Hi there - my son (8) was diagnosed with coeliac a couple of months ago and we have been getting on really well with a GF diet and he is more than happy with all the food he has had to have as subsitutes! Overall it has been a lot easier than I thought the whole process would be of changing diets, however one thing that I find really difficult is finding something for him to eat if we are out and about and haven't brought something with us! On new years day we were slightly caught out when stuck on the motorway getting back from friends and the journey took longer than expected. We stopped at a services and besides fruit and yoghurt there was not much he could have to eat! We then stopped at a Sainsurys and even with the full GF section, there was probably not a lot that could be eaten simply off the shelf without some sort of preparation!
I know it may just be because we are new at this, but wondered if anyone has ideas for similar situations? Somewhere where you can get some sort of GF food on the quick (sandwiches, wraps etc)!
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heatherp
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I'm really sorry for your son, it must be hard to explain to an 8 year old. It's regularly a nightmare - I'm regularly hungry when a day out has taken longer than I prepared for. Starbucks were supposed to have sandwiches, but I've never seen any. I'm lactose free so have bought olives, nuts and fruit (fresh and dried) to keep me going. DS ciabatta are now edible straight from the pack. I hear that Macdonalds will do you a gf version (if you are desperate) but haven't tried this out.
You have outlined the nightmare scenario I find myself in esp. as I am milk intolerant too.
What I have learned to do is to always carry food with me - I usually carry one or more of the following: 9 Bars, Nakd Bars (they do a cocoa orange flavour version which he may like), ready salted crisps, fruits in jellies, Alpro soya deserts, fruit, etc.
Aside from that your average petrol station is a wilderness and forget most fast food joints - if not lack of choice, simply from cross-contamination. Burger King chips are coated in semolina and many fast food joints use the same oil for chips as they do for food in batter.
We found ourselves recently in a service station on M11 near Stansted and only things we could eat were a horrible tuna nicoise salad from Waitrose (with about three flakes of tuna in it) and some fries from KFC. saved solely as we had some Heinz mayonnaise portions with us.
We agree the knack is preparation. Dull but true. Fruit is always handy as are GF Pom Bear crisps or others that are suitable. Waitrose have started opening many service break stations on the motorway. It's worth emailing their head office and asking for their gf sandwiches to be placed in each. As they often forget that we can't eat much else on the hoof and reserve them for large branches.
I have been into mcdonalds and asked for nutritional info. they were very happy to hand me a leaflet which contains all the info and allergen info. I have had a quarter pounder with cheese meal with no bread, they seem quite used to doing this and it comes in a flat box and a knife and fork. hope this helps, also if you join the coeliac society you can look on the web page under fast food information.
MacDonalds are really good but you need a GF bread roll when you go or just the meat. The french fries are OK too I think because they are always fried in seperate vats - would need to check the potatoes though?
I always carry extra food with me - especially if we are travelling - GF crisps, nuts, nut bars, packet of biscuits, tins of tuna... I'm coeliac and my daughter (10) is gluten-intolerant. She has been on the diet for a year. So be prepared is the trick - I always feel like I'm having to take a survival food parcel! Off the motorways, many restaurants will be able to cater for you. Good luck.
Hi Karen, as I understand it, Macdonalds chips are ok as long as they don't have any potatoe promotions running at the time. Otherwise it is a bit risky.
True - if you bring your own GF roll and ensure the Mgr at McDonald's understands it's no burger, pickle etc in the burger then it's not bad. You will need to remember to ask for the knife and fork but with your own GF bun at least your child won't feel so outta sorts with everyone else. And it makes it easier to eat. The meat never looks great minus a bun. The chips are GF and fried in separate oil - ask for their allergy leaflet in store - they are always helpful.
Hi Heather, If you have a Waitrose near you, they do some fresh GlutenFree sandwiches. Salads ready made are sometimes ok but do check dressings etc. I live in Christchurch Dorset & our local fish & chip shop does very well catering for Coeliac's. His Gluten Free batter is so amazing. I hadn't had fish & chips since I was diagnosed so finding him was a real blessing. He is ultra careful there is no cross contamination. Bigger branches of M & S may also do Gluten Free sandwiches. Hope this is of a some help to you.
One range of foods to go - not haute cuisine, but handy are these St Dalfour (apols if I said St Clement in an earlier post) stdalfour.co.uk/products.htm go to bottom of page and the Ready to eat section does tinned meat/fish/bean salad combos. Come with their own sachet of salt/pepper in a ring pull tin. If you stick a dollop of mayo in them they are good as an emergency food source (and as they are not liquid can be taken through airport hand luggage) - will post this in the airplane meals post too.
Meanioni - thanks so much for mentioning them - I forgot about these. I had such a long day yesterday and ran out of food, by the time I got home I felt ill and cold. I'm already looking forward to my trip to Asda today!
(Last airport trip felt as though I was smuggling drugs!)
Wow - thanks for all the replies! Very helpful and I guess we will learn as we go along. I am finding we have to be very prepared (reminds me really of when the kids were babies and we always had to take prepared foods for them, so has been done before!)...for NY we had taken so many foods with to our friends that we were staying with, but all had to be heated / prepared in some way, so not good on the way home, and I felt he needed something more substantial than just a snack...good to know about how prepared MacDonalds are! Will need to make sure I carry that food and drink diary with me too!
Hi heatherp, Well I'm glad that you are adapting to the diet so well and just to add to the others Starbucks sell gf sandwiches made with Genius bread and this may interest you its the coeliac map a site dedictaed to places that cater for coeliac:
Funny, my other son who is 10 is currently asking if he can go gluten free as he's been tasting some of the foods and says they are much nicer than his! So I think it is all just about being well prepared!
One thing to note is to always speak to the mgr (they will oversee yr food is cooked ok) and check they haven't added croutons to the fries. Some were doing this repeatedly and it was pot luck we discovered it each time we visited by asking the usual 101 questions. We lodged a formal complaint with HQ and they have reminded all branches that they cannot do this and that they must follow their internal policies etc. The great thing about Nandos is much is naturally GF eg chicken, fries, macho peas plus they even do GF desserts too. They have a huge allergy book that all their Mgrs will be happy to run thru as well should you want to vary what your child normally has.
Plus Byron burger assures us their burgers are GF. Not so their chips as they often cross contaminate the oil. But you can have a nice burger with salad.
i found in marks and spencer yesterday they do ready to eat sandwiches now, they don't have a lot of choice, and they arnt the best but if your out and need a quick bite they're there!
Starbucks are now selling a Gluten Free Tuna Nicoise Roll.
This is still in Genius bread but I understand it is an improved recipe.
They are also selling a tomato soup in some stores that is also gluten free but don't buy the cheese toastie that they sell as a package deal with the soup.
Although I am not sure on the cross contamination concerns as the soup is taken from a lidded heated soup kettle.
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