Food Options While Traveling

[bjn12670]

My 5 year old daughter has celiac disease. We are heading to South Dakota for a family trip and I was wondering if anyone has advise on food options. Easy-to-travel foods, restaurants that have gluten free options, etc. Thanks so much for your help.

[Darn210]

Some of our travel/restaraunt meals:

We have little glad/tupperware containers and take a little peanut butter and she dips glutino pretzel into the peanut butter.

We take the individual cups/portions of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and she has a salad . . . she loves salad, go figure.

We take the glutino pizza bread sticks, jarred pizza sauce (once again in a small glad container), and shredded mozzarella cheese. She dips the bread sticks in the sauce and then sprinkles some cheese on it . . . she calls them pizza dippers.

We have just introduced her to baked potatos with shredded chedder cheese on it and she's liking those quite a bit.

String cheese and yoplait yogurt and gogurts always travel with us.

I have been known to take my own hotdogs wrapped in foil and asked for it to be heated on the grill as is (this was at a big bar-b-que not a restaraunt, but they might do it for you too).

Bologna and ham . . . no bread . . . she just eats them plain? in a pile?

On spring break, she would take her own chex cereal to the restaraunt and then order bacon.

She will eat bunless cheeseburgers and fries and side salads at McD's (not everyone will do this, but we do).

I make chex mix for traveling in the car . . . it has ended up being part of a meal in a restaraunt, too.

Also throw in some chips and fruits.

At this point, she doesn't even mind if she's brown bagging it at the restaraunt as long as she gets to order a root beer. We just can't get her to go for grilled chicken yet but we keep trying. If she is going to be eating the restaraunts food (and not something that we bring in with us), I order gluten free as well and something different than her. Then if she ends up not liking what she got, she can try mine.

. . . and a little off topic . . . this is how we got her to eat salads . . . We started off with "bigger" pieces of letuce, shredded carrots and shredded cheese. She would put a little carrot and cheese in the piece of lettuce and roll it up and then dip them into the dressing. She called them salad sandwiches. Now she'll just sit down and eat a salad.

[strawberrynin]

There are quite a few options when it comes to fast food. My favorite is Wendy's. They have lots of options like chili and baked potato that are safe. They also have a great gluten free list on their website.

[seezee]

There are quite a few options when it comes to fast food. My favorite is Wendy's. They have lots of options like chili and baked potato that are safe. They also have a great gluten free list on their website.

We are traveling to rural Minnesota this weekend. I contacted the local celiac support group person from Red River Celiacs that I found by an internet search of Minnesota and Celiac. She recommended a local restaurants that she eats at and was really helpful. She is even going to leave some baked goods for my daughter in the church kitchen.

When I looked up South Dakota I found this.

Open Original Shared Link

I find it kind of hard to always eat out of a cooler or at fast food restaurants. Not sure where you are headed but they probably have a local support group somewhere that would know of one or two place you can eat out.

I looked up South Dakota and the contact person from here is:

Open Original Shared Link

Rapid City

Black Hills Celiacs

Susan Guetter, Leader

Phone: 605-341-0336

Email: sue57709@yahoo.com

[mmmomx2]

Red Robin has a gluten free menu which has some appealing options for kids. I know how fast food may be the only option when you are traveling, so along with Wendy's, In and Out Burger (don't know if you have them out there) are also good. Order the burger "protein style" and they will wrap it in lettuce, and their fries are safe. When we are on the road we usually stock up the car really well, but sometimes you just have to eat out!

[CeliacMom2008]

Here are our "cooler" and car foods:

PB&J on pancakes

Tuna fish salad (my son uses it like a dip for potato chips)

Veggie dip and tortilla chips (dip is diced tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers with shredded cheddar and mozarella cheeses with Kraft Green Goddess dressing over it)

"Rice krispie" treats

Stretch Island fruit leather

Nuts

Hard boiled eggs

If you'll have access to a microwave or feel comfortable asking a restaurant to heat things up for you, you could take Amy's frozen mac & cheese, individual portions of frozen lasagna, and even homemade pizza slices frozen.

[mygfworld]

We travel quite a bit. I have two young kids with food allergies. Here's what we do.

Before we go, I look up healthfood stores and call to see what gluten-free foods they carry that my kids like. That way I know where I can pick up Bread and cookies. I stop at the grocery stores to pick up fruit and Boars Head deli meats for sandwhiches.

If you are traveling somewhere with a kitchen, I've been known to bring my own mixing bowl, spring pan, and mix to make coffee cake.

Another option is to call the local restaurants ahead of time to talk to a manager to see what gluten-free options they have. I bring the gluten-free menus printed from the websites of the chain restaurants we like. Check out Wendy's, Chili's, Red Robin, Cracker Barrel. In general, we do better at non-chain restaurants for breakfast.

Hopeyou have a fun trip!