Good Books On Eating Out Safely

[floridanative]

My 'Let's Eat Out! book by Kim Koeller arrived today and I can not believe how great it is. Obviously I have not read it all yet but I have read enough to know that it's very easy to read and comprehend and to use her techniques to eat out safely regardless of where you go in the world. I understand that many of you don't care to go out so I'm not suggesting you go out and get this book. It's for people who can't stay home for either work or just social reasons. It teaches you how to figure out anywhere in the world (or around the corner) what should be safe for you to eat. It states that you need to still talk to the staff, manager or chef but it gives helpful hints as to how to do that effectively. I just wish I'd ordered this book a month ago. We'll be eating out this weekend and I can't wait. It will only be my second venture out in a month.

Also, eeyor fan told me about a great book called 'A Personal Touch on Celiac Disease' and I highly recommend that too. I think I paid under $10 on amazon .com for it. It has great tips on how people with Celiac travel safely and go to college and everything. It is very encouraging for those out there looking for some hope at this difficult time of being newly diagnosed like me. The best part is that it's written only by people living with Celiac disease so it's very practical.

[tiredofdoctors]

Thanks for the heads up! Can always use helpful information - also I'm a "book-a-holic"! Thanks again . . . Lynne

[floridanative]

Today was my first client lunch out since my dx. It was fabulous though I could not get to have my fave jap. cheese grits...they use flour to thicken. But I ate over four hours ago and I'm feeling great! I found out that I do know when I get glutened so I'm glad for that. Had one cracker that I thought was gluten-free but it wasn't. The bloating it caused within twenty minutes was reminiscent of my gluten days so out of the house the crackers went.

Tomorrow will be our first trip to Outback and we don't tend to like chains at all. But I'm in the mood for a steak so we'll give them a shot. I figure if Kim Koeller can eat out 80% of the time, I can do so 10% of the time at least. She even has way more food reactions besides gluten. She listed them all in the book and I'm like what does she eat anyway? But she seems to do fine and prefers non chains too so her book is my 'gluten free bible'.

I'm sorry so many of you read this post without posting either questions or anything at all. I wish I'd known about this book a month ago....oh well. Guess we're all different which is what makes each of us special.

[Guest nini]

sounds like a great book... glad you had a good lunch out!

[mouse]

I use the Gluten Free Dining Guide that I bought from the Celiac.com store. I like the size of it as it fits into all of my purses. I don't carry real large purses and so this is always there. This guide is the one that helped me to venture out for eating. I also add places to it that I find in this forum. Glad your first dining expierence went well.

[floridanative]

Thanks armetta...I need to get that small guide to then. I don't carry a big purse either. And it wasn't my first dining experience gluten free. It was my first business lunch post dx. And without those I can't afford to pay for all my new very expensive food! Since we dine out less now (to say the least) we can't complain that we have to pay more to eat at nicer places that do not look at me like I have three heads when I ask about what on the menu is gluten free.

I just called the Outback near me a while ago. We've never been there. The 12 year old that answered the phone said 'the what' when I inquired if they had a copy of their gluten-free menu in the store. Needless to say I had to speak to the manager. She told me they had plenty and I politely told her to tell the hostess who answered the phone what and where they were. I already told my husband he can't order a salad in case mine comes out with croutons, I won't trust them to make me a new one. Then my husband can eat the salad and we won't be back to Outback after tomorrow!

[mouse]

When I go to the Outback, I ALWAYS order the gluten-free shrimp appetiser (SO GOOD) and have them put the garlic toast on a side plate for my husband. I can have a salad at home, but the appetiser would be more work then I want to expend . Just remember that if the Outback waitstaff does not seem to know what you are addressing, then just politely ask for the manager. I have found that some of the waitstaff is not as well trained as PF Changs. I also had one waitress that was TERRIFIED and she got the manager and he took care of everything. We still left her a great tip. I would rather her be terrified then try to bluff it out.

[floridanative]

Thanks Armetta. We were so tired by the time dinner time came around we just wanted to get take-out from Outback. We couldn't let them bring the food to the car (since it's too hard to check the salad for croutons and send it back inside) so my hubby hopped out of the car to go in and I just parked in the take out lane...it was nasty out... ick. I started off explaining I was ordering gluten-free meal, clean grill for steak blah blah. the person on the phone seemed to know what I was talking about and was very careful in writing eveything down and reading back to me. I ordered a steak and potato and asked them not to cut the pot. open, got a dressing that was said to be gluten-free for the salad. There were no croutons on the salad, potato not cut open either. Ate 1/2 the way too big for me steak and everything else in full and felt fine. Had we gone in to eat I was getting the shrimp app but I would have ordered without the toast so that's a great tip to order on a side plate for my poor gluten-free deprived hubby to enjoy. Thanks!

This in interesting I think. The hostess who hubby paid said 'I know it is very important that we prepare and serve the gluten free meals in a certain way but do you mind telling me what gluten is'? He explained in engineer terms (short and to the point) but he did an excellent job telling her what gluten was and that if someone orders a gluten free meal, and it is not prepared and served correctly someone like me who has a disease called Celiac OR someone with gluten intolerance as well will get very ill. She thanked him for telling her this as this was not included in her training. I intend to e-mail Outback corporate to thank them that at least in my store, last night my food was prepared correctly and it was delicious but that maybe the front of the house needs a little more training that they are getting. This was our first visit to Outback in town ever since as I mentioned before we don't care for chains. But I'm glad to know it's worth me trying again to see if they can repeatedly feed me safely. And we arrived to pick up food at 6:10 which is typically early here but due to weather they were jam packed and already on a wait so they fed me safely and were very busy as well. I'm impressed.