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Well, The Food Court Is Torture....

MitziG

By MitziG
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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MitziG Enthusiast
MitziG
Posted

Took the kids to the fabulous Coral Ridge Mall yesterday. This is a big deal because in Podunk, Iowa, where we live, our mall consists of a Sears and a bunch of empty stores.

Argh...the food court! They had Subway, Arby's, Bennigans, a gyro place...a CHICK FIL A! I have never eaten at Chick Fil A...but it looked so good.

And we ended up eating a plain hot dog with no bun and a bag of Lay's chips. It wasn't the worst- we kept alive. But it sucked a bit. Funny how you never realized that gluten is in EVERYTHING until you get celiac.

DD of course only ate the Lays as she won't trust anyone to prepare her food but me- and she hates hot dogs anyway. But oh well.

The good news was the peds GI she saw at the hospital was SO knowledgeable about celiac and is reall6 working hard to figure out what is going on with her. :)

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mbrookes Community Regular
mbrookes
Posted

A good bet would have been Chick-fil-a. Order the grilled chicken, slaw and waffle fries. The fries are done in a dedicated frier. Ihave never had a problem with this order. Be sure to ask (nicely) for them to change gloves and be really careful. They will take care of you.

MitziG Enthusiast
MitziG
Posted
  • Author

Really? Aw, wish I had known that. I just assumed that anything with that much breading would have gluten on everything. Going back to dr on Monday so I will remember that!

shadowicewolf Proficient
shadowicewolf
Posted

My uni just redid their food cort type place. Supposably it has gluten free foods, i've yet to see it. There is a tossed salad section but it didn't look apitizing.

mamaw Community Regular
mamaw
Posted

chik---fil--a also has gluten-free naked nuggets...

MitziG Enthusiast
MitziG
Posted
  • Author

Naked nuggets? Now I am just getting excited.... ;)

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted

Naked nuggets? Now I am just getting excited.... ;)

Down, girl. :P

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kittty Contributor
kittty
Posted

My uni just redid their food cort type place. Supposably it has gluten free foods, i've yet to see it. There is a tossed salad section but it didn't look apitizing.

Usually there's a larger catering company that overseas university dining. At my university it's Sodexo, and if you talk to the dining management people on campus they can be really helpful to suggest gluten-free choices, and to put more of them on the menu.

I refuse to eat at Chick-fil-a because of their ethical standpoint, but they do prepare their food in a clean environment.

1974girl Enthusiast
1974girl
Posted

Chick filet is the only place I can go through a drive thru and feel safe. They ate the only ones with a gluten free kids meal. They have grilled nuggets and they get them with tongs and not gloves. Although I have told them of her allergy and they changed gloves anyway. Their chick filet nugget sauce is addicting! Kinda like a BBQ and honey mustard mix. I would double check to make sure the food court has a full menu and does things the same. Oh and the ice cream is gluten free. If your child doesn't want the toy in the kids meal, they can trade it in for ice cream!

Ranne10 Rookie
Ranne10
Posted

I Love Chick-fila! There are very few places I can eat (even when they say gluten free) but this one works for me! Oh those wonderful waffle fries! And I love the grilled nuggets with chickfila sauce. YUM!

  • 2 weeks later...
tuxedocat Apprentice
tuxedocat
Posted

I will not even eat at Chick-fil-A due to their donation of money to causes that discriminate against gay people. I don't care if they are the only gluten free option in ten miles. I could not eat their food and respect myself for supporting a company that is so against the basic civil rights of any number of my friends and family members.

Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

The hot dog with no bun and the chips sounds sooo familiar. Actually daughter can't have peanuts so Chik-Filet would be out. Not that we have them here, because we don't. And we always have to check the chips because some can be fried in peanut oil. We do have a Taco Time at our mall. The tacos, beans and rice are safe there. But mostly we try not to go to the mall because we just really don't like it. A yearly trip to Nordstom used to be required for shoes but now that her feet have stopped growing, she no longer needs to be fitted.

