I appreciate airlines that offer thoughtful buy-on-board meals for economy class passengers and thoroughly enjoyed both a sandwich and salad on a transcontinental JetBlue flight from the carrier’s EatUp Café menu.

Salad + Sandwich From JetBlue EatUp Café

We landed from Paris and had a few hours at New York JFK before our connection to Los Angeles. Onboard, my wife and kids went right to sleep, but I found myself hungry. Thankfully, JetBlue has an attractive buy-on-board menu including snack boxes and heartier items on flights over 3.5 hours it calls its EatUp Café.

I was having trouble deciding between the sandwich and salad…so I had both.

First, the salad, which cost $13.

Harvest Salad
fresh kale, wild rice, roasted butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, toasted chickpeas, mint, shallots and tahini dressing.

I loved everything about this salad. The kale was fresh, I loved the pomegranate seeds and toasted chickpeas, the mint and shallots flavored it nicely, and the tahini dressing was excellent. A great “superfood.”

I’m glad I ordered the sandwich, because the salad was not enough. The sandwich also cost $13.

Turkey Pretzel Sandwich
sliced turkey breast, white cheddar cheese and fresh arugula on a soft pretzel baguette.

While I would not call the baguette German-style, it was pretty good for American bread and the sandwich was delicious. I appreciated the turkey tasted fresh and not processed.

These are both very salty choices, but I find them much better than the snack boxes filled with shelf-stable, highly processed ingredients.

Could I have waited till I got back to LAX and had a Double-Double at In-N-Out for $6? Sure…but this satisfied my hunger on the spot and tasted great. I love high-quality cold meals on airplanes and feel that JetBlue ahs nearly perfected this.

Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.