Road Trip With Gluten Sensitive Kids

[JessAnn]

I'm going to be driving across country in a couple weeks, and I'm having trouble planning our meals. We're going to be on the road for a total of 4 days, and we have limited space to bring our own food. Has anyone done this? Any advice is welcome, thanks!

[Grace'smom]

Hi JessAnn,

My recommendation would be to pick up a copy of the gluten free national restaurant guides (not sure what title is, but I've seen them online, so you can google it.) If you have an iphone or droid or itouch, etc. those all have gluten free applications that you can download and will give you a list of restaurants that offer gluten free menus. My son has one so I've had him do that for me. Otherwise, lots of coolers packed with your staples and dry goods will keep in a lg. plastic tub. We're going to be experimenting with a short road trip soon ourselves so I'll have to try all of this out too. Good luck! Emily

[Gardening]

Depending on what's available, you can also grocery shop as you go.

We have stopped at Wegman's and Whole Foods on trips for meals. You can find some ready-to-eat food that works (hot rice), some fresh fruit, and some gluten-free food your child can eat (microwave gluten-free mac-n-cheese, pre-packaged sliced turkey). You can also get gluten-free dessert, which you can almost never find in restaurants. Both Wegmans and Whole Foods have tables where you can eat, so it functions as a cafeteria for us.

[tarnalberry]

Depending on what's available, you can also grocery shop as you go.

We have stopped at Wegman's and Whole Foods on trips for meals. You can find some ready-to-eat food that works (hot rice), some fresh fruit, and some gluten-free food your child can eat (microwave gluten-free mac-n-cheese, pre-packaged sliced turkey). You can also get gluten-free dessert, which you can almost never find in restaurants. Both Wegmans and Whole Foods have tables where you can eat, so it functions as a cafeteria for us.

This! Even if it's mostly regular supermarkets and no specialty stuff, for four days, you guys can make it. (Heck, Bush's baked beans out of a can (no heating) are still tasty!)

[Yup]

Check out the gluten-free Registery online. I did this when I went to Arizona. They list restaurants and reviews. I would also check to see if there are any celiac support groups or organizations along the way. I know that my chapter has a list of gluten-free friendly restaurants posted on their website.

Happy travels!

[TrickyMama]

The "Is that gluten-free?" Eating Out app for iPhone/iPod is good. We don't eat out much but my favorite establishment for getting gluten-free meals, believe it or not, is In'n'Out. The staff there seems to understand what gluten-free means and seems to have a whole little process in place for when gluten-free is ordered. The cashier calls out, "Gluten free!" and there is a little special flurry of activity! We have experienced this in three different cities in the southwest US.

[TrickyMama]

I thought of one more thing. One time we stopped at Costco and got a box of Orchard bars and Stretch Island Fruit and a bunch of bananas. The bars have almost 200 calories and are full of seeds and nuts so it was a fairly nutritious meal.

[my3monkees]

I can't say it was the healthiest. But as a kid I remember stopping at a store along the way picking up cheese, maybe some lunch meat and a bag of corn chips and eating that for lunch. I loved it! My daughter thinks a great travel lunch is some Terra Veggie Chip and reduced fat pepperoni. Throw in some apples and baby carrots and it actually is a reasonably healthy lunch. HTH