When jetting off abroad, it can be useful to have something to eat and drink during the flight. Airlines such as easyJet, TUI and Ryanair offer a variety of snacks and beverages for purchase on board.

But when you have to pay, these can be expensive, and if you’re feeding a family the costs can quickly mount up. Thankfully, you’re usually allowed to bring your own snacks onto the plane too, though some items are strictly off-limits. Different airlines have different rules, but some restrictions are universal.

Here’s a list of the foods and drinks you can’t bring onboard board easyJet, TUI, and other airlines:

TUI passengers are provided with a meal and drinks on flights lasting longer than seven hours. On shorter routes, there is a trolley service with food and drinks that can be bought, though passengers may also bring their own food too.

TUI suggests that these food items should be “low-risk food such as pre-made sandwiches and snacks that can be eaten cold” and also states its staff cannot provide heating facilities for food apart from heating up bottles for babies. Passengers are not allowed to consume any alcohol that wasn’t bought on the plane.

easyJet states that passengers are more than welcome to bring their own food on board, but does add that it sells a wide range of food customers can purchase from their seats. The travel operator also asks customers to be aware of the rules surrounding bringing certain food types into the country you are flying to.

Information on the easyJet website reads: “You can bring food into the cabin, although we do sell a range of delicious food and drink on board. There’s a 100ml limit for liquid food, like soup or custard.

“Different countries have different regulations about importing food and drink, so make sure you check the rules for your destination.”

You may take hot drinks onto easyJet flights but these must have been bought at the airport, and have a tight lid on, for safety reasons.

Ryanair allows passengers to bring food and soft drinks under its “feel free” policy, although it bans hot and alcoholic drinks, advising on their website: “In the interest of safety we cannot allow passengers to board the plane with hot drinks or consume their own alcohol during the flight.”

Meanwhile, Jet2 prohibits both hot food and beverages, with guidance from their website stating: “You may not bring hot food or hot drinks onboard the aircraft.” However, the operator adds, “we do offer a great selection of food and drinks to purchase during your flight.”

Travellers can’t bring “items which in our reasonable opinion are unsuitable for carriage by reason of their weight, size or character or which are fragile or perishable or which may affect the safety, health or comfort of other passengers or crew, this may include hot or strong smelling foods and drinks.”

And it’s worth remembering that no matter which airline you travel with, under new rules you cannot take any meat or dairy into the EU. This is the case even if these items are within food products such as sandwiches, and it doesn’t matter if you bought them at the airport or not.