Category: Travel with Food Allergies

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Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Three: Find Safe Food on the Road

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Food allergy road sign | When Peanuts AttackSo you, savvy food allergy traveler, did the right thing, and planned ahead for a safe, food-allergy friendly road trip. You made a list of allergy-friendly restaurants on your route. You packed safe snacks– more than you thought you would need.

But you’ve had an unexpected travel delay, you’re nowhere near a safe restaurant, your food supplies are running low, and frankly, you’re flat-out sick of snack bars. Now what?

We all know travel plans are subject to change. Even careful travelers who plan ahead for safe food allergy management can run into circumstances that leave them at a loss for safe food options. Maybe you got a flat tire in Nowhere, Kansas (reader, it has happened to me!). Maybe the mini fridge in your hotel room died overnight, and several meals’ worth of carefully chosen allergy-safe food spoiled without warning. Maybe you accidentally left a suitcase full of safe snacks in a motel closet three entire states ago.

What do you do now?

Here are some ideas:

Try to find a grocery store.

You may be able to replace some safe, non-perishable food supply as you go if you stop at a town with a grocery store. That Kroger in Vandalia, MO may not stock the safe granola bars you packed, but at the very least, you know they will have pantry staples and fresh produce. And the selection at a new-to-you, out-of-town grocery store may surprise you. You might even find allergy-friendly brands that aren’t available in your state.

Check out the nearest gas station’s snack selection.

It may not be as unsafe as you think. You probably won’t want to risk eating hot food cooked at a gas station restaurant. But gas station convenience stores tend to stock a wide variety of travel-friendly pre-packaged foods– a few of which might be on your safe food list.

Look for safe options in less-than-safe restaurants.

Consider that even restaurants that you don’t ordinarily think of as allergy-safe places may have a few pre-packaged items you can eat, even if they can’t offer you a full safe meal. For example, a fast food restaurant may have oranges, or pre-packaged apple slices, as sides on the kids’ menu, that you can order separately. A coffee shop may have pre-bottled, sealed drinks and pre-packaged, sealed, ingredient-labeled snacks you can safely buy, even if their espresso bar is a cross contact nightmare. A hotel breakfast bar with a definitely-not-safe-for-you granola buffet might have a safe brand of pre-packaged yogurt or juice boxes stored separately in the fridge. A roadside cafe may have packaged crackers or fresh, uncut produce available if you ask.

But do try to make sure, if you are prone to contact or airborne reactions to your allergen, that you do not accidentally linger in an unsafe-for-you space while hunting for safe food. If you have a seafood allergy, and that seaside cafe is steaming shrimp, don’t stick around. If the very thought of peanut dust makes your eyes itch, and that roadhouse by the truck stop has peanut shells on the floor, back straight out.

And if any restaurant’s staff make you feel unwelcome or unsafe, walk away.

Remember: it’s better to skip a meal on the road than to eat an unsafe meal that causes a reaction.

Read more in this series:

Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part One: Plan Your Route
Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Two: How to Pack

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Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Two: How to Pack

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Pack your suitcase | When Peanuts AttackPicture this: After a long day of driving that included a wrong turn at Albuquerque, a crazy detour around unexpected road construction, a sudden thunderstorm, and at least five separate arguments between two cranky kids in the back seat of your car, it’s well past dinner time, and you find yourself, not sitting down to eat at the amazing, allergy-friendly restaurant you made a reservation at two weeks ago, but instead, standing in front of a rest stop vending machine, staring in despair at a selection of 12 suspicious looking snack-foods you cannot see the ingredient labels for.

Fear not, food allergic friends! This sad scene won’t happen to you on your road trip, because you are going to follow these tips on packing for food-allergy-friendly travel by car. Here’s how to avoid running out of safe meals and snacks.

Pack more allergy-safe, non-perishable food than you think you will need.

During travel, delays and detours happen. Plan ahead for the possibility of missed turns and missed safe meal destinations– by packing extra emergency snacks. If your trunk space is limited, and you have to make a choice between packing safe food, or an extra pair of flip-flops, pack the food. You can buy a pair of souvenir flip-flops when you get to Florida.

While it’s a good idea to bring a cooler or an insulated bag with ice packs and a few tasty safe perishables, keep in mind that, unless you are traveling in an RV with a fridge, you will probably only reasonably be able to keep your food temperature-safe for a few hours on the road. When packing for a journey, focus primarily on nonperishable snacks that won’t quickly melt or spoil. Depending on your allergies, allergy-safe snack bars, dried fruit, applesauce, jerky, pretzels, crackers, or popcorn can be good shelf-stable options. Fresh fruits, like oranges and bananas, hold up well for a day or two in the car, and come in their own biodegradable packaging. (Make sure, if you do bring fresh fruit, that you wash it well before you pack it, so that you don’t find yourself trying to decide whether rinse your apple in a gas station bathroom sink.)

And if you do want to bring along some fresh potato salad, or your famous bacon-swiss-and-avocado sandwiches, consider freezing perishable foods overnight before packing them in your cooler, to help them stay in a safe temperature range longer.

If you find yourself strapped for cooler space for both perishables and cold drinks, consider freezing few bottles of water or and using them in place of ice packs.

Pack wet wipes and cleaning supplies to clean allergens from your hands and surfaces.

Washing your hands before you eat is a healthy practice in general, but for people with food allergies, hand washing before eating can be life-or-death essential. Keep a pack of hand wipes or baby wipes in a place in your car that is easy for both the driver and the passengers to reach. That way if you wind up having lunch on the go, you’ll be prepared.

Pack some extra cleaning wipes, or a spray cleaner and some paper towels, in your trunk to wipe down restaurant tables, picnic tables, and hotel room surfaces.

