Recomendations On Eating Out

[jyoung]

I was diagnosed with celiac less than a year ago. I am unable also to tolerate many vegetables, citrus fruits, preservatives and any milk or cheese. Unfortunately I travel extensively for work, not just in the country but also out of it. I have been packing the majority of my food to take with me but this gets to be a huge burden and very expensive to pack and take two weeks of food with you on an airplane. On my last trip I went to several restaurants that advertised they had a gluten free menu. I had very mixed results and I am still sick from eating at one of them. I have tried talking to the managers and explaining to them the issue and have still gotten my food delivered incorrectly 2/3 of the time. Does anyone have suggestions as to what I can do while eating out? I have a month long trip coming up and I know I can't take that much food with me nor do I want to eat canned foods that entire time.

[Sunny34]

Where will you be going for a month? Someone on the board who lives or has traveled to the area may be able to give you a lot of advice on specific restaurants and grocery stores that are celiac and allergy friendly. You can do a lot of investagion on the internet before going also. I have not traveled by airplane much, but I have done well enough eating at restaurants while traveling. Last year we traveled to Charlevoix Michigan. Prior to the trip I spent time online investigating the area restaurants and reading their menus. All the restaurants I encountered on my trip were wonderful and accomodated me... not once was I glutened. When in doubt I would order steak and plain potato and salad. Burgers without buns and chips or fries... fruit salads, salads with grilled chicken or ham, ribs, pulled pork without the bun,grilled fish,etc. I eat breakfasts at Chick-fil-et when I can find one... their sausage patty plain, hash browns, and fruit salad... their waffle fries are good as are their grilled chicken salads. At Penn Station I have the fries and club salad.. just order without the cheese. Chipotles is great also with their burrito bowls. Sandwich shops many times have great salads with lunchmeat and sliced eggs... get a bag of chips with it and you have a meal. I love PF Changs as they are very celiac and allergy friendly with an extensive gluten free menu. Cany you stay at a hotel with a mini kitchen? We always do when possible. A quick trip to the grocery upon arrival and I have my chex cereal and soymilk, eggs to hard boil, fruit, canned tuna, lunchmeat, chips, nuts, snacks, etc. The only food I brought with me were a supply of gluten free cookies and some brown rice wraps I could use for making sandwich wraps. Now that I found Udis bread I will bring it with me also.

[Juliebove]

The additonal food restrictions would make it very difficult to dine out! I'm not even sure it would be doable. What you might have to do is type up a card to carry with you that lists the foods you can eat. Then go from there.

I have made several cross country moves and at one point was living in a motel for about a month. I did not know of my food allergies at the time, but was a vegetarian. I may have had a microwave in the room at the time. I can't remember. I know there was a refrigerator. This was about 15 years ago and at that point in time, there weren't a lot of prepared fruits and vegetables for sale like there are now. So I bought a small paring knife to use. I have since learned that a simple plastic knife such as you get in a pack of plastic cutlery will actually cut up most things, although sometimes not so prettily.

I pretty much lived off of prepared hummus, assorted raw vegetables, some fruit (was never a fruit lover) and canned beans. These days you can get plain brown or white rice that is precooked in packages. It can be heated in the microwave. If you have no microwave, you can eat it straight from the package, but it's not as good as when it is heated.

If I were you, I would try to get a room with at least a microwave and fridge, if not a kitchenette. And then try to find a grocery store. That way there is no need to pack so much food with you.