Traveling with Food Allergies Food, Part Two

March 13th, 2012 Nancy

 

Last week I received an e-mail from a Real Food, Allergy Free reader asking for traveling help.  She is planning to take a road trip at the end of the month.  Her son has severe food allergies, so stopping at restaurants is not an option.  You can read her e-mail and part one of the series here.

Here are some of my ideas to take with you or pick up on the way.  If you don’t want to make all of your snacks, you can find some great deals on allergy-friendly snack food here.  Please share your favorite allergy-friendly travel foods in the comment section.

Snacks

Plain or to dip:

  • Fruit: grapes, apples, bananas, pears, oranges, applesauce, etc.
  • Veggies: carrots, celery, peppers, etc.
  • Rice cakes
  • Tortilla or Potato Chips

Dips:

  • Hummus
  • Sunbutter
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa
  • Coconut Milk Yogurt

Other Snacks:

Meals

Breakfast:

Cold Meals:

Hot Meals (use microwave, crockpot, electric skillet):

Other things you’ll need:

  • Antihistimine, epi-pen and any other medications you may need!
  • Menu Plan, Recipes, Grocery List
  • Paper plates/bowls
  • Plastic utensils
  • Napkins/Paper Towels
  • Can opener
  • Bowls to mix and heat in the microwave
  • Crock Pot, Electric Skillet or George Forman Grill
  • The Liberated Kitchen has more ideas here

Now it’s your turn, what do you pack/plan for road trips?

Photo Credit:mollypop

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3 Responses to “Traveling with Food Allergies Food, Part Two”

  1. Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy says:
    March 13, 2012 at 9:54 am

    This is a fabulous list; I’m going to remember it when we go on our next trip. I second the oatmeal recommendation – mix it with a little packet of jam at any restaurant, and it’s yummy and so easy! Walmart also has individual serving sizes of all kinds of different vegetables (just like the fruit cups, but with vegetables), so I always bring those with us. They can be eaten cold or warmed up in a microwave. Pouches of tuna and chicken also come in handy.

  2. Elizabeth says:
    October 23, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    I have a dairy allergy and I’m super sensitive to sugar (and what DOESN’T have sugar in it these days, I tell ya) and my husband limits salt and cholesterol which makes eating out on long road trips a challenge. My husband and I do a lot of camping and the same food issue there has driven me to developing my own version of Mountain House meals (without dairy, salt, and sugar). Those sorts of instant meals actually work great for road trips because you can use the coffee pot in your room to heat water and you aren’t dependent on a microwave OR a mini-fridge. Plus, the meals are light weight and compact, so you end up saving space if it’s limited.

    Here’s a short list of some of the things we bring along:
    Breakfasts:
    +Homemade Instant Oatmeal*, grits, or creamed wheat packets
    +Homemade granola bars
    +Homemade Instant breakfast potatoes with bacon bits
    +Dried fruit and nuts
    +Go-gurt tubes (if we know that there will be a mini-fridge) OR instant yogurt packets with dried fruit and stevia to sweeten
    +Cereal with soymilk powder (you can just mix the two and add ice water when you pour it into a bowl)
    +Homemade instant scrambled egg whites with onions and peppers and bacon bits

    *We use a soy based protein powder and some vegetable based fiber powders in the oatmeal packs so they end up packing a big nutritional punch!

    Lunches:
    +Veggies & Pita & Hummus dip pocket sandwiches (don’t get soggy like normal sandwiches)
    +Celery sticks & peanut butter (or other nut butter)
    +Salads in mason jars
    +Homemade instant soup mixes with salt-free saltine crackers
    +Minute brown rice with dried mushrooms and onion flakes (all cooks up fast)
    +Homemade “easy mac” with dried peas and onion flakes
    +Peanut butter & homemade jelly tortilla wraps (the wraps don’t get soggy like normal sandwiches and are less likely to get smooshed)
    +Burritos made with instant re-fried beans, onion flakes, Dried peppers, salsa condiment packet and homemade taco seasoning
    +Raman noodles with our own homemade seasoning packets (including dried Miso flakes), dried fish flakes, and dried veggie mix
    +Homemade Instant Chicken Salad on tortillas or crackers

    Dinners:
    +Many of the Lunch entrees can double as dinner by adding in a hearty side like instant potatoes or instant rice
    +Seeds of Change brand instant Quinoa/Rice mix with seasoned tuna or chicken packets (we do lemon garlic Mrs Dash for the tuna and a homemade Cajun seasoning for the chicken) – you could also use Uncle Ben’s brand, but we like the Seeds of Change taste and Uncle Ben’s is a little high in salt:)
    +Tasty Bite brand instant Madaras Lentils over instant potatoes (we do our own flavors using potato flakes)
    +Instant noodles with instant spaghetti sauce and crunch bread sticks

    Snacks:
    +Pre-made popcorn in zip top bags
    +Popcorn kernals and a re-usable cloth popcorn bag if we know there will be a microwave
    +Homemade trail mix, mixed nuts, etc.
    +Homemade fruit leathers
    +Travel friendly fruit like bananas, pre-peeled oranges, grapes, and pre-sliced apples
    +a couple of pieces of high quality dark chocolate
    +Rice cakes, soy crisps, etc.
    +Instant Iced Tea mixes, Hot tea bags, Instant Apple Cider, Instant Coffee, etc.
    +Rice crispy treats, granola balls, and other homemade sweet treats

    Usually, we also bring the following stuff to prepare all of our food:
    +Travel coffee mug for each person
    +Re-usable water bottle for each person
    +1 small and 1 medium plastic food storage (such as rubbermade) container per person to prepare the instant meals and save uneaten portions for later (clean up is easy too and if it’s not available, you could always toss the container)
    +1 collapsible measuring cup (got this at REI, but most camping sections should have them)
    +1 re-usable spork per person
    +1 dedicated dish washing rag and a tiny container of dish soap
    +plastic cutlery, paper napkins, straws, extra condiment packets, etc
    +Lactaid pills (just in case 🙂 )

    Even if you are on the road, most gas stations will let you fill up your mug with hot water and some places will let you have it for free. For most of our meals, that’s all we need 🙂 And best of all, the only thing I needed to make all of these mixes was my food dehydrator. So, now we enjoy high quality, delicious food on the road for a fraction of the price of eating out and without feeling sick afterwards 🙂