Consider packing your own small cooking appliances. When you’re traveling with food allergies, a mini microwave, a hot plate, an Instant Pot, or a rice cooker can really come in handy, allowing you to prepare safe meals on your own clean equipment in a hotel, at a campground, or in a relative’s home.

If you do decide to BYO small kitchen appliance, do a little research on the places you’ll be staying to make sure that your appliance will be allowed, and that you will have a safe, clean place to plug it in and set it up.

Pack your epinephrine autoinjectors, your antihistamines, and any other allergy medication you think you might need, and make a plan to keep your medicine in a safe temperature range and close at hand.

A person with a food allergy should never leave home without epinephrine! It’s especially important to make sure not to forget your epi when traveling. Triple-check before you leave to make sure that any medications you may need on your trip are packed safely in a place where you can easily access them in an emergency.

To maintain full effectiveness, epinephrine autoinjectors must be kept within a certain safe temperature range. This can be especially difficult to manage when traveling in the summer. Autoinjectors should never be left sitting for hours in a hot car! Exposure to high heat degrades epinephrine and can damage the autoinjector device.

Make sure before you leave that you have a way to keep your epinephrine from overheating– or freezing– on the road. Insulated epinephrine carriers can help, but they may not be enough when you are traveling far. And while ice packs can keep epinephrine autoinjectors cool, if you place an autoinjector directly in ice or next to an ice pack in a cooler or insulated bag, you risk freezing your medicine instead of overheating it!

Many people with food allergies recommend using the Frio brand evaporative cooling pack for trips in the summer heat. Originally designed to keep insulin at room temperature, it also works well to cool (but not freeze) epinephrine autoinjectors. And you don’t need a freezer to recharge the Frio– all you need is clean water. Just make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions to keep your medicine dry and keep your Frio working properly.

You can also try this road-tested food allergy travel trick: put your epinephrine in a small insulated bag, put a small ice pack in a second small insulated bag, and put them both in a larger insulated bag. This system protects the epinephrine autoinjector from direct contact with an ice pack, which helps to prevent freezing. If you do try this route, make sure you monitor the temperature of your epinephrine regularly to make sure it does not get too hot or too cold.

Read more food allergy travel tips:

Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part One: Plan your Route
Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Three: Find Safe Food on the Road

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Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part One: Plan Your Route

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Road trip | When Peanuts AttackAh, the open road. How it calls in the summer. Pack a suitcase, grab a friend, or your family, and get away from it all! Set out in your car with the windows down, the radio on, and a map to someplace you’ve never been before in your pocket. See the sights: rolling hills, cows, impressive sculptures of cows, and giant balls of twine!

Eat at random roadside cafes and truck stop diners!

Wait. Actually, if you have a food allergy, you should probably not do that last thing.

Use these actually road-tested tips for taking a safe road trip with a food allergy instead.

Before you go, plan your route.

When I say plan your route, I do not mean, put your destination into the map app on your phone on your way out the door.

I mean, a few days or weeks before your trip, sit down and do some real research. Try to figure out which roads you are likely to take, and which towns you are likely to make stops in, and map out essential allergy resources along your path. You can use Google Maps to find allergy-friendly restaurants you trust, and grocery stores where you can buy extra food in a pinch. Try to find at least two or three safe sources of food in each town you plan to stop for a meal in, in case it turns out that a restaurant or store on your route has changed policies or is closed.

You can also use Google Maps to locate hospitals along your route or at your destination, just in case.

You may want to print this information out and put it in a folder, in case you run into areas with poor cell phone service coverage and no WiFi.

While drawing up your road trip game plan, make sure to leave a little wiggle room in your stop and meal schedule for spontaneous side-trips or unscheduled detours along the way. (If the kids decide they really DO want to see that giant ball of twine, you won’t want to disappoint them, right?)

It’s extra work, but a bit of allergy-related planning before you leave can save you from big headaches later on the road.

Call ahead to hotels or motels you plan to stay at, to ask allergy-related questions and request accommodations in advance.

When you make your reservation, ask to have a note put into your reservation file that a person with a life-threatening food allergy will be staying in the room. Why is this important? Well, some hotels offer complementary snacks or meals to guests– and if you have a peanut allergy, you probably do not want someone handing you an unwrapped fresh-baked peanut butter cookie at the front desk, or leaving the “gift” of a bag of chocolate covered peanuts on your pillow. Also, some hotels offer special deep cleaning services for guests with allergies– to make extra sure that the previous guests’ cookie crumbs don’t wind up in your bed. Some hotels even offer special allergy-friendly rooms, with features like carpet-free floors, allergy-blocking mattress covers, and built-in air filters. But you won’t know if these services are available unless you ask!

And don’t forget to ask hotel staff whether a fridge or a microwave will be available for you to use. Even when hotels advertise that fridges and microwaves are available, it is sometimes the case that they are located not in the guest rooms but in shared common areas, or only available in certain rooms. So if keeping and cooking safe food in your room is part of your plan (and if you are traveling with a food allergy, it probably should be), make sure you discuss the details on exactly which kitchen appliances will be available, and where.

If you will be staying with friends or family along the way, make sure you speak with them well ahead of time about what your needs will be while traveling.

Remember that even very well-meaning and sympathetic people who do not manage food allergies in their own households on a daily basis may forget things that seem obvious to you. Talk to your hosts early enough in your planning phase that, if it turns out you do not feel comfortable staying with them after all, you will be able to make alternate arrangements.

Read more in this series:

Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Two: How to Pack.
Road Tripping with Food Allergies, Part Three: Find Safe Food on the Road.