A Celiac Family of 4 and a Very (very) Long Road Trip
My family recently piled into the car and went for an epic road trip that took us through 8 states. It’s challenging when any family hits the road…do you have enough snacks? Electronics? Access to easy on/off exits? But, when a celiac family travels roads unknown it’s even more difficult. However, with planning it’s not impossible. In fact, we did it pretty easily…and so can you.
After I packed clothes, an assortment of electronics and a tangled mess of chargers I moved onto the important stuff…the food. My plan: treat the car like my kitchen, plan meals, and make sure I have a good cooler. Here’s how it went:
We headed out on a Friday around 5pm with two freshly baked Against the Grain pizzas (a family fav) and a several bags of fresh veggies. Dinner…check!
When the requests for snacks started rolling in around hour 4 of our drive I had many choices to offer. It’s important to mention that even though only half of our family of four has celiac, we all eat gluten free in the car to prevent cross contamination.
Saturday morning: let’s be honest… when you hit the road at 5am there aren’t many options (gluten free or not). This is where the KIND Bars, yogurt tubes, cheese sticks, and fresh fruit come in (pre-packaged apple slices & clementines). Breakfast…check!
Once again… thank goodness for all of those snacks I packed!
By the afternoon we were looking for lunch and definitely looking to get out of the car. Time for a picnic! Gluten free or not…who wants to sit in a restaurant when they are sitting for 16 hours of driving?! We visited the beautiful War Memorial in Indianapolis (ran those stairs a bit) and enjoyed their picnic tables. We pulled out the rest of the cut up veggies, hummus, turkey, cheese, gf bread and GoPicnic boxes for the kids. Lunch…check!
So you can see where this is going. With the right planning anyone can hit the open road without compromising their diet or risking contamination. Here are some of the other brands we brought along for the ride:
Siggi’s Icelandic-Style Yogurt
Annie’s GF SnickerDoodle Bunny Cookies