One place we do like to go for snacks is the Target snack bar. They have popcorn, nachos, the hot dog with no bun, chips, fries (they're baked), fresh fruit, smoothies, and even string cheese. Daughter even eats the salads there. They do contain croutons which are prepacked and sitting on the salad. Might not be safe for everyone but never caused her a problem.

archaeo in FL Apprentice
archaeo in FL
Posted

I will not even eat at Chick-fil-A due to their donation of money to causes that discriminate against gay people. I don't care if they are the only gluten free option in ten miles. I could not eat their food and respect myself for supporting a company that is so against the basic civil rights of any number of my friends and family members.

I agree. Homosexuality is not an illness to be cured, is not a sin to be repented. I try to vote with my dollars every day.

kittty Contributor
kittty
Posted

I will not even eat at Chick-fil-A due to their donation of money to causes that discriminate against gay people. I don't care if they are the only gluten free option in ten miles. I could not eat their food and respect myself for supporting a company that is so against the basic civil rights of any number of my friends and family members.

I refused to eat at Chick-fil-a for this reason too, but they announced last week that they've stopped donating money to hate groups. Open Original Shared Link

It's a step forward at least!

cap6 Enthusiast
cap6
Posted

I agree. Homosexuality is not an illness to be cured, is not a sin to be repented. I try to vote with my dollars every day.

I agree..........

archaeo in FL Apprentice
archaeo in FL
Posted

I refused to eat at Chick-fil-a for this reason too, but they announced last week that they've stopped donating money to hate groups. Open Original Shared Link

It's a step forward at least!

It would be, but it's not entirely clear that it's not just trying to make up for what Cathy said (and says):

Open Original Shared Link

It does appear that folks are treated relatively well as employees whatever their stance on the issue, or their own religious beliefs or sexuality, which is good, and is better than can be said for a lot of places...

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Ok...Let's get back to the topic of food court food. This isn't the place to debate politics or religion which is the direction this could be going. :blink:

wheeleezdryver Community Regular
wheeleezdryver
Posted

I've heard that at Arby's you can order the meat, without a bun. Supposedly they put it in a plastic container for you. But I don't know this for sure, as I haven't ordered anything from there for myself since before I went gluten free.

A couple of items I don't have problems w/ at our mall's food court: (I am not very sensitive to cc)

Drinks from Orange Juilous and A& W (as well as other drinks).

French fries & fry sauce from the great steak and potato company (I asked the manager once about other items, he told me the other sides & salads also do not contain wheat/ gluten-- the only thing that does is their sandwhiches (obviously)- but the only item of theirs that I have tried so far is the fries and fry sauce).

One place we do like to go for snacks is the Target snack bar. They have popcorn, nachos, the hot dog with no bun, chips, fries (they're baked), fresh fruit, smoothies, and even string cheese. Daughter even eats the salads there. They do contain croutons which are prepacked and sitting on the salad. Might not be safe for everyone but never caused her a problem.

I never knew the target snack bar had things like that I could eat. I've enver eaten there, so had no idea what they have, other than ice cream cones & the oh so yummy smelling popcorn (which now I know I can eat! Thank you!) will have to give them a try sometime!

archaeo in FL Apprentice
archaeo in FL
Posted

I don't do dairy, but smoothie places and yogurt places are everywhere. I guess the potential for cc might be high, but seems it might be high in most food court-type places. I think most smoothie places - unless they're really busy - would be happy to wash out a blender really well for you. Then you could ask about the ingredients and could likely get something with just fruit, fruit juice, sugar if you want it, and yogurt or ice cream (or not!). Watch out for the supplements, though.

cavernio Enthusiast
cavernio
Posted

Where exactly are y'all getting your gluten free hot dogs minus bun from a food court???

I have a hard time getting gluten-free weiners from the grocery store.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Where exactly are y'all getting your gluten free hot dogs minus bun from a food court???

I have a hard time getting gluten-free weiners from the grocery store.

In the US, most hot dogs are gluten-free. I would say all hot dogs but someone will have found an off brand that had wheat in it.

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