I-95 From Pa To Fl

[Guhlia]

In two weeks we will be making our yearly trek to Orlando, Florida. YEA!!! Has anyone made this same trip and do you have a list of gluten free restaurants on the way? Last year it was only me that was gluten free so I basically just lived off of McDonalds side salads and apple dippers on the way down and back. This year my daughter is also gluten free and I don't think she'll take too kindly to eating the same foods over and over. I'm planning on packing some snacks, but I'll be unable to transport any meal-type foods. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Our first night's hotel room will not have a fridge or microwave so we won't be able to keep anything perishable.

[Lisa]

Angie:

If you throw out some cities, I will try to look up some for you along the way.

Lisa

[marciab]

I'm not sure which states have Cracker Barrell's, but I ate there for about a month and didn't have any severe symtpoms from gluten... I ate the roast beef, carrots, green beans and applesauce. It is available on their carb watchers menu. Also, Red Lobster was ok.

You picked a great time to come to FL. I live on the coast and it is 80 degrees and gorgeous today.

Have fun ... marcia

ps. I took a hard cooler with me packed with ice and meals. Some of the meals were frozen and some room temp ... I would use a large cooler though just so you can keep plenty of ice in it.

[blueeyedmanda]

Hmm...I can do research if you give me cities too. Let me know if you pass by Doylestown and get pizza!!!

[Phyllis28]

Below is the website for Chick-fil-a "Plan a trip" Works just like Mapquest but retrives all the Chick-fil-a restuarants between two places.

Open Original Shared Link

Consider taking a hard cooler with you. We always travel by car with one. Our cooler has wheels. I have found that packing individual prefrozen meals works well in tupperware. One of my favorite travel foods are gluten free chicken nuggets/strips. The gas station convience stores carry ice.

Have a super trip.

[Guhlia]

We won't have a microwave in any of our hotel rooms, so taking frozen meals won't help much. I was planning on taking things like peanut butter and wraps and a small cooler with carrot sticks, cooked chicken, fruit, etc. It won't last overnight though. We don't have room for a cooler of any substantial size.

Do any other restaurants that are gluten-free friendly have a trip planner? That's a really cool feature on the Chil-fil-A website.

[blueeyedmanda]

Some good snacks I reccomend....Gluntio pretzels, Nut Thins.

Wraps are a good idea. For the first hotel do they have a place where there is a common area with snack machines and microwaves, cause then you can take some Thai Kitchen noodle bowls. I am brainstorming right now trying to come up with some other ideas. I'll check back in soon.

[Phyllis28]

Angie,

You might consider calling each of you hotels and ask microwave access is available. We will be going to Yosemite in April with no kitchen facilities. I asked about access to microwave and the hotel explained that while none was available in the hotel room there would be a microwave I could use at the food court or the Yosemite grocery store. Yes, I did have to explain I was on a restricted diet.

Also, my family had the same problem of not enough room in the car for the cooler before we got our van. We resolved this by buying a roof top carrier that did not need a roof rack and could be removed. We lightweight items such as clothes and sleeping bags in the rooftop carrier. Below is a link to something similar (but ours was hardsided) to what we had. I have not used this product:

Open Original Shared Link

[NicoleAJ]

I made the trip from State College, PA to Miami and back on 95 several times back when Cracker Barrel said that they could accomodate us (they go back and forth so often). I used to get plain chicken and green beans. I had reactions a few times, which was really unpleasant on the road, so I'd try to avoid them if possible--the last I'd heard, they could not accomodate celiacs.

Also, if I call hotels ahead of time, I've never had one refuse to get me a fridge/microwave combo if I say that I have medically necessary foods and medications. In fact, I stayed at a place in Philadelphia over Christmas that said they couldn't get me a microwave when I was staying there for a week, and I told the manager that my rights were protected by the ADA--they went out and bought a brand new microwave and sent it up to my room on the day that I got there. You may want to try something along those lines with the hotel you'll be staying at. Along the highway, once you get into Florida, you should see Publix grocery stores (or you could look up some online). They always have Boar's Head cold cuts, and if you ask nicely, they are usually willing to cut your meat on a clean machine--I've stopped at many a Publix for extra snacks and fresh Boar's Head while on trips in Florida. I also take Thai soup bowls with me everywhere. If you go to a Starbucks or McDonalds in a rest area, they can give you a cup of hot water to fill it.

Also, if you know where you're stopping in advance, then look up the chain restaurants for dinner. I usually stop in Savannah, so I used to go to the same restaurant for dinner on the way there and on the way back.

[mamaw]

Guhlia

I hope you have a wonderful safe trip. We are going to disney in april ... We too will be doing the 95 route.....

Do you like jerky, that will keep fairly well.We will be taking our home with us so I wont have a problem... I alway got sick when I ate at Cracker Barrel so be careful if you eat there. Dry cereal might work for snacking too for Torre....

Have you checked out the gluten-free foods at Disney yet? Please let me know how it went..... We will have the two grandkids with us for two weeks, both gluten-free plus me....I plan on hitting the Publix whe I get to Kingsland Ga.

Have fun & most of all a very safe trip.

mamaw

[Guhlia]

Mamaw, Disney is great with special diets. At MGM I highly recommend the Prime Time 50's Cafe. They were insanely accomodating when I was there last time. The chef came out to our table and went over the entire menu with me. They even had gluten free meatloaf! They had rice flour on hand to make chicken fingers as well. The food was decent and the price was reasonable for a sit down meal. In the parks, the turkey legs are gluten free as well as some of the snack foods. They have fresh fruits at many of the kiosks. Apparently all of the sit down restaurants at MGM and Magic Kingdom can accomodate a special diet. I didn't look up any of the other parks, but if they're Disney, I'm sure they're the same. You can check on their website, just click on which park you're going to, then dining, then read the info on each restaurant.

As for eating outside of the park, there's an Outback, Carraba's, Chili's, and McDonalds. Planet Hollywood will do a plain cheeseburger and veggies (very tasty). The grandkids will love going there. I believe I also heard that the Hard Rock Cafe will do a gluten free meal, but I have no experience with them.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[mamaw]

Thanks Angie. I was there in my gluten days about six years ago.We wanted to take the kids last year & my daughter said wait until this year so the 6 year old will remember it better.Now we have to take both of them out of school...... But I told her its now or never because in 09 we are driving back to Alaska one more time....We will have tons of food with us & will stay at frontier village but I didn't think we would be able to get the kids to go back to camp to eat each meal....

I'm not sure then if they will continue with us or fly home... Well I didn't actually ask the kids ------anything to get out of school. The third grader told me it would be considered a learning vacation!!!!Con artist & so very young....He tried that in first grade when we went to Alaska too.

again have a safe great vacation.

mamaw

[amybeth]

Outback, Bonefish Grille, PF Changs all have US maps where you can check for locations.

Have fun!