menu.
I’ve now ordered this meal twice on this route and gotten this meal both times, so I’m not sure if there is any variety to the offerings. No complaints if not!
The snack before landing was fabulous. It was a wrap filled with chicken and vegetables in a tomato sauce (picture at the top). This is something that I would eat every day. Very tasty, while still light and nutritious. It even came with a flan-like raspberry flavored dessert served with berries. I liked that I was able to eat dessert without feeling guilty (it was part of the low calorie meal, after all).
All in all I highly recommend biting the bullet and trying the low calorie meal. I was a bit apprehensive not knowing what I would get, if it would be too low calorie and not enough, but that was certainly not the case. How many calories is actually in this meal is another question, but I have to imagine it’s significantly less than the main meal, and not at much of a sacrifice in taste or satiation.
