It's one thing to travel with a toddler....it's a whole new ball game to travel with a child with food allergies! As a general rule we don't take C out to eat unless it's for a special event, such as a family celebration or a lunch after church. It's just too risky, and plus we like eating at home better :) However, when you're on the road you really have no choice. There's only so many homemade muffins a kid can eat until they need a real meal! A few weeks ago we took a short trip to Kelly's Island and had a hard time finding food for C to eat. Thankfully I brought enough sweet potatoes, avocados and snacks and we weren't gone that long. He was really only able to order plain hot dogs at the restaurant -- even the pizza had egg in it! We're not taking any big trips this summer, but this weekend we are going a couple hours away for a graduation party and will be staying overnight in a hotel. I wanted to share my strategy for eating away from home because when you have a child with food allergies, you can never leave home without a plan!
First, there are a few food items I always bring with us when we travel. Sweet potatoes (if you will have access to a microwave), avocado (C will eat a whole avocado for one meal), packets of oatmeal to make in the hotel (you can't bring a child with an egg allergy into a breakfast restaurant!), dry cereal, homemade muffins/quick breads, cookies, healthy popcorn and bananas. That will typically cover breakfast and lunch for him so we don't have to worry about that. However, dinner is another story. C has always refused to eat those Gerber toddler meals, so (although I probably wouldn't give it to him anyways) that's not an option for us. After doing some research, I was able to find a list of allergy-friendly restaurants. These are restaurants that have special allergy menus, however you will still want to inform the chef of your allergies so they don't cross-contaminate with your meal.
Here's the list of restaurants (these are just the ones with specific allergy menus. There are some other restaurants that give basic allergy info and ones that have specific gluten-free info):
- Arbys
- Boston Market
- Chili's
- Cracker Barrel
- Chipotle (a family fav)
- Qdoba
- Macaroni Grill
- Ruby Tuesday
Most of these restaurants don't have the allergy menus available for you at the restaurant, you will need to look at the menus online ahead of time and make your selection before leaving home. As you can probably tell, the list is very limited and small. If these restaurants aren't available to you, then I suggest just choosing a restaurant ahead of time and calling to ask about ingredients in some of the meals. It's best to call in the middle of the day when they aren't busy so they're more likely to answer your questions.
Also, here's a couple egg and nut free recipes you can whip up to take along with you on the road. These were all adapted from the Food Allergy Mama's baking book to include dairy and make them slightly healthier. Happy traveling!
Apple Muffins
4 Tbsp. butter, melted (allow to cool a little)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup milk
2 cups white whole wheat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups diced, peeled apples, divided
Preheat oven to 375 and line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combined the melted butter, applesauce and milk. In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the applesauce mixture and stir by hand with a spatula until just combined. Fold in the 1 cup chopped apple. Do not over mix.
Using a cookie scooper or spoon, fill the muffin cups with batter and top each with the remaining 1/2 cup diced apple. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Blueberry Bread
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp. water
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. grated orange zest
2/3 cup orange juice
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup maple syrup (organic Grade B)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the melted butter, water, milk, maple syrup, orange zest, and orange juice until combined. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda with a wire whisk. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a spatula until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.
Cinnamon Sour Cream Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups organic sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sour cream
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
Combine butter, sugar, applesauce and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until mixed. Slowly beat in sour cream until incorporated. In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon with a wire whisk. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sour cream mixture. Chill dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a spoon, roll small balls of dough in your hands, flatten and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, but don't over bake.
