Gluten free travel tips

Traveling and successfully maintaining a gluten free diet is absolutely possible. It might take a bit more planning and time, but it’s well worth it. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully help you on your way to seeing the world, stay healthy and gluten free.

1) Gluten Free Travel apps on your phone and websites are great tools, here are a few that I use: Find Me Gluten Free, the Gluten Free Scanner for when I’m in US grocery stores, Google and general restaurant review sites like Yelp. I find that I use Google when label reading and Yelp to help cross reference when I’m learning about a restaurant that may not be on the Find Me Gluten Free app. These apps and services help me navigate the best gluten free options for our family. Fortunately new apps and resources are continually popping up, so keep your eyes out for them.

2) When traveling in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language you can use a pre-translated gluten free/Celiac Information card. I’ve used the cards from Celiactravel.com. There are other gluten free translation cards out there, you just need to search for them. Along with the translated card, it is helpful to know how to say “gluten free” in the languages of the countries that you are visiting.

3) Five star hotels and resorts tend to have the knowledge and ability to provide gluten free food options, mainly because meeting the needs of their customers and providing excellent service is what they do. They are not overwhelmed by the task of keeping you safe and well fed. That being said, staying at Five Star Hotels and at the best All-Inclusive Resorts is expensive and not within your budget. One way to experience their knowledge and to feel well taken care of, even pampered, without staying at the hotel/resort, is to make a reservation for a meal.

4) If it is within your budget to stay at a Luxury or All-Inclusive Resort, definitely make it happen. It isn’t very often that travel, eating out and being gluten free is easy, but there are All-Inclusive and Luxury Resort options all over the world that will serve you and serve you well. One aspect of going on a vacation is to feel like you get a break from your day to day life. A huge part of day to day life with celiac disease and living gluten free is cooking, planning, researching and more cooking. More and more places are offering amazing gluten free options so that you can have a real break from your day to day life. A quick search will provide you with current reviews of places that can serve your gluten free needs.

5) Rent a place that has a kitchen, this is what we do most of the time. Having access to your own kitchen really makes it a lot easier to stay safe from gluten while traveling, especially in places where it’s hard to find gluten free food options. It is also much kinder to your pocketbook. Eating out every meal adds up cost wise and also increases the chance of being “glutened” from cross-contact. When you have access to at least a refrigerator and microwave (and ideally a stove, oven and BBQ) you can pick up gluten free food from the grocery store or market. What I really love to do is visit local farmers markets to pick out what is fresh and from the region. Another reason to rent a place with a kitchen is that you usually end up with more space than if you were in a hotel; this is a huge bonus, when you need more than one room.

6) Create a “To Go” kitchen. I don’t trust other people’s cutting boards or other cooking tools; which means I need to bring my own. Most of the pots, pans and other kitchen tools in my kitchen are way too big, bulky and heavy to pack, so I invested in pots and pans designed for camping. The pots and pans have removable or folding handles and nest within each other, saving space. I found very thin and light cutting boards that are stored within a zipping storage bag that can also hold a knife, spatula, wooden spoon, sponge and a couple extra kitchen towels. I also include collapsible strainers and a steamer. Since this is not a carry-on bag and have the space, I also pack packaged gluten free food. This is great when traveling with kids to places with food flavors that they aren’t used to. Sometimes the kids, and even adults, want to have a meal that feels and tastes like home.

Safe travels!

Anne Barbo Moon

Disclaimer:

While we have ten+ years’ experience of navigating the world as the parents of a child with celiac, we are not physicians, dietitians, or other licensed medical professionals. The material and content contained in the Services is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for consultation, diagnosis or medical treatment by a licensed medical professional. Please consult your doctor for any medical or health-related questions. The information contained in the Services should NOT be used to disregard medical or health-related advice from a physician or licensed medical professional